Princess on the Road

After yet another enjoyable trip on the Amtrak, I dragged my turtle up one of the many pleasant rises of San Francisco to find my hostel located in Stripper/Hooker/CheapAdultDVDville!  Woohoo!

 

It wasn’t really that bad – yes there were a few strip clubs but I’m sure they were very respectable establishments and I could have got 7 pornos (minimum 4 hours duration each) for just $30!  Bargain.  What I wasn’t impressed about was the fact the hostel did not have an elevator but plenty of stairs, just what I wanted to see after lugging an extra 20kg up a hill.

 

My first day of sightseeing I decided to visit tourist mecca Fisherman’s Wharf.  Fisherman’s Wharf is so-named because it is the wharf where the first fishermen of San Francisco would dock their boats and sell their catch (descendants of these fishermen still do) - Americans are relatively simple folk, they don’t like to get too fancy with names.  Fisherman’s Wharf is also home to Pier 39 which is famous for the sea lions that camp out on the docks.  Many boat tours of the bay depart from Fisherman’s Wharf, including the National Parks Service to Alcatraz.  The Aquarium of the Bay is also located at Fisherman’s Wharf. 

 

After a pleasant visit to the Aquarium, it was down to Pier 39 to see the sea lions.  Perhaps the only free thing to do other than breathe and use the loo at Fisherman’s Wharf, the sea lions make a visit to Fisherman’s a must-do.  They are very noisy and a bit smelly and also keep Pier 39 staff busy by resting on docks they are not supposed to which earns them a squirt with the hose.  Of course, the sea lions just wait in the water until the staff person is gone and either hop back on the dock or just find another one.  Quite entertaining to watch.  While at the Wharf, I also had a bay cruise which took me under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.  It was a little windy and the recorded commentary was a little corny but good fun nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, I had a Wok Wiz tour which is a walking tour of Chinatown followed by a dim sum lunch.  The tour began at the Hilton and since it was quite a large group, there were two tour leaders who would take half the group each.  One tour leader was Herman (not his Chinese name) and the other leader was Dorothy (not her Chinese name).  Secretly I was hoping for Dorothy - she seemed like a nice old duck.  Unfortunately, I scored Herman and just as he was telling the group what a strenuous hike we were in for, Dorothy came over and dragged me to her group saying she was one short.  Yay!

 

The Chinatown of San Francisco is the largest in the US and perhaps the largest population of Chinese in one area outside China.  Dorothy turned out to be quite the tour guide.  She provided a very insightful view of Chinatown and tour itself included many stops which I would have walked straight past without knowing the significance.  She also made sure that when we stopped, short people (me) were at the front.  The dim sum lunch was very good and very filling – and Dorothy remained as our lunch host and made sure we ate everything.  Since she was so awesome I tipped her $20 and made her stand next to a Buddha so I could take her photo.

 

Next up was a visit to the Exploratorium/Palace of Fine Arts.  The Palace of Fine Arts is all that is left over from the San Francisco World Fair held in 1915.  The purpose of the Fair was to attract people back to San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake.  The Exploratorium is a science museum – lots of interactive exhibits which are good fun but mostly aimed at families.  After some fun and games in the Exploratorium, I sat in the park and started to eat my lunch (which took me a 5km round trip to get) when I was rudely interrupted by a creepy old man.  He was sitting on the bench next to me and muttered something to me and gestured to the sky.  Apparently, the 2pm Luftansa flight was late today.  Do I look like I care?  I must have, because he then decided to sit down next to me and dribbled on like a fool for the next 45 minutes.  At least three times he said ‘well, I better be off then’ before going off another dribble tangent.  When his comments started to get somewhat suggestive, I promptly told him I was a married woman and he left me to go harass some woman with a poodle.

 

Next day, I decided to hit the California Academy of Sciences located in Golden Gate Park.  What a fucking mission.  I had to change buses which doesn’t normally bother me because buses in every other city I had been to has an automated lady that kindly tells you where you are and the significance, if any, of a bus stop.  But not in San Francisco.  The automated lady is a bit slack and sometimes non-existent so you have to be paying attention and make sure you yank the cord well in advance to tell the bus driver to stop otherwise they keep driving.  How rude.   The bus stop I had to change at was also in some obscure location so I ended up going back and forth on the same bus route for like an hour trying to find the fucker.  Eventually I found another bus stop on the route I needed and 2 and a half hours later arrived at the Academy of Sciences.  Good thing it was a nice place otherwise I would have been really pissed off.

 

The Academy itself is quite modern due to a recent refurbishment and is touted as the only place on the planet that has a planetarium, an aquarium, natural history museum and 4-storey rainforest all under one roof.  It was a pity that it took me so long to get there as it was quite an enjoyable visit.  The exhibits were comprehensive but not overwhelming and there was a heavy focus on conservation.  The planetarium was a little disappointing – the line to get in went forever even though you had to get a ticket prior to lining up and when I asked what was screening, the droop with the tickets didn’t actually answer my question and just gave me a ticket.  The show turned out to be the ‘premier’ of Journey to the Stars which I had already seen six weeks ago at the American Museum of Natural History in New York!  However, walking through the indoor yet authentic rainforest was good fun and there was also an albino alligator, which was a little freaky.  Overall, well-worth a visit.

 

 

 

 

Next was a visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or SFMoMA.  This was a little ho-hum and had the most expensive gift shop ever.  There were a couple of interesting exhibits but it’s a bit hard to top MoMA in New York.  I also braved the hundreds of thousands of Chinatown and the perpendicular hill on the bus to read Pride and Prejudice (it was free to download on my iPhone!) in Huntington Park opposite Grace Cathedral. 

 

On Friday I decided to take a tour which was advertised at the hostel – Elie’s Green Dream Tour of San Francisco.  The tour was a pretty good price and included a number of good stops that I wanted to see but didn’t want to have to fight the ruthless little old Chinese ladies just to get on a bus to go see.  Noteable photo stops included Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world), the painted ladies and Vista Point for top views of the Golden Gate Bridge.  The tour also made a stop at Muir Wood – home to a Redwood forest that had been recommended as a must-see.  Plus Elie picks you up from your accommodation and drops you back (or somewhere else if you please) at the end of the day which is pretty convenient.  Elie’s tour is a green one as the bus runs on bio-diesal, which is kind of cool and fits San Francisco’s image as the most environmentally-friendly city in America.  Elie was a very pleasant and knowledgeable tour guide and some nice people were in the group so the day was quite enjoyable.

 

Saturday was my last day at the hostel as I was checking out on Sunday to move to the hotel where the Trek America tour departed.  I decided to do a few errands like go to the post office and ATM etc plus I needed to get some more of my favourite cleanser of which I had underestimasted my use of and was fast running out.  Since there was a salon in San Francisco that apparently stocked it and was apparently open on Saturdays, I went for a little ride on the bus.  Upon arriving at the salon however, it appeared that they were not open on Saturdays so I was a bit pissed.  So that my bus trip wasn’t completely wasted, I decided to go to the nearby library and use their free wifi and read some trashy US magazines.  At the library, I sat in one of the comfy chairs opposite a little old Chinese lady who let off a RIPPER fart when she got up from her chair.  Then as she toddled back to return her reading materials, she farted each step of the way.  And did it SMELL.  This must be normal behaviour of little old Chinese ladies as no one seemed to notice except me.  

 

Saturday night I visited The Rock – Alcatraz.  The night tour is supposedly the most comprehensive tour and includes a guided tour which isn’t available on any of the other day tours.  However, I must not have been paying attention as I don’t recall being guided anywhere except for the Ranger-led 15 minutes or so up the hill to the actual prison with an occasional info stop.  All visits to Alcatraz include a cellhouse audio tour – everyone is given a little audio gizmo with earphones and you follow the directions around the prison.  This was quite good, I particularly enjoyed the commentary from actual inmates and guards.  There were a couple of informative talks by Park Rangers with a focus on escape attempts which were interesting. 

 

 

 

 

 Following day, I had to check-out of the hostel by 11am but couldn’t check-in to the hotel until 3pm.  So I decided to just read in the communal area and then get a taxi at 3.  Good idea in theory but not so good in practice as I couldn’t get a taxi if my life depended on it.  Normally, when I don’t need one, I have to beat them off with a stick but of course when I do need one, there isn’t one in sight.  So I lug my turtle to the tourist hot spots in a bid to score a taxi all the while getting further and further away from where I need to go which will naturally add to my fare.  I keep walking and a few cabs go by but I still can’t pull a ride.  Then, just as I’m thinking I may have to brave the bus, a car pulls up and the driver asks do you need a ride?  Yes!  Yes I do!  Now in San Francisco there is a variety of cabs – there are some that are the standard yellow/orange, then there are some red cabs, some blue ones, some sedans, some small 4WD and there are also some ‘executive’ cabs that are dark blue with tinted windows and look like normal cars but for a cab ID number printed on the front bumper bar.  Thinking that this car that pulled up is one of the ‘executive’ cabs, I eagerly throw my turtle in the back seat (you don’t have to tip so much if you do it yourself) and bark at the driver to take me to 121 7th avenue.  He smiles and says he has no idea where that is but is sure he’ll find it.  That’s when I notice the GPS instead of the cab meter.  I realise it’s not a taxi at all and I just got into a car with a strange man!

 

Immediately, I’m planning my escape but I’m not sure how I’ll go leaping out of a moving vehicle with turtle in tow.  Driver introduces himself and tells me he loves my accent (he’s American) and says I talk just like the GPS lady (she’s Australian).  I ask him if he makes a habit of picking up wayward travellers and he says, smooth as a six inch shit, ‘only the gorgeous ones’.  This flirtation would have been flattering but for the fact our age difference is clearly generation x.  He asks me lots of questions about myself and my travels and I’m sure to remain vague with my answers.  He tells me he is from Los Angeles working as a cameraman and is in San Francisco (all at company expense including hire car) to film a college football game and is just killing time before flying out later that afternoon.  I proceed to tell him how dull American football is and that they play real football where I come from.  He says soccer is not real football.  I say of course it is not and that he is a fool to think I was refering to soccer.  When I say I will be in Los Angeles the week after next, he suggests I give him a call and he will ’show me the sights’ - dream fucking on.  Of course, I play the part and pretend I’m delighted at the suggestion since I notice that we are only a couple of streets away from my hotel.  He gives me his business card and kisses my hand (ick!) as he drops me at the hotel and I get the fuck out of the car as quickly as my turtle will allow me but happy that I just saved myself a cab fare.

 

Peace out.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am and is filed under USA Trip '09. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.