Around the World (Again), San Francisco 29 Oct

San Francisco Tuesday 29 October 2013

We started off where we left off yesterday, took the street car from Dolores Park

 

Back to Golden Gate Park and its redwood trees boarded a hop on hop off tour bus to do the rest of the circuit. We had just missed a one so sat in the warming morning sun and watched the world go by. On the way to the pick-up point we had walked past the bowling greens, I stood and watched for a while and a couple of ladies (of advanced years) asked if would care to join them, I said I was off to do a tour, to which they replied,” Oh! that’s ok come along tomorrow, we are here every day”!!! Have I missed something? Do I really want to become a toy boy?

So the bus came along and we boarded, the young lady doing the running commentary was very good, she carried of her patter with great panache, and had a great repartee with the driver, she also had good interaction with the tourists.

 

We passed the Japanese Tea gardens and pagodas (it was here that the fortune cookies got invented), then out of the park onto the freeway that takes you through Richmond (much to the delight of Linda), into the Presidio and towards the Golden Gate Bridge. The tour guide kept us well informed about house prices and wages in the San Francisco City and bay area (she lived in one of the cheaper areas of Richmond), she shares an apartment with 3 friends, but still needs to hold down 3 jobs, how does that saying go “all that glitters is not gold” not even in the Golden City.

We arrived at the North end of the Bridge and took the obligatory photographs, here we could have taken another tour bus across the bridge and then on to Sausalito, but we opted to stay on the bus and complete the circuit.  

The name Golden Gate does not come from the colour of the gate, which is just a bog standard orange-red colour, it comes from the fact that it spans the Golden Narrows, the name given to this narrowing in the bay (by the early gold miners) as you enter it from the Pacific Ocean. The narrows have very strong currents and rip tides and the water is cold, very cold, another reason why no-one ever got out (alive) from Alcatraz.

Another piece of useless info, unlike a lot of ports up the west coast, this was not discovered (well it was already being lived in by the Indian people in any case) from the sea, but overland.

Upon leaving the bridge viewing point (the original site of Fort Point that guarded the narrows) we followed Doyle Dr. with the salt marshes of Crissy Field on the left; here are some modern sculptures (the driver didn’t think much of them) that are being provisionally being exhibited here while the Museum of Modern Art is being renovated.  

The tour bus now follows Lincoln Boulevard passing the second largest Military Cemetery after Arlington,  what a waste of young lives.

We then travelled through what had been the homes, quarters, mess halls and offices of the troops and officers stationed on the Presidio, one of which has now been turned into the Walt Disney Family Museum. It is closed on a Tuesday, guess what it was Tuesday.

Just before you exit the Presidio through the impressive gates, to the left you will see the very impressive Palace of Fine Arts, this would have been worth a visit and it was open but we had more pressing business, lunch in China Town. We passed the US Navy’s sail training ship that was moored at pier 47, we had seen a lot of the young cadets out and about enjoying their shore leave.

We arrived back at Fisherman’s Wharf, just in time to catch the next Hop on Hop off to take us to China Town.

 

 

 

The China town of San Francisco is the largest outside of Asia; it covers many blocks in downtown San Francisco, within easy walking distance of the financial and shopping districts. The Chinese arrived here for two reasons, they (and the Irish) helped built the Pacific Railway and this was the end of the line, also during the Gold Rush, many came and opened up gambling parlours and cheap food and drink joints, they stayed and today this is a thriving vibrant area, much of the business still carried out in their original tongues.

We popped into the old St Mary’s church, this nestles on a corner of Stockton street the new one is on O’farrell street, but I think that this smashing old church has far more charm, it is right in the centre of China Town, so you can kill two birds with one stone.

We wandered the streets and eventually selected a Dim-Sum place, though Dim-sums have in other China Towns and Chinese restaurants become an  all-day menu, here the original meaning is still adhered to and they are only serve them at lunch time.

We had deep fried salt and chilli prawns, deep fried salt and pepper calamari, steamed BBQ pork dumplings, steamed pork, mushroom dim-sum and some steamed sprouting broccoli with an oyster dipping sauce. We drank green tea and savoured our food and the wonderful atmosphere. This Dim-Sum house still had the private booths that you can still use to carry out business away from prying eyes and ears.

Suitably refreshed we headed to Union Square as Linda wanted to go to Macey’s  for no other reason than to say she had been in Macey’s, Nowt stranger than folks, though I did have a very nice old fashioned lemonade that actually tasted of lemon.

We then headed off to market street to catch the J street car back to Delores, for a while we stood and watched as they turned the cable cars at the corner of Powel Street, very interesting.

The cable car system in San Francisco was actually invented by an Englishman, he had seen the paternoster system used on the ski lifts in Switzerland and thought if you buried the cables in slits in the ground then this would be the solution to the problem in San Francisco. What problem did I hear you ask, well pin your lugs back and take note, until the cable car system came into being, all the goods, people and produce had to be transported up the streets by either hand barrows, horse and carts or you walked. If you fancy a bit of exercise try it up Powel Street. The life expectancy of a horse was max 4 years, this was very expensive and wasn’t good for the horses either. So the horse population have a Limey to thank that their life expectancy has increased in leaps and bounds since the pre-cable car days.

That evening Richard took us to a very nice restaurant, run by an ex-student of his, he is Kurdish and serves wonderful Kurdish and Turkish food, Bower the owner was actually present and we had a long chat. He is married to a German (from Dortmund) and lived for a while in Germany but he actually met his wife in San Francisco. The restaurant isn’t fancy but is serves very nice authentic food from the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

Hayes & Kebab

I had a smashing Lamb Kebab with rice and bulgur, Linda Babaganoush and a bulgur salad and Richard the Chicken Kebab also with rice and bulgur salad. All wonderfully cooked and it may have been that the staff had seen Bower talking to us but they could not have been more friendly (free dessert) and helpful.  Well worth a visit if you visit San Francisco.

We then headed home and into bed these long days are very tiring, we had said that may be it would be better not going to bed until late, but when the eyes start to droop, it is time for the land of nod.