Open San Francisco Photo Gallery
Our last visions of San Francisco were filled with landmark symbolism. After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge we entered a tunnel with a rainbow endorsed circular frame. Enough to put a smile on every weary hippy traveller's face!

We spent two nights with some distant relatives, who we knew little about and had not met. They were granddad’s cousins, although it was grandma who got us in touch. They (Gil and Becky) were blind and were guardians to their three grandchildren. They are the most open-minded fantastic people, very kind and proved to be absolutely incredible parents. I could write a whole story about them, but this is about our visit to foggy town.

San Francisco is famous for it’s summer time fog. Gil told us there is a cycle of 3-5 days with fantastic blue sunny skies then a heavy fog. The heat creates humidity that rises above Silicon Valley and likes to hover above San Fran. Therefore if weather is a bit miserable, you can be sure it will be for a few days.

San Francisco is also known as “Bay Area” and is home to about 4million people. It is a peninsula and the bay area stretches as much as 60miles north-south and up to 12miles east-west. San Francisco was the major sea port during the gold rush and has one of the most diverse ranges of ethnicity. San Francisco’s financial firms were left relatively unscathed by the “Great Depression”, which left monuments in the form of two landmark bridges. The “Bay Bridge” is longer, however the “Golden Gate” is more significant with two measures of atmospheric evening sun cutting through one measure of sea mist. It is a fantastic sight and most visible from Hoyt Tower, North Beach or Fisherman’s Wharf.

We travelled downtown on the Bart (Bay Area Rapid Transit). You put money on a card which can be used once or for multiple journeys. The Bart is clean, modern and pretty fast. However don’t expect a concise network like in London or Manhattan. Being sightseers, we were happy to walk. I believe this is the best way to see and learn a city. The city is famous for sharp inclines and with street names such as “Steepest Hill” this may not be the best way for some!

Downtown looks like Manhattan, yet within a few hundred meters, you may be forgiven for thinking you were in Barcelona. This shows what a fantastically diverse and cosmopolitan city San Francisco is. Having planned our first day (which started at about 2pm) we walked to “Hoyt Tower” also known as “Telecom Hill”. It is one of a few places giving you a panoramic view of the city and Bay Area. The trek included some steep zig zag paths through some very polite looking neighbourhoods flooded with blooming flowers.

It is peculiar to appreciate how close we were to such a prominent downtown whilst surrounded by calm and quite residences. We paid a few dollars entrance and were crammed in to an elevator taking us to the top. It was a busy Saturday, making it difficult to spend the time enjoyably. It is considered a national monument and the interior is painted with murals. They are unmistakably 1930’s with wholesome, smiling, blond farmers. A reflection of the propaganda filled Russian Constructivist style and certainly an expression of the period.

We walked for a few minutes west to the area known as North Beach. It was traditionally Italian and with our stomachs growling louder than an angry tiger, we thankfully found a deli selling some very tasty sandwiches. These were enjoyed in Washington Square Gardens and we were not the only ones there. It seems to be a very San Francisco thing to be outside and the place was buzzing with people.

It also seems very important to have great style, great shoes, to have a dog, sausage style if possible, and if you want to meet people just ask for some pot! It is a code word for being polite and sociable. I like having funky shoes so I am glad that is a signature to San Francisco. As if locals, we were amusingly asked for directions on multiple occasions. So I guess we get the thumbs up?

San Francisco is a very young city and perhaps because being a big gay city, less family. There were lots of people out in small gangs and were still young or youths yet considerably older than college age. Perhaps we are from more conservative places, but it seemed strange to see so many groups of all ages up to 50yrs old acting and looking much younger. Everyone looked like they were having fun and that is the important thing.

After our big sandwich break, we continued to investigate “Nob Hill”. Or was it “Russian Hill”? Whatever, it is a very pretty area with pretty steep hills. Steep with a quantity of steep and crowned with another unit of steep! Whitewashed houses, big views, tropical flowers, big green trees make this a sought after place to live and a great place to visit! Be prepared, the streets are very steep, you might want to bring an ice axe!

The tune in my head, California, has now been replaced with the theme tune to the “Steve McQueen” film “Bullet”. The car chase was partly filmed on Nob Hill. It goes dum dum dum dum der dum dum, be be be de de be did da di. Know it? We voyaged down hill, to the north and found the Ghiradelli ice cream plaza. It was a factory and is now home to a few small shops including a diner and Kara’s Cupcakes. They were very pretty yet at $4 each a little expensive if you have 10 children!

The cool wind continued after the sun descended and we could feel the bite in the air. We walked to Fisherman’s wharf; there are several miles of large wharfs. The area can be described as typical of many cities with arcades, touts and stores selling $5 souvenir t-shirts. The only thing missing was “Hard Cock” café, but perhaps there is one. You can come here to get a one or two hour boat ride around the harbour and to Alcatraz. Michelle had been twice and I didn’t feel like I needed to see where people suffered.

The sky was a mixture of lilacs, oranges and violets. The sun shone through the Golden Gate true to its name. Very beautiful! Some other residents to be visited at Wharf 39 are the seals. It was good night for them, however I doubt it made much difference. The occasional bark never ceased to amuse spectators. They are big, mean and they might bite your head off! That evening, we hit a few bars before and nearly missed the last Bart home. By which time, we were very tired and fell straight to sleep!

A must do in San Francisco is to take the tram. But here they are called “Cable Cars”. The period cars bumpily ride on a few lines in the hilly downtown areas and are $5 a ride, however short. It feels very liberating to hang off the side and feel the wind blowing through your hair. If from the wind, not the speed! We realised we must have reached the end when we suddenly changed direction! We were in Nob Hill so had be bup be be de de da coming into my head, again!

We trundled down a few streets to find The Japan Centre, a collection of shops, restaurants and more of things associated with Japan. We spent a few hours looking around some really cool shops. There was a collection of book stores, places to eat, selling clothes and wares for the home all set inside some fun interiors.

San Francisco has had a Japanese community since before WW2 and is not to be confused with China Town. We had a fantastic noodle soup for lunch and I nearly cleaned the bowl with my tongue. I was highly amused upon finding “Fuku Sushi” and “Japanese Pizza.” For desert I had a funky frapuchino style drink. It was made with green tea and layered with some green tea ice cream, had more stuff, something like Turkish delight and topped with more cream and a cherry on top. It sounded healthy on the menu!

We walked the few scenic miles to spend the afternoon in Golden Gate Park. We passed a baseball game. But wait! This is San Francisco! It was mixed gender, the ball was thrown under-arm and I laughed when a spectator played tv style fan fares on his full sized keyboard. All proof that it is the taking part!

Walking through another park, we saw a guy with his laptop. But wait this is San Francisco! He had a circuit board with an aerial and plugged in to a USB port! I am a techie and I have no idea what he was trying to achieve!

We passed some of many gingerbread houses and walked along the pan handle towards Golden Gate Park. There was a tribe of 40-50 hula hoopers proving that if it is in San Fran, it must be in! A street away was Haigh/Ashbury cross. To the uninitiated this is hippy central! This is where it all happened. After consideration, I wondered how is a place the centre of a revolution. Was there a shop selling flares? Did someone sit on the street corner doing hair braids or did someone light a joint?

Whatever?! The place was full of hippies who failed to realise this isn’t the ‘70s anymore. Weed is smoked in the street and tie-dye t-shirts are in the shops. We managed to buy a punnet of yet again the biggest strawberries and only for $1.50. Perfect complement to our bottle of wine; which we sneakily drank in the park.

Entering Golden Gate Park involved going through a small tunnel. But wait! This is San Francisco! The tunnel had many concrete stalagmite sculptures hanging from the ceiling. Very cool and a little bit like the bat cave! We didn’t have to walk far before finding an area to sit. Golden Gate Park has to be seen as similar to Manhattan’s Central Park. With it’s oversized public buildings and green houses the park looked quintessentially Victorian. We didn’t go much further, but we definitely thought there was a whole days worth of activities here. Especially at 5miles long!

We were joined by a collection of about 30-40 drummers. With a huge variety of drums, they ferociously beat in time and audible over a huge distance. They didn’t stop for a second for the whole Sunday afternoon we were there. Noises escaped my mouth in an in-voluntary fashion. I was shocked to see a guy wearing a Lyme Regis t-shirt. Lyme Regis being a seaside town a few miles from where I grew up! We chatted and they were doing the PCH from Seattle, where their son was at university, to San Diego. I was very jealous their trip was three weeks long! We were later given some wild flowers and told we looked very romantic. But wait, this is San Francisco!

On our way to Napa Valley, we took a detour into San Francisco. We wanted to drive down the five sharp bends of Lombard Street, but too much of a detour for us! We made it to Twin Peaks recognisable for it’s big radio masts. Again, I have a song in my head and it isn’t doop doop doop doop de do dud… I can imagine in the 1950’s Twin Peaks being a favourite hang out for teenagers borrowing a car and steaming up the windows. I would have loved to have been here at night, as I could imagine seeing panoramic San Francisco under the stars or fog to be very romantic.

We were swiftly joined by a big tour group. As tours go, they swiftly departed allowing us to take it all in! We passed many infamous ginger bread houses. Driving on the 101 across Golden Gate Park we were soon across the Bridge and yet again stopping for a scenic view of San Francisco’s skyline with the Golden Gate. On the Bay area news that evening, we discovered we had survived an earthquake. I guess I can tick that one in my book of things to do before I die!