Sunday 4th February 2018
San Francisco, ‘everybody’s favourite city’, in northern California, is a hilly city on the tip of a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. It's known for its year-round fog, iconic Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars and colourful Victorian houses. The Financial District's Transamerica Pyramid is its most distinctive skyscraper. In the bay sits Alcatraz Island, site of the notorious former prison.
Standing close to the San Andreas fault the city suffered a devastating earthquake in 1906, and it’s still waiting for the next big one. The great depression of the thirties hit hard but did result in the construction of the Golden Gate bridge among other employment opportunities to counteract the effects of the depression. Boom times returned during WW2 and continued through the fifties and sixties and the hippie era and the flower children. Ever popular the metropolitan area boasts a population of six million and is the second largest city in the US and attracts nineteen million visitors a year.
Late announcement yesterday advising that we would delay arrival today by two hours to avoid adverse tides on our approach. So not so early a need to wake up - Hoorah we all shouted!!
Beautiful sunny morning, mild and calm.
Ship’s open decks full of passengers, and crew, enjoying the sail-in below the Golden Gate Bridge, past Alcatraz and into our berth at pier 27.
Time for breakfast, plenty of time as immigration procedure was destined to take some time, those on organised trips first then independents by deck. Getting rather cloudy during the morning.
Eventually our turn, we moved slowly from queue to queue and at last made it ashore, sun out again by now.
We walked along The Embarcadero to Pier 39.
This is where the whole pier is filled with restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. Just alongside the sealions have been provided with floating pontoons for them to haul out on, and boats are banned to make sure the sealions stay for the benefit of the tourists.
Took advantage and had a famous “chowder in a sour dough bowl” for lunch.
Continued on to Fishermans Wharf,
and to the Cable Car turnaround at Hyde Street. Bought our tickets for the Cable Car and joined the queue.
Eventually boarded out Cable Car and rattled our way up the first hill, and down and up, I can see why they use cable cars some streets are seriously steep.
Rode all the way to the other turnaround and got off the Cable Car. Just a load more shops here so joined the queue for the next Cable Car for the return. We continued to be amazed at the number of unfortunate San Francisco folk around who were off in a world of their own talking to themselves and looking for handouts from the tourists, couldn’t decide what they were on or if it’s a legacy of abuse.
How about one of these flowering trees in the Garden, wonder what it is?
Rode the Cable Car back as far as Lombard Street, well known as the Crookedest Street, a block long combination of hairpin bends, one way downhill, allowing traffic to creep down an impossible slope, the sidewalk (pavement) is all steps and not a slope.
Walked down and then weaved our way back to The Embarcadero and on back to the ship.
Alcatraz Island
Back in time to watch quite a bit of the NFL Super Bowl and to have a cold drink and a snack. I won’t mention the final score as it’s too painful.
Dinner in the buffet and overnight in port, lots of lights of the city outside our stateroom and a steady stream of late night visitors from the ship to the city, mainly crew who don’t usually get much opportunity for shore leave.
No comments:
Post a Comment