San Francisco

San Francisco is one of a few places in the states that I've been curious about for a long while — internationally renowned for being an open-minded cultural melting pot with its rolling hills dotted with a curious mixture of architecture. Many years ago I spoke with countless people from San Francisco (mostly over IRC), and in general they loved to live there.

With no real plan to speak of, I had roughly intended to spend this weekend just wandering around and exploring, so I chose a comfy central hotel (The Marriott Marquis) as a base. Work was kind enough to pay for my stay, which was an unexpected and most certainly appreciated bonus (thanks Mark).

Arriving quite late, I did the “European” thing by taking the BART straight to the hotel, checked in, and after noticing that my Android phone suddenly had a whole host of new features available (but no coverage to speak of on the 38th floor), I sought out the nearest Irish pub for a pint and some food. I had landed right in the after-work crowd, so it was pretty busy, and propped at the bar I ended up chatting with so many IT guys it was starting to become ridiculous.

Feeling a bit stuffed, I left the bar and wandered back through the seedy area (it's pretty ugly at night) to the hotel for an early night. The beer, the food, the flight, and the tiny little three hour time zone difference had all sucked the life out of me. I checked out a bit of television, and after being frustrated with endless loud flashing advertising and news stories about shootings, robberies, car-jackings, and whatever in Oakland, I gave up and went to sleep.

I woke up early on Saturday to try to maximise my day. Having seen a bit of the not-so-interesting seedy area towards Mission Street, I thought it best to wander in the opposite direction without any real consideration for where I was going, using Geocaching as a guide to discover things I would probably miss, and Google Maps as a back-up plan if I get lost (or bored).

I didn't really know what to expect.

It really wasn't long (about 10 minutes after leaving the hotel) before I hit Chinatown, purely by accident, and I wandered through and had a look in many shop windows. With it being not even 8:30am, everything was closed but the street was pretty busy with morning deliveries.

I carried on walking down Grant Avenue until crossing Columbus Avenue, where the street started to change from Chinese to Italian, so went down a parallel street instead.

The architecture started to become a bit more of what I had expected with some cute three story town houses, and then I stumbled across a sign for something that sounded familiar — Coit Tower. I figured this would be a great place for a wonderful view of the city, so I struggled my way up the hill.

Until then, I hadn't really taken into consideration how hilly San Francisco is, but I can tell you after that little hike I had very quickly found out. At the top, I found a small park area with a few people peacefully performing T'ai chi ch'uan (太极拳) in this very quiet spot.

The fog was little chilly up there, but the hike had made me boiling hot (I'm pretty unfit at the moment), so I started in the direction of the tower to find a way up for the view before I got cold. One of the T'ai chi guys asked if I was there to learn, and we had a little chat.

It turns out he has family in Brussels, and said Brussels has the most pathetic Chinatown he's seen (I agree, it's tiny)! He complimented me on daring to wear a skirt considering the weather, and that I must be very healthy especially because of the steep direction I came from (he couldn't have been more wrong). He also told me the tower was closed, and sure enough they had a sign up saying it was closed until much later in the day. I couldn't be bothered hanging around.

I headed back down, down Columbus Avenue towards the port. This area was unexpectedly touristy, filled with tourists complaining loudly about the cold, the fog, the price of post cards and other crappy trinkets, and everything else really; so I headed away from the port as the shops were just starting to open. I wanted to find a small café and get away from the main roads with giant restaurants pretending to be cafés.

I had somehow wound up at the famous Lombard Street, with more loud complaining tourists, but it was quite a novelty. Everyone who talks about San Francisco inevitably mentions Lombard, mostly because of Magnum Force (Clint Eastwood films suck as a rule, as far as I'm concerned), but I'll probably always know it from Vertigo (exterior shots for James Stewart's apartment). Of course I had to have a quick look!

As much as the tourists driving down there slowly (and stopping regularly to take pictures) amused me, let alone the huge signs asking people not to use their car horns, I was still on a hunt for a nice little café. A few blocks away I found one and grabbed a coffee and some food, and chatted with some more locals. Coit Tower was nothing, now I'll concede this place is hilly!

While there, I started checking if there were some Geocaches around. The first took me to a little urban park on a hill (surprise, surprise) which offered a great view of Alcatraz Island, which unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit.

The next cache to visit took me to the Cable Car Museum, somewhere I didn't expect to wind up, and considering it's free I went in and took a look. The Museum is also the powerhouse, and is obviously still operating.

The scale of the equipment, and the length and weight of the cables are pretty impressive, especially considering the engineering challenges to operate such a system in such a hilly environment. I couldn't help but think that Melbourne once operated such as tramway back in the day, with some pretty extensive routes, and what a bizarre solution to a problem this is.

By now my feet were killing me — the boots I was wearing hadn't yet been broken in, so I started to head back to the hotel. Having never been into an Apple store, I had to have a peek on the way. It's quite an impressive shop, but I couldn't help but laugh (and quite loudly, too) at the guy giving a presentation on how to check your email with your iPhone who dressed and acted like he was Steve Jobs giving a keynote speech, complete with the trademark black turtle neck and jeans.

I checked out the iPad, which reminded me that I still have no need for one, but what struck me was how many saved passwords for Facebook accounts were left on the thing. What are people thinking? The address book killer from Ghost in the Machine would love this place, if only that movie didn't suck!

After returning to the hotel to rest my feet, I ventured out again and did a bit more Geocaching around the neighbourhood, enjoying some amazing architecture that seems quite unique to San Francisco. Notably I found a huge cache which took me to the California Historical Society. It was interesting to see the exhibition at the time, and comparing the history of the bay area and California in general with that of Victoria, both of which grew dramatically due to gold rushes. The staff were really friendly, so it was a nice little find!

I headed over to Yerba Buena Gardens to check out the live music, before heading off to a bar for some dinner and some beers.

The following day I went out even earlier in the morning and while looking for a decent place for coffee I stumbled across the start of the Nike Women's Marathon — how could I miss it, given the scale of the starting line at Union Square!

Decent coffee was found, and I continued to people-watch. The city had a very different feel this morning.

Can someone tell me if marathon runners really expect to recover their jackets from the starting line after the race?

With limited time left, I headed down to the Ferry Building to have a wander through the market and to grab some lunch. Afterwards I headed back to the hotel (via a Walgreens to get something for the large blisters growing on my feet) to check out and go and catch my flight back to South Carolina.

Looking back on the mad weekend, it's funny how I didn't visit the Golden Gate Bridge (or even the park), Alcatraz Island, or anything touristy really. I tried to mingle with locals, and I think I'd really like to go back and see the city and the Bay Area properly, particularly during the week. I didn't take many photos, mostly because I only had my phone with me so I didn't feel that inspired, and I suspect the crappy photos I did take reflect that.

More importantly though, I didn't think about work — not even once!

Oh yeah, work tomorrow. Err…