Last meal as a group was back in Toronto in a very fancy steakhouse called the Keg, which belied it's name & was in a large gracious house, an old Victorian with beautiful detailing, almost the interior was done in anglo indian carving. Another good meal, had the steak oscar (surf & turf)
Next day to the airport in the arvo for the flight to LAX. Funny thing, the Toronto airport has a part for which is US soil to process people flying to the US, so you don't have to do customs & border control in the US (must be a sweetheart deal with Canada) Well I was the last through, & the border guard (not one who has had a charisma bypass like most) joked at first when I said that I was staying in SF for a week before flying back to Aus, saying well we'll see about that, ....then when he checked further, he said my passport was coming up with an alert!!!! and took me off to another room & left me to cool my heels for an hour or so. Luckily Pat had seen me marched away & was able to tell the others. I was thinking they may search my case, but no.....after a while they questioned me , had the passport been reported stolen at any stage?, how long had I had it?..I was freaking out, the passport was brand new before I came away & had not been out of my hands since & no had not been reported as stolen. I tried to ask what was going on & got the answer, sorry privileged information. Finally they came up with, just a glitch & I was let through. Well for crying out loud, I had used the passport the day before when going from Canada to US over the border in Niagara!
Anyway they obviously let me back into the US as here I am in San Francisco....after a night in hotel in LA, in the hotel shuttle from the airport, I heard a woman ask the driver, "what's this about a shooting on Century Blvd?" He agreed that there had been on but did not have any other info.....well, where is the Crowne Plaza....of course on Century Blvd!!! Naturally I did not venture out for a walk, just slept there & hopped back on the shuttle for the airport at 10am next day, arriving 3 hours before my flight, which was then delayed by an hour!!! Not a problem though, plenty of shops to poke through and a book to read.
Arrived in SF & made my way to the BART which went straight through to East Bay where cousin Chris lives.
Next day, Friday, caught the BART into SF & did the Hop on hop off bus tour, got on in Union Square & straight into the tenderloin, & I see what they are talking about, the homeless, vagrants & destitute just lying around in the streets & this was at 10am. This area is cheek & jowl with the swish stores & quite a large area. Really I have never seen anything like it, desolate really . Went past lots of stuff, but I was planning to go all the way around, 2 hours, & then get off on the next round, but on first round went past Fishermans wharf & the guides had recommended to have the clam chowder in sourdough Pier 39 & it was lunch time. Sourdough nice, but chowder average, have had better. Back on the bus for the rest of the round, through the Mission - hispanic, the Castro - gay, Haight-Ashbury - flowerpower music, Golden Gate Park, over the Golden Gate Bridge, shrouded in mist, (as we were in the top of the bus) & invisible as we went over. Not an unusual occurrence apparently. Next round I got off at the Lombard St stop, & walked up the crookedest street....along with all the other rubbernecks, steep as but views worth it, it's a oneway street & cars queue at the top to drive down it, very nice houses on both sides with front doors virtually on the footpath, not sure I could stand all the rubbernecks going past my frontdoor all day every day! I heard that they are thinking of closing it to cars.
Of course I then had to make my way back to the bus route again, what a joke....with MY sense of direction.. after 2 miles, decided to head back to the wharf area where I knew I would get it.....finally.
Back on the BART to East Bay....holidays are exhausting!, thank goodness Chris found me trudging home from the BART on his way to pick up his son for the weekend.
Saturday - into SF again to explore things a bit closer , walked through the Mission area, named for the Spanish franciscan missionaries who settled the area in the 1700's with the aid of indian slave labour by the sound. Very hispanic, lots of thrift shops, nail shops, cheque- cashing shops(payday loans). Also known for the street murals (some would call it graffiti) but whole alleys are covered. The Mission San Francisco de Asis - SF oldest standing building - a wedding going on in the basilica next door - about larger size bridesmaids - & then a tiny little bride got out of the car - I wonder if she chose her bridesmaids to make herself look good - unworthy thought.
Then onto the Castro, really it's hard to go past the rows of houses without taking pictures, the houses are so distintive. Right through the area are the rainbow flags signifying gay pride. Area a bit more genteel than the Mission area , not so run down, & LOTS of laundries, what does that say?
All this schlepping around takes time & after a trip downtown on the F line streetcar ($2 for all trips, no change given) back to BART as time to go home as out for tea with Chris & Russell. Nice tea at one of the restaurants on this gated private town where Chris lives......the American way. Quite a sizable town, well over 5,000 pop.
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| The fancy Civic Centre, destitute lying in the street one street away |
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| Typical SF houses |
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| And again |
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| and again, loved them |
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| Lots of scenes like this, with views up the street, top in the mist |
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| The most we saw of the Golden Gate bridge as we went over |
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| Clam chowder Pier 39 Fishermans wharf |
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| Boats at Pier 39 |
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| The crookedest street Lombard St |
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| Typical view, Coit tower up on the right |
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| Wharf area, when I was chasing the bus, not sure if that is Angel Island or Alcatraz shrouded in mist |
