Going to California--San Francisco

Mark and I decided we needed to take a vacation this summer and when an opportunity arose to travel to San Francisco and Wine Country at a reasonable expense, we jumped at the chance to sneak away for 5 days!  Our timing couldn't have been better.  While our homestate was dealing with baking sun and unbearable temps of +100 degree days, we escaped to the Bay area which welcomed us with temps in the mid 60s and 70s and pleasant sunshine (San Francisco is known for being cool and fairly cloudy).  The top picture shows Mark and I enjoying the cool 70 degree weather in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.  If you can believe the very first picture I took on our vacation was of this black and white cat.  We had just arrived in the city and were in Chinatown feverishly looking for a place to get a quick bite to eat (more on that later) and concentrating on working through the throngs of people and activity that is Chinatown--when we stumbled upon this fat cat SLEEPING quite peacefully on the sidewalk.  It was amazing!  Amid the hustle and bustle and noise of this highly trafficked area, this guy was sound asleep.  We weren't the only ones amazed, as there were other people stopping, staring, taking pictures and shaking their heads in disbelief as well!  Leave it to me to take my first picture on a vacation of a cat!

We had an excellent meal at an old Chinese restaurant called the Green Empress of China.  We loved the hot and sour soup and wontons and thoroughly enjoyed watching the very professional waiters present the food to us and the other patrons.  The inside of the place was dated, but well-kept and really fun to look at.  I loved this tree in the entry way.

As I mentioned before, we went to Chinatown as soon as we arrived.  We entered on an end of the community where it really catered to the hordes of tourists--lots of stores and vendors selling trinkets and souvenirs and little restaurants that had English and Chinese writing on their windows.  Because we were so rushed that day to return to our car (again, more on that later), we returned to Chinatown the next day but entered it on the opposite side.  This end was much, much more "Chinese".  It was bustling with market vendors, fishmongers, and the businesses were certainly aimed for Chinese-Americans, not wide-eyed toursist like Mark and I.  It was absolutely fascinating and dizzying at the same time!

We also drove down famous Lombard Street--along with 9 zillion other tourists! 

A delightful patch of lovely flowers bedded on one of the curves of Lombard Street.

I'm afraid this picture does it no justice, because it is quite steep and crooked.  Especially when you walk up it!  Which we did because I just had to get a picture of this house just covered with this stunning creeping flower.  Love it!

We also stumbled on the original Swensen's (established in 1948) and treated ourselves to absolutely divine ice creams cones.  After all, we had just completed trekking up Lombard Street!

We spent a lot of time exploring Pier 39 and an even greater amount of time people-watching.  I believe this area of San Francisco is always busy, but we really had a chance to marvel at its transformation from early morning relative tranquility (think joggers and tai chi) to July 3 pre-Independence Day (think BIG crowds, street entertainers vying for attention, and lots of tourists). 

The main thoroughfare next to the piers--eerily still in the early morning.

This large shopping area by Pier 39 definitely transformed itself to loud and crowded mecca by the early afternoon.  It was crazy!

These seals were the loudest things on the docks in the early morning.  Well, maybe they were tied with the calling of the gulls.

This was as close as we got to Alcatraz.  Because of the holiday, all of the tours were sold out way in advance. 

Picture above:  A very shimmery street entertainer and a little boy who thought it was just great that I was taking his picture.  That seaman better not be British!  Not the day before Independence Day!  A giant iron crab sculpture was textured with live plants and flowers growing from its shell.

And speaking of crabs, probably the best meal we had on our trip was a delectable dungeoness crab prepared by this very dutiful street vendor.  The preparation of our lunch was absolutely fascinating to watch.  First, we selected one of these guys:

Then the woman pulled apart the already deceased crab and pounded the shell surrounding the body and legs using a special mallet and stone.

Finally, she cooked it in a large vat of boiling hot water (making sure the bowl was covered by another bowl so no limbs would be lost).  Sounds a little morbid but with a little drawn butter it was YUMMY!

This same day, we also walked the shoreline of the bay to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.  Again, we were fortunate to get such a clear, sunny day to observe this structure. 

long the way, we found empty crab claws and shells, watched the fisherman do their thing (alas, nobody caught a shark this time--an exciting memory I have from my childhood when we vacationed in San Francisco), and walked by Crissy Field.

I'm pretty pleased with this shot!  It was a great view.

Here is a view of the city from the Golden Gate Bridge.  The large pier in the foreground was where all the fisherman were fishing.

Hello!

I thought this little sign printed on the bridge was quite charming and very appropriate.  The Golden Gate is heavily trafficked by pedestrians, bikes and tiny service vehicles...you really do need to pay attention to what lane your're walking in and not lose track of your companions!

Although we weren't planning on coming here, we were curious about this interesting structure as we were walking around the city (which, by the way, we probably walked 14 miles in one day).  This is the Palace of the Fine Arts and was originally constructed in 1915 for the Panam-Pacific Exposition.  Still situated on its original site, the structure was rebuilt in 1965 and then received a seismic retrofit in 2009.  Seismic retrofit refers to the process of  modifying existing structures to better withstand the ill-effects of earthquake activity.

 

We loved the Grecian columns and the interior of the rotunda dome.  We also enjoyed the multitude of turtles basking in the sunshine and the egrets stalking their prey.

Shrugging their shoulders, The "Weeping Maidens" look more confused than sad!

We did not ride the trolley cars, but enjoyed their frequent passing.

We noted the similarities of color and architecture San Francisco seems to share with the fine city of Charleston, South Carolina.  The house on the right, however, is not an example of this--we just thought this goofy abode looked like a place Strawberry Shortcake would vacation while visiting the west!

 

Not only were many of the homes reminiscent of the color and style used in Charleston, but many of the San Francisco residences had gates and ralings made of beautiful stylized ironworks.  Also, there was a lot of attention to tiling on walkways and stairs as well as the teeny tiny front "yards" which were really patches of landscaping.  Not a lot of grass there.

San Francisco comprised the first half of our trip and in my next blog I will share pictures and comments from the second half of the trip.  While we certainly found the city full of interesting and unique things that were fun and exhilarating to see, we also experienced and observed a not-so-flattering side to California.  Whenever we visit any major urban center (which isn't very often), Mark and I are always amazed how many people live so close to one another.  Indeed this is the case of San Francisco and perhaps because there are so many hills it really seems pronounced there--almost like homes are stacked on top of each other.  Mingling with the grandiose natural beauty within the city and the obvious wealth of the area, our visit to SF also revealed the significant number of homeless people living there.  Now, we certainly have homeless people in Madison, but the numbers and the conditions we observed out west was noticeably higher and different.  The above right picture shows a homeless man sleeping on a bench by Pier 39 under a stunning tree.

Mark and I had lots of issues driving in the city and we are partly to blame for this.  We shouldn't have even tried and just used the efficient BART Railway system instead (which we did after the 1st nightmarish day of driving).  Heavy, heavy congestion, super-fast traffic, crazy motorcycle laws (they can weave between vehicles in traffic whenever and however they want), poorly marked streets and exits, and ridiculously expensive tolls contibuted to the madness that is CA driving!  We developed a whole new appreciation for the user-friendly roads found in Wisconsin.  There was also a substantial amount of constuction going on and pictured above is the end of the Bay Bridge which connects SF to Oakland.  A few beams were giving a lot of support to an extremely large and busy structure!