San Francisco part 2

Day 3

After a morning spent watching Hathaway be adorable at the park, eventually motivated myself to jump back on the train to the city where, just for a change, I thought I’d go for a walk. Strolled around the hoity toity stores in Union square, and through the financial district and checked out the markets near the ferry building, then headed over to Oakland to catch up with some Istanbul friends for the night. Had a great night (and some awesome Chinese food) with Taylor, Matt, Chris and their friends. Lots of chatting and beer and raspberry mead which was a little obscure.

Day 4

Very gratefully borrowed a couch for the night and raced off early in the morning to meet Joyce at the ferry building. Made our way over to beautiful Angel Island where we joined a Segway tour. Spent a while learning to drive before setting off, and once I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t about to go plummeting of a cliff at any given moment, it was heaps of fun! Spent an hour hooning around and hearing about the history of the island. Also got some great views of the famous San Francisco fogs over the city and the bridge once we got to higher ground. Also, I had the Final Countdown playing in my head the whole time I was riding around which really added to the atmosphere for me anyway. In conclusion, they may be a ridiculous mode of transport but I want a Segway, just for the cool factor.

Hiked back to the immigration station for a bit off extra history before heading back to the mainland. Grabbed some lunch at pier 39 after Joyce headed home, then decided since it had been almost an hour since I climbed a hill, I’d walk to Coit tower for some more spectacular views over the city. Wandered through Little Italy and eventually stumbled on the Jack Kerouac Beat Museum. Its surrounded by topless bars, and I couldn’t be bothered paying $8 to go into the museum itself, but the gift shop was cool…well they had a car covered in authentic American road dust, lots of books and a selection of antique playboys anyway. Finished in Chinatown again, and then back for a delicious dinner and more adorableness from Hathaway.   

Day 5

Off to an early start, took the train back into town and hiked over to Fisherman’s wharf. Boarded a ferry that looked as if it had recently been attacked by a golf club wielding sea lion and headed for Sausalito. Having once again been misled by a transit website (shakes fist angrily), I believed that shuttles to Muir Woods ran every 20 minutes. They don’t. They have 4 per day from the busy tourist filled town and ferry port. The car park under a freeway a couple miles down the road gets the shuttle every 20 minutes. Makes much more sense that way clearly. Anyhoo, when the bus did arrive an hour later I was in the lucky half of those waiting that actually made it on board, phew.

After a twisty and scenic drive, arrived at Muir Woods which was definitely worth all the hassle. After walking among the very, very tall redwoods and being just amazed by them, I suddenly thought to myself “hey, you know what I haven’t done for a while? Walk up a hill. I better get on that”. And so I did. Hiked up for beautiful views over the area (you were supposed to be able to see the ocean but apparently it was closed due to fire restrictions…the trail was closed, not the ocean). Spent more time walking among the trees and continually overtaking and then being overtaken by the same delightful German family (slow walkers, grrr!) before rejoining the queue for the shuttle back to Sausalito (just barely avoiding being stranded in the wait and hour and a half for the next bus line again).

Back through the fog for one last (slightly rushed) stroll through the city to the Caltrain station. Going to miss walking around this city…even with all the hills.