We arrived in San Francisco on Monday night after a long but scenic drive from L.A. and spent the night with a couchsurfer called Brenda. The recent weather here has been rain and more rain, so when we woke up yesterday morning to blue skies we had only thing in mind, the bridge. After dropping off our hire car, we caught the BART (Bay area transport) an excellent tube system to downtown San Francisco. We wandered aimlessly for a while and then were drawn up the steepest street which had old school trams running up and down, a great photo opportuntiy I thought, it was. By accident we stumbled upon China town and the smells were of course delightful, it was great to see the hustle and bustle created by ethnic communities in our western world. At this point I was already falling in love with San Francisco and its steep streets filled with characters and life. We passed over 'Nob Hill' and dropped down towards the piers and Fishermans Wharf, a mecca for tourists. Its funny, I don't actually consider myself a tourist even though thats what I am and so I get frustrated when I see hoards of tourists. I guess I can't always be off climbing isolated peaks. Fishermans Wharf was full of bars, reataurants and tourist shops and was really quite nice and immaculately kept, it was great to be near the ocean, I love the smell of fish and chips, the clattering of masts and the bird shit...
At this point the bridge seemed miles away and thought about catching a bus. We continued on foot passing alot of homeless and just bums with signs reading, 'why lie, I need a beer any spare change?', this is a common sign here in California and it seems to work, 'Kerry pass me that marker pen!!!'
We finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across it taking in the great views of the bay. Along the way we stopped and chatted to some workmen, they told us that there is about a suicide a week on the bridge and that very morning someone had jumped which was really sad. The Bridge itself is a man made beauty and we loved it so much we walked back, well there was no choice really.
At this point the bridge seemed miles away and thought about catching a bus. We continued on foot passing alot of homeless and just bums with signs reading, 'why lie, I need a beer any spare change?', this is a common sign here in California and it seems to work, 'Kerry pass me that marker pen!!!'
We finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and walked across it taking in the great views of the bay. Along the way we stopped and chatted to some workmen, they told us that there is about a suicide a week on the bridge and that very morning someone had jumped which was really sad. The Bridge itself is a man made beauty and we loved it so much we walked back, well there was no choice really.
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