December 1st 2012
Saturday, we figured out, that we will
go to San Francisco. The weather forecast was not the greatest, but
we were hoping we will be lucky. We planned to catch the train at
9.57. We walked in rain to the train station. It was fine (about a
mile). Tickets and some waiting.
The ride was uneventful (35 minutes)
and on time. Unfortunately, it was still raining. We did not have any
plans, so after looking at map, we walked towards Market street and
the center of town. Still, in rain.
We walked. We walked some more. We
ended up on Market street, J. made us go to couple of stores and we
stopped as well by visitor's center. Not very helpful. The rain was
coming and going. It was not pleasant, but it was not too bad either.
For most of the day, I was just in long sleeve shirt (and it felt
nice). At the street car end stop, we turned and walked up the hills
into residential street.
On Union Square, we found big Christmas
tree and a lot of flowers blooming. It was such a nice picture in
December. It was a bit strange experience (a this point). We were
remembering some of those places from our previous visit (about 6
years ago), and we were in bustling city (compared to laid back
Flagstaff). But it felt pretty good. Hard to say how that pigeon felt
...
As we did not have any plans (and only
a map of city), we were going toward the bay (across big part of
city). A lot of walking. We did really enjoy it. The views. The
houses. Different streets and pictures.
We were getting somewhat tired, but we
just continued walking and enjoying it. There was actually a lot
smaller things, that were interesting or even amazing. Obviously, the
weather was ruining some pictures and I was kind of fed up with
opening and closing the umbrella, but it was relatively warm rain. In
downtown area, we found this interesting building called pyramid.
After almost six miles, we finally made
it and were on the waterfront. It got windier and colder, but still
pretty nice. We could see Golden Gate Bridge in fog (actually made a
nice picture). We sit down for a moment and just enjoy the view.
There was big cargo ship coming in and it was huge. For a while, we
walked down on Hyde street (and according to the map, it continued
onto the pier). We walked on the pier and found out, that it was a
national park. Small one, with many unique ships (and few of them
were open to public). First, I was mistaken and paid 5 dollars (per
person) fee to see the ships, just to discover, it was national park
and our annual pass gave us free tickets. It was amazing. We visited
three ships and really enjoyed it. Balclutha was first ship, it was
sail cargo ship with big exhibit in the cargo area. We could see
kitchen, living quarters and cargo space. It was unbelievable. Then
we found captains apartment. Apparently, he was traveling with his
family (his daughter was born on the ship), so he had really nice
apartment available. Then we visited another ship being restored (not
much to see). And the last one was Eureka (ferry from 30's). They had
old cars on board, you could see small part of engine … just
awesome.
We are glad, that after gasoline price
spikes in California (couple months ago), we see normal prices (as
low as 3.59). Still, it is heavy traffic driving and our miles per
gallon will go down. We miss Flagstaff and its no traffic, but that
is the life. It is not too bad around San Mateo. We were not too
happy about 10 dollars (round trip) price for Caltrain. In San
Francisco, we learned, why it was not too much. Parking is horrible
and expansive (even on street meters are 3-4 dollars per hour). And
gas prices … 4.39 per gallon.
Ohhh … when we were leaving the
national park, we saw something strange. There were people swimming
in the bay. Probably 15 people. Crazy.
After being in mountains of Arizona, we
are back on ocean (well, close enough). It was nice to see water and
Alcatraz as we were walking down the streets of the city. And then we
sit down in national park (we did not know it is park yet) and enjoy
the view. Later, we were told, it was built in 30's New Deal projects
as a auditorium for water sports. As well the building next to (bath
house), now museum.
Along the way, we saw so many cool and
interesting houses. We as well visited few shops, one of them was art
gallery/store with some interesting (and sometimes goofy) stuff. Like
this wire work.
We spent much more time then
anticipated in the marine park, so we decided to take a shortcut and
walk towards the center and train station. There is a “czech”
restaurant, so we wanted to stop. I would appreciate czech meal and
J. was being nice to go along. Usually, when we try this (when there
is czech restaurant, she does not get good meal). They were just
opening, so it was quite awkward. We got a table, waitress was czech
(so I talked czech – as well weird) and ordered our meals. At the
end, it was pretty good (J. got tuna melt) and we were fine.
On the way back to train station, it
started to rain again. We did enjoy ourselves and were glad we took a
chance on weather. It got dark, there was plenty of lights and even
some buildings had “christmas” lights. I guess. Normal train ride
and then again walk in the rain.
Conclusion: so far so good. J. still
has to start on her unit, but it looks like the area will work pretty
nicely. Even in bad weather, it was relatively warm and nice. And
there are still flowers blooming. And … no snow!!! Great winter so
far!!!
