Walking and Exploring

Day 3 - Dec 25, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I really thought it would be quiet around here today, but alas there are tourists - and ALOT of them!

I started my day around 10, since I really had no where to be.  I'm still trying to adjust to the time change so I'm forcing my sleep patterns to change today, since I know I'm still on Toronto time.  It was certainly a lazy morning.

I decided to take the old cable car line (Powell Mason) to Fisherman's Wharf today.

The line up at the start of the line was easily an hour wait, so I decided to hike up a hill or two to the next stop.  Fewer people presumably would be there waiting, but it was a risk that there wouldn't be any room to get on.  I couldn't get on the Powell Hyde line, so I took the next one.  The drop off points at the end of the line were only a few blocks apart, but when trekking up hills is involved, you really want to avoid unnecessary walking.  I think I made the right choice by walking to the next stop.

I walked down to Hyde Street Pier which was closed today, so seeing some historic ships was not an option, but I think I was only missing out on an old schooner, which I saw from the bus yesterday anyway!  Pier 45 was open however, and a submarine called USS Pampanito was open for business (served in World War II).

I bought a ticket and ventured down for a tour.  My first submarine!  It was pretty cool, and tiny actually.  Prolly could have taken the audio tour, but I got the jist since things were labelled!

After finishing that, I found myself in an old arcade hall.  Old means old.  Vintage machines they keep updated.  If you bring lots of quarters, you can have a little fun with some of thee games.  I used only one quarter, on a machine called the Mechanical Horse - no I didn't ride it.  The horse was built by George Harold Messmore modernmechanix.com .  It's perpetual motion post-time with a polished chrome mechanical horse, finely engineered to duplicate every motion of a race horse.  Circa 1937.  For 25 cents, I watched it move into a gallop.  Nothing spectacular, except for the fact that a machine like this still operates seamlessly and if my memory serves me correctly, falls on the heels of when the first horse was put in motion with a series of pictures.  I'll have to look that up again for the correct details.  For it's time, it was a pretty incredible feat.

I walked out to Pier 39, and passed many street performers.  Alot was open today, especially restaurants.  I cannot believe, although I was warned by the tour drivers, that it is very touristy and commercialized.  Oh the seals!  The many seals that call this pier home.  Everyone was gathered to watch them laze about.  One was rather territorial keeping a floating dock all to himself.  Some others were playful, most slept.  I don't think I need to visit the zoo now.  I began wandering in and out of some stores and realized I should decide what to do next.  Why not hike up one of the 43 hills in San Francisco?  I have nothing better to do....but the course of the day had me walking up several hills.  Funny, always felt like I was walking up!

I decided to walk up to Lombard to see the "crookedest street", so called because of multiple switchbacks.  Charlie just had to try to drive down the street.

It is a one way street, and there was a traffic jam going down .  I walked up one side and down the other.  Both times was faster than the traffic was able to navigate.  It has 8 sharp curves on a 40 degree slope and was built in the 1920s to allow traffic to descend the steep incline.  A little Go Car was going down, which made me frustrated, since I had a tour booked with that and Alcatraz which was cancelled by the US Gov't due to their strike.  I wasn't able to rebook, supposedly because the Go Cars were not operating this week....lies!!  Anyway, on we go....

I saw two spires of a church and decided, it is Christmas, I should go in and check it out.  It was CLOSED!  They were serving a Christmas dinner and I wasn't able to take a look inside.  Fine then!  Doesn't matter that I climbed another hill for that!

I continued to Coit Tower, and guess where that was?  Yes!  On top of another hill!  Telegraph Hill this time. I had no intention of going inside, but wouldn't be able to anyway.  It is closed for construction until March.  The tower is 210 feet tall and built in the shape of a fire hose.  The view at the base was a little pointless, since the trees block out alot of the Bay.  I did manage to get a good picture of the Bay Bridge however.  No fog, not a cloud in the sky really.

I was a little stuck with how to get back from the Coit Tower.  Many streets dead ended into beautiful homes.  Old Victorian styles again, with nice gardens.  I stumbled on another garden with view called Jack Early Park.  Finally made it to a road that would take me to a streetcar line.  I only had to wait 2 minutes until the next streetcar on the F line.  It was a vintage streetcar built in1948 painted green and cream.  I was at my hotel in roughly 10 minutes.

I needed dinner so I went across the street where I got a whopper.  Cashier took my receipt so I didn't get proof of the date, but it is after all Whopper Wednesday - although apparently that isn't celebrated here.  Christmas I think, is.  You wouldn't know it though.

I had a very busy day without skipping a beat, and it felt very ordinary.

Tomorrow I'm heading on a different streetcar to get to the California Academy of Sciences and maybe go to the Zoo afterwards, since they are relatively close by.  There is a Martin Luther King memorial in a large park called Yerba Buena Gardens about a block away from my hotel, which I was considering walking to tonight.  Might be nice to see all lit up, but I'm a little tired and will pack it in for another day tomorrow.

I have to say, I've seen alot in this City and I'm pleased with all I've seen thus far.  Aside from missing Alcatraz, I'm happy to say I've crossed this city off my list.  My feet have thanked me for it!

Charlie decided he had to finish the day off with a beer, Anchor Steam - local brew and I'd have to agree with him, pretty good.