sore toes and fog
Hellow all
An update on todays' goings-on.
Got hardly any sleep tonight and couldn't be bothered buying breakfast, so had an orange and a health food mix - which, to my suprise, was all salted and contained more chocolate than dried bananas and nuts.
Walked up with the hostel manager Dave and a new staff member in tour-training: Chris, both early 20s, to the bike shop after buying sandwiches.On the way, i passed a few strange things:
* a guy towing along an upside-down vacuum cleaner by the cord up the main street, market street.
* a guy walking casually along the main footpath with no pants on
* went past Fell Street. I would have stopped and taken a photo, but i would have gotten run over (bloody wrong side of the road drivers)
* a bread-making demonstration place where they make crocodiles and all sorts out of sourdough bread and fill it with their world-famous Clam Chowder, which i am too scared to try. Apparently its like clam casserole. They have weird food over here, a lot of junk and greasy food.
* passed a restaurant where famous films have been made, including one by george lucas (is that the guy who did star wars?)
* passed the church where Marilyn Monroe got married, and took a photo for sarahs' sake.
*passed robin williams house too
Got the bike from Blazing Saddles and rode past the world famous street performers along Fishermans' Wharf, which is likea mixture between Ettalong and Circular Quay, except the performers are actually entertaining: break dancers, statues, silver statues who move mechanically and have the sound effects to go with it, etc...
Rode like stink to catch up with the guys all day - a total of 25 miles, which i think is 40km, which is huge!!!
Went down past the Embercerado to the main street, riding up and stopping at City Hall. It looks like a mosque, and get this: apprently its built on springs so that the building can be lifted up incase there is an earthquake!! Some mayor wanted his name engraved into it, which was denied, so when he was put out of givernment, he hired a crew to break in and chisel his name into the wall!!! Weird things people do.
There are a lot of old buildings - most of them are banks because its in an area aptly called the "financial district."
San Francisco is famous for a few odd things: the fog, the clam chowder, and the hills. Rode up so many hills today i thought i was gonna die - and i always thought i was fairly fit!!!
Went up and through the Haight Area, which is the hippie area. There were a lot of strange adults shops, art decor places and clothing stores, but i didn't see many hippies - they must have all migrated to Nimbin and Katoomba.
Rode through a scary park - like hyde park, but triple the homeless people: they were all hanging around with dreads and carting around shopping trolleys and playing frisbee. A guy was walking in front of us saying "what a day to play frisbee!! Such a beautiful day, to be gay, i have AIDS." I am serious!!!
Apparently that was the real San Franciscan way - they were hangin around and playing tennis too.
Then we passed through the Castro, San Francisco's gay area. One homeless lady i rode past and she stared at me and then remarked to the person next to her as she stuck out her tongue at me, saying "see, chicks dig me."
It wasn't much like newtown though -absolutely no atmosphere.
Then kept going up lots of hills until we got to the Conservatory of Flowers - it was just a bunch of flower beds, quite pretty, but what was better, was the entertainment. There was a busking group under a bridge playing bass guitar and saxaphone, and then there were these performers of an old english dance where they dress in black and white and hit each other with sticks.
Next we went to the Cultural museum, which just had a collection of random things, including a lot of wire sculptures which cast shadows of flowers on the walls. The entire building was covered in metal mesh, for a post-modern effect i was told.
Went up to the Observation deck and got a panorama view of san francisco: lots of houses with no eaves, dotting the hillsides, and saw the city skyline. We could have gone up twin peaks but i didn't have the energy. Besides, with it being such a cold and foggy day, we wouldn't have seen anything.
Next we went up more hills and through a park which had fenced-off bisen - they just look like black cows with demented heads and a lot of hair. Went past a dutch windmill (this is such an eclectic town) and down through golden gate park. Stopped for a much needed breather, at the pacific ocean - they were like "oh the beach" and i walk like "its bloody freezing and this is supposed to be sunny, and the beach didn't look very inviting because of the grey brown sand and lack of sunshine.
Had lunch on the cliffline, which had a full view of the bridge but too much fog to even see what colour it is.
winded down a lot of dirt track. which got a bit steep and slippery, and trying to put my duke of ed into practice, i tired going down it, and nearly went off the cliff. To stop myself, i slammed my left foot into the ground, stubbing my toe. I didn't feel it til later, which is now, and i am nursing it with ice - its all gone swollen.
Went through the presidero, or however you spell it, which has a lot of posh houses, including robin williams one. It was like something out of a movie. Like a neighbourhood from Everybody Loves Raymond or something, not that i have ever watched that show.
Headed down to the start of the golden gate bridge, which reminded me a lot of anzac bridge in its formation, and the harbour bridge in its atmosphere. I couldn't see the top of the trestles? because of the fog, which was a bit disappointing.
After some photos, we weaved our way through pedestrians across the bridge. You know you are a tourist when you look up a lot. Took a movie of me going across the bridge, adding a corny "yeehaa" sound effect. It was pretty awesome, but very busy. We also had the wind on us and we were being buffetted around quite a lot.
Took a cruisy downhill run into the quiet town which i can't remember the name of, where we caught the ferry back to san francisco. Went past alcatraz, which is such a dump, but i will nevertheless do a tour of it tomorrow, most likely.
Rode back up the enbarcerado (i spell it differently every time) and dropped the bikes off. Limped back to the hotel and packed my stuff, then carted it down 6 flights of stairs ( i wish i hadn't taken so much - i might send some home.)
Then walked back down to the embarcaredo and caught a Muni (tram bus thing) to fishermans' wharf, where i was to catch a bus to the hostel. I couldn't find a bus stop however, so dragged my suitcase along at least a kilometre, and up a MASSIVE hill to get to the hostel, which is an old soldier housing station, so is positioned at an upmost part of a coastline peak. Its where a movie about a hospital was filmed in 1945. The room is ok, except i am on a top bunk, which is a few feet away from the roof and has a water pipe sticking out.
Met up with a girl called Mayuko, and, desperate to talk to someone (which i haven't really done since i left), i yabbered on. Then i had dinner (leftover pizza from the other day and my leftover salad chicken sandwich.) After exploring a bit and looking for someone desperate to make friends with (they have to be alone - you can't make friends with people who are already traveling with other people.,) i read a bit of my book and got on the net. Its taken almost two hours to write this blog!!!
Tomorrow, provided i can walk, i will visit alcatraz, the wax museum, maybe the coit tower and the museum of modern art, and souvenir shop along fishermans wharf, and grocery shop in "trader joes" supermarket.
For now, over and out.
Love Mii x x x
PS: i wanna talk to some people on msn. Give me a rough idea in your time of when you will be online and i will see if i can work it out.
An update on todays' goings-on.
Got hardly any sleep tonight and couldn't be bothered buying breakfast, so had an orange and a health food mix - which, to my suprise, was all salted and contained more chocolate than dried bananas and nuts.
Walked up with the hostel manager Dave and a new staff member in tour-training: Chris, both early 20s, to the bike shop after buying sandwiches.On the way, i passed a few strange things:
* a guy towing along an upside-down vacuum cleaner by the cord up the main street, market street.
* a guy walking casually along the main footpath with no pants on
* went past Fell Street. I would have stopped and taken a photo, but i would have gotten run over (bloody wrong side of the road drivers)
* a bread-making demonstration place where they make crocodiles and all sorts out of sourdough bread and fill it with their world-famous Clam Chowder, which i am too scared to try. Apparently its like clam casserole. They have weird food over here, a lot of junk and greasy food.
* passed a restaurant where famous films have been made, including one by george lucas (is that the guy who did star wars?)
* passed the church where Marilyn Monroe got married, and took a photo for sarahs' sake.
*passed robin williams house too
Got the bike from Blazing Saddles and rode past the world famous street performers along Fishermans' Wharf, which is likea mixture between Ettalong and Circular Quay, except the performers are actually entertaining: break dancers, statues, silver statues who move mechanically and have the sound effects to go with it, etc...
Rode like stink to catch up with the guys all day - a total of 25 miles, which i think is 40km, which is huge!!!
Went down past the Embercerado to the main street, riding up and stopping at City Hall. It looks like a mosque, and get this: apprently its built on springs so that the building can be lifted up incase there is an earthquake!! Some mayor wanted his name engraved into it, which was denied, so when he was put out of givernment, he hired a crew to break in and chisel his name into the wall!!! Weird things people do.
There are a lot of old buildings - most of them are banks because its in an area aptly called the "financial district."
San Francisco is famous for a few odd things: the fog, the clam chowder, and the hills. Rode up so many hills today i thought i was gonna die - and i always thought i was fairly fit!!!
Went up and through the Haight Area, which is the hippie area. There were a lot of strange adults shops, art decor places and clothing stores, but i didn't see many hippies - they must have all migrated to Nimbin and Katoomba.
Rode through a scary park - like hyde park, but triple the homeless people: they were all hanging around with dreads and carting around shopping trolleys and playing frisbee. A guy was walking in front of us saying "what a day to play frisbee!! Such a beautiful day, to be gay, i have AIDS." I am serious!!!
Apparently that was the real San Franciscan way - they were hangin around and playing tennis too.
Then we passed through the Castro, San Francisco's gay area. One homeless lady i rode past and she stared at me and then remarked to the person next to her as she stuck out her tongue at me, saying "see, chicks dig me."
It wasn't much like newtown though -absolutely no atmosphere.
Then kept going up lots of hills until we got to the Conservatory of Flowers - it was just a bunch of flower beds, quite pretty, but what was better, was the entertainment. There was a busking group under a bridge playing bass guitar and saxaphone, and then there were these performers of an old english dance where they dress in black and white and hit each other with sticks.
Next we went to the Cultural museum, which just had a collection of random things, including a lot of wire sculptures which cast shadows of flowers on the walls. The entire building was covered in metal mesh, for a post-modern effect i was told.
Went up to the Observation deck and got a panorama view of san francisco: lots of houses with no eaves, dotting the hillsides, and saw the city skyline. We could have gone up twin peaks but i didn't have the energy. Besides, with it being such a cold and foggy day, we wouldn't have seen anything.
Next we went up more hills and through a park which had fenced-off bisen - they just look like black cows with demented heads and a lot of hair. Went past a dutch windmill (this is such an eclectic town) and down through golden gate park. Stopped for a much needed breather, at the pacific ocean - they were like "oh the beach" and i walk like "its bloody freezing and this is supposed to be sunny, and the beach didn't look very inviting because of the grey brown sand and lack of sunshine.
Had lunch on the cliffline, which had a full view of the bridge but too much fog to even see what colour it is.
winded down a lot of dirt track. which got a bit steep and slippery, and trying to put my duke of ed into practice, i tired going down it, and nearly went off the cliff. To stop myself, i slammed my left foot into the ground, stubbing my toe. I didn't feel it til later, which is now, and i am nursing it with ice - its all gone swollen.
Went through the presidero, or however you spell it, which has a lot of posh houses, including robin williams one. It was like something out of a movie. Like a neighbourhood from Everybody Loves Raymond or something, not that i have ever watched that show.
Headed down to the start of the golden gate bridge, which reminded me a lot of anzac bridge in its formation, and the harbour bridge in its atmosphere. I couldn't see the top of the trestles? because of the fog, which was a bit disappointing.
After some photos, we weaved our way through pedestrians across the bridge. You know you are a tourist when you look up a lot. Took a movie of me going across the bridge, adding a corny "yeehaa" sound effect. It was pretty awesome, but very busy. We also had the wind on us and we were being buffetted around quite a lot.
Took a cruisy downhill run into the quiet town which i can't remember the name of, where we caught the ferry back to san francisco. Went past alcatraz, which is such a dump, but i will nevertheless do a tour of it tomorrow, most likely.
Rode back up the enbarcerado (i spell it differently every time) and dropped the bikes off. Limped back to the hotel and packed my stuff, then carted it down 6 flights of stairs ( i wish i hadn't taken so much - i might send some home.)
Then walked back down to the embarcaredo and caught a Muni (tram bus thing) to fishermans' wharf, where i was to catch a bus to the hostel. I couldn't find a bus stop however, so dragged my suitcase along at least a kilometre, and up a MASSIVE hill to get to the hostel, which is an old soldier housing station, so is positioned at an upmost part of a coastline peak. Its where a movie about a hospital was filmed in 1945. The room is ok, except i am on a top bunk, which is a few feet away from the roof and has a water pipe sticking out.
Met up with a girl called Mayuko, and, desperate to talk to someone (which i haven't really done since i left), i yabbered on. Then i had dinner (leftover pizza from the other day and my leftover salad chicken sandwich.) After exploring a bit and looking for someone desperate to make friends with (they have to be alone - you can't make friends with people who are already traveling with other people.,) i read a bit of my book and got on the net. Its taken almost two hours to write this blog!!!
Tomorrow, provided i can walk, i will visit alcatraz, the wax museum, maybe the coit tower and the museum of modern art, and souvenir shop along fishermans wharf, and grocery shop in "trader joes" supermarket.
For now, over and out.
Love Mii x x x
PS: i wanna talk to some people on msn. Give me a rough idea in your time of when you will be online and i will see if i can work it out.
posted by Amy at
10:48 pm
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