Thursday, 10th July
Departure
A travelogue must traditionally start from the
departure day. Nevertheless I prefer not to spend time with boring
details and so I go straight to the beginning of the trip itself.
We travel from Rome, Italy to Chicago, IL an then to San Francisco,
CA the first leg of our itinerary. The American Airlines flight
is long and tiring with an unexpected stop in Denver, CO. A little
girl on the flight doesn't feel so well (not as well as she looked
at the check-in when she was jumping around and screeching...).
We arrive to San Francisco two hours late but we do get to enjoy
a wonderful sunset behind the Rocky Mountains. The immigration
procedures are quick for both me (American citizen) and Magda
(who proudly shows her hard obtained visa). After we get through
immigration, we can relax a bit. We finally are in the United
States of America!
Friday,
11th July
Fisherman Wharf & "The Crookedest Street"
Despite jet-lag we wake up a little late.
At about 8 a.m. we are already outside our hotel with just one
idea roaming in our minds: breakfast at the famous Danny's!
We get to the nearest San Francisco cable car stop. We're headed
to Fisherman Wharf. We want to reserve
a tour to Alcatraz, hoping we can still find some place. Our short
tour by cable car is really nice and...fresh! San Francisco is
pretty cool in the morning and even in summer it's better to wear
a jacket. Shops open later than in Italy and we use the chance
to head to Denny's. Breakfast is extremely rich and deserves its
fame even though it's not as cheap as we read on the internet.
After filling our stomachs, we move to the Golden&Blue
Fleet which takes care of Alcatraz tours. Fortunately
places are still available and we reserve a tour for the next
morning. We also buy a City Pass. It
costs 36$ and gives free access to many famous San Francisco attractions
including the Alcatraz Tour and the transport system. Our morning
goes on in a relaxed way while we tour the many nice shops of
the Fisherman Wharf area. If you like sports, you shouldn't miss
the NFL Shop which is, in my opinion,
much better than the downtown Niketown. When morning is ending,
we walk to the famous Lombard Street, known as "The
Crookedest Street". The most famous part of
this street is pretty short, no more than ten curves, but very
photogenic, full of bright colored flowers.
Union Square & Chinatown
Coming back to downtown we learn how one of the biggest Chinese
communities of the world looks like. Our bus is invaded by a myriad
of Chinese and it's hard to believe we're in the States! We spend
our afternoon roaming around Union Square
and browsing among the many shops (including Borders, a great
bookshop chain, Levi's and Niketown). After having walked for
a long time we start feeling the fatigue of a long day after a
long flight. So, we decide to head to Chinatown
where our hotel should be. We really feel absorbed by the oriental
style of the area's streets and shops. More than once we run the
risk that some artful salesman tries to stick us with useless
gadgets for our cameras. One in particular proves to be really
tough. After he cleaned my lens (repeating a thousand times "free
service Sir, I like you") he adds a new protective lens "just
to show you". When I ask him to take it away, he looks
so offended that I feel guilty. Just to hurt him less, I try to
explain that, anyway, I wouldn't have the money. Ok, lesson number
one of my trip: NEVER speak about money in Chinatown. After the
magic word, he pretends that I go to my hotel to get the money
while he holds my camera as ransom. After a long discussion, he
frees my camera giving me a zen sentence (I think it was...) as
present: "Man, now you're in USA; don't go around without
bucks".
After saving our skin, we continue the tour around Chinatown arriving
to the Transamerica Pyramid and resting
in the nice garden right there.
We spend the day's last hours in the North Beach
area where we view the famous Coit Tower.
Coming back to our hotel we enjoy the sunset which colors the
sky purple while a perfect round moon glows between the San Francisco's
downtown skyscrapers.
By this time we're tired and we return to our hotel. On the way
we get something to eat at a McDonald's.
Saturday, 12th July
Alcatraz
Today we'll go to Alcatraz! We don't
wake up too early but we've all the time we want for another big
breakfast. This time we want to try Starbucks Coffee.
We've seen lot of people going around with a Starbuck Coffee cup
and now we discover why this chain is so popular. Breakfast is
really super and, in my opinion, even better that Denny's. With
our stomach filled till the brim, we walk to the pier where the
Golden&Blue Fleet tour departs. It's just about 9.45 a.m.
when we dock at the island. A ranger welcomes and gives us a talk
about Alcatraz. He also recommends not to disturb seagulls since
they've just nested.
So we start exploring. We begin watching a short and interesting
introductory movie. Then we head to the prison itself where we
get the audio-tour. This is extremely well done and tells us the
most important things about the prison and its most famous guests
all in about an hour. After that we roam around the island by
ourselves enjoying the spectacular views of the San Francisco
skyline.
When we dock back to the pier it's almost midday. We spend some
time looking at the lazy sea lions while we eat our crab sandwich.
Exploratorium & Golden Gate
We decide to spend the afternoon at the Exploratorium,
one of the San Francisco attractions included in our City Pass.
The Exploratorium is a kind of little science city where you can
take part in many experiments which should teach while you enjoy.
We spend a couple of hours trying more or less everything and
we leave satisfied. The Exploratorium is not as impressive as
the Cité des Sciences of Paris (that we visited last year)
but it's a nice place to spend some hours anyway.
We discover some finely kept gardens around the Exploratorium
and we enjoy that peaceful atmosphere lying on the grass nearby
a little lake surrounded by fake old Roman ruins.
At about 6 p.m. we take a bus to reach the Golden
Gate. We can nearly see what's probably the symbol
of San Francisco itself. It's possible to cross the bridge on
foot or by bicycle. That's what we do and we walk to half way
over the windy bridge. Here the San Francisco bay view is impressive.
While the bridge throws its shadow on the bay, we take the bus
to come back to downtown.
We eat at Taco Bell where we discover Pink Lemonade. Its color
is horrible but the taste is not as bad. On our day's last bus
we meet a cool afro-american driver. I've never run into such
a funny stand-up comic! He has something funny to say to all the
passengers and he is specially ironical with people wearing jeans
clothes (he was wearing something synthetic, of course...). We
feel almost disappointed when we have to get off near Union Square.
A few meters and we're back at our hotel after our second day
in San Francisco.
Sunday, 13th July
Golden Gate Park & California Academy
of Sciences
We wake up at the usual hour and jet-lag looks like a far away
memory. We try breakfast at IHOP (International
House Of Pancakes). The pancakes are delicious, specially Magda's
served with a combination of a blue, white and red american flag
jams. Again this morning we filled our stomachs up to the limit.
Before moving to the Golden Gate Park I want to stop a second
at the Alamo Mission Street location. I just want to know if my
car is available. It's ready.
We reach the Golden Gate Park at about
10.30 a.m. and we roam in the park without specials destination.
The park is peaceful and well kept.
Our tour starts from the California Academy of Sciences,
another attraction included in our City Pass. Here we spend a
few hours dedicated to science. Inside the Academy there is also
a big aquarium where you can even see sharks. The earthquake simulator
is impressive and there's also a huge room covered of animals'
skulls.
Before leaving the park we decide to visit the Japanese
Tea Garden. This little piece of Japan right in
the middle of San Francisco is delightful. We spend more than
an hour walking around admiring the delicate flowers, the green
and lush fields and the clear little lakes. Sitting under the
bamboos' shadow we make plans for the afternoon: a bit of shopping
and somewhere a romantic sunset.
Market Street & Alamo Square
We get to Market Street pretty hungry. After eating a huge plate
of hotdogs and nachos at a Seven-Eleven we're ready to move again.
We explore many shops, including the San Francisco
Shopping Centre. We do some practical but just the
same enjoyable shopping.
Our stay in San Francisco is ending and we'd like to do one last
thing. At Alamo Square, one of the most
scenic places of the city, we take in the sunset. The beautiful
victorian houses of the area gave it its nickname, "Postcard
Row". It's really cool but we don't give up.
Some clouds spoil the view but we get back to our hotel satisfied.
Tonight it's leftovers and we get to bed early so tomorrow we
can be at the Alamo location on time. Sequoia NP is waiting for
us!
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