West Coast Diary: For the love of Cacti (Day 5)

First morning in Arizona, so after breakfast we headed out with MSP&J to the hiking trail just up the road. This led us around the hills for about an hour, where we saw cactus after cactus after cactus. Apparently there were different types of them, but all I saw were different size prickly green things. At least we got the exercise...

We then drove around Scottsdale, looking at all the posh houses there, before ending up at a Chipotle for lunch. Olga's burrito was good, my taco wasn't. The kids were happy though, so approval all round.

We then headed off to Phoenix to take a whistle-stop tour in the car. Being the capital of the state, we were expecting a lot of badly run-down areas similar to Detroit, but apart from the wooden houses on the outskirts of the city, the city centre was pretty nice. There were lots of new skyscrapers, green parks and a tram system.

After seeing the areas of the downtown, we headed back home so that Olga and Sibylle could prepare a lasagna, whilst the men hung out in the outdoor hot tub with a few beers. Martin's work-friend Jorge (the token Mexican one needs when living here) came over and so there were many heads around the table tonight. We also discussed plans about the upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon where we were leaving for tomorrow.

Off to bed for an early start.

West Coast Diary: Steak Out (Day 4)

We left for the airport after breakfast, taking the BART directly from Powell Street. This link really is a godsend if your hotel is nearby, no need to change in town or look at complex bus routes.

In the Domestic Terminal at SFO there were lots of shops, and it was more or less empty. Great for wandering around in. We were flying Southwest (mainly because it was cheaper and we had heard good things about it on this route). The flight took 90 minutes and was slightly busy., but enjoyable non the less.

Arriving in Phoenix (Arizona), we found there were eight possible exits, at none of which Martin was to be seen. After a lot of searching and texting, he finally arrived with his family entourage (Sibylle, Philipp, Julia). It was great to see them (having last met at their wedding, and without kids), and after initial greetings, he sorted out another hire car and we headed off to Scottsdale, where they live.

The house was pretty big by European standards (of course most US houses are...) and the only concern was going to be the scorpions and snakes they have as pests (not pets).

After unpacking we headed off to the supermarket (Fry's) to pick up food for the night, including Rocky Road ice-cream and maple-cured ham (being given tasters by the man on the deli counter who likes to talk).

We got back to the house and whilst Olga and Sibylle made a salad, Martin and I (well, I watched) did the steaks on the barbecue outside. The steaks were huge (as were many of the foods we saw in the supermarket) and it was very hard to manage the ice-cream afterwards (ok, for me it wasn't).

After chatting whilst letting the food go down, it was time to get some sleep.

West Coast Diary: All about the Water (Day 3)

There are numerous references to water in this city, which isn't surprising - it is surrounded on three sides by it. Today was the day to spend some time in two aquatic areas: The Marina District and Pacific Heights.

The most fun way to get down to the Marina District is with the cable cars. Over to our trusty Wargreens store opposite the hotel to pick up a couple of one-day MUNI (local transport) passes for $15 each, we took the cable car from the Powell Street Turnaround to Lombard Street. Here we walked down the Z street which really does zigzag, although no car chases occurred whilst we were there, maybe because of the slight rain?

Continuing down the road from here, passing some nice houses, we arrived at the SF Art Institute where there is a mural from Diego Rivera. Classes are actually given in this building as well, so we popped our heads around a few of the doorways to see some of their works too.

Now that the rain had stopped, we made our way back up the Z street (not as easy going up as down). There is a small park and tennis courts on the other side of the road, which apparently give a great view over the city. Unfortunately it was foggy at this time, so we did not see anything apart from all the local dog walkers.

The next cable car took us from here down to Fisherman's Wharf, where we first visited the Ghirardelli Square. Here there are a collection of boutiques, and chocolate / ice-cream shops.

Walking down the road we saw a little art gallery that looked interesting (Franklin Bowles Gallery). Upon entering, we realised that they had Dali and Picasso works, including one of Alice in Wonderland (Dali). Of course the price wasn't as interesting, and despite their insistence, we declined to buy it for the price of $1200.

Following our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we walked down Chestnut to the Marina District. This route took us past lots of eateries whose smells started to make us hungry. We stopped at the Blue Barn and ate an amazing salad and sandwich (the menu was quite big, so took a while to decide - sorry anyone waiting behind us in the queue...).

Further down the road we came across the Roasting Cafe, where it was time for a hot chocolate / chai latte and brownies (it was still cold outside). After picking up some stamps at the Post Office (not the most intuitive of buildings), we caught the #30 bus to Fisherman's Wharf (the blocks down here were pretty big for our tired little legs).
 

We were warned that you could have a long wait for the cable cars here, but we didn't realise it would be 40 minutes. Finally we got on one, but alas, California Street was too busy to take any photos. Instead we went into the Cable Car Museum, which was very interesting, history of the transport in SF, with the actual cables passing through and lots of old photos of the first cars. It is also free to visit.

Now we really were ready to relax, so we went back to the hotel, got changed and headed out on the #3 bus from just off Union Square. We arrived at California/Filamore in a quarter of an hour, and walked up the road until we found the Peruvian restaurant (Fresca) where we were meeting Amir and Kirsty for dinner. The food here was very tasty, and the wine went down well too, which was great to catch up on old times.

We walked off the meal around the roads of Pacific Heights chatting away until we reached the Red Lion where we stopped to have a drink or two. Apparently it's one of Amir's favourite spots.

We managed to get the last bus back to the hotel, arriving around midnight.

West Coast Diary: On a Mission (Day 2)

San Francisco is well known for its Latin American population, so today we planned to go to visit this area known as the Mission District, see a local artist gallery and have some latin american food there.

After picking up some extra fruit at the local supermarket Wargreens to accompany our orange-pieces at the hotel breakfast, we then headed off down to Powell St and across 8th to Mission Street to start our exploring.

We first noticed it wasn't necessary the cleanest of streets around, and every now and then there would be a homeless guy pushing a supermarket trolley with his belongings in.

As we continued a few more blocks we saw more and more people on the street, groups arguing on corners, and people shooting up in side alleys. We were becoming uncertain if this really was the correct way we were going. But it was still Mission Street, so we surmised it must just be a bit further for the nicer area.

After crossing the road a good few times to avoid some very dodgy characters, and taking a chance to quickly look at the map, we realised that the only bit of Mission Street within the Mission District is from about 16th and above (where there is actually a metro stop). We had already walked from 8th to 13th so we decided 3 more blocks wouldn't be much worse.

In fact between 13th and 16th we were even more concerned, and just kept on going straight in the hope that at some point it would suddenly get safe. In fact, up until 17th it was still very dirty and smelly and felt quite dangerous (and this was about 11am with bright sunshine).

From 17th onwards all the shops were latin american, whether they were restaurants or shops selling cellphones, TVs, or newspapers. The street was still dirty but it felt a lot safer.

Upon reaching 19th our map directed us to take a left to get to the museum. After about 4 blocks (Florida) it actually started getting much better. The roads became cleaner, the only people around were dressed reasonably well tending to their cars or children.

We passed 'Flat Cafe' a mexican cafe, where we decided to sit down and have a cold drink, relax and take another look at the map now it was safe to do so.
The food also looked pretty good (mexican fast food style, and smelled amazing).

On to the Guerrero Gallery which is recommended in the Lonely Planet guide. We reached the street, and walked along it looking for the right building number, but to no avail. After asking two locals who didn't know anything about it, a third was more helpful. She said that it closed back in September of 2013, probably due to the rent increases. Great...

We decided to walk around the Mission District now that we had walked so far to get here. Carrying down Florida to 25th there were some really nice houses, well kept and obviously of a completely different standard to the ones about 4 blocks away.

Across 24th is Balmy Alley which is very colourfully painted. All walls and garage doors were covered in images of memories of home, people hurt, or political situations.

Going down 24th felt a bit like Colombia. The roads were quite nice, there were latin smells and sounds coming from every corner and the shops were all of a latino nature.

We passed the Edificio de Mujeres, which was brightly painted and quite impressive.

 

We popped in to a small corner store we found, which sells homemade and ecological products. The girl working there was from Cali, and explained a bit about how the area is so different depending which side of Mission Street you are. The tech workers moved here a while ago, and as the demand increased, so did the prices, until now a lot of the area is unaffordable for the people that have lived here their whole lives. This was the reason for the 'Gentrify' protests going on at the time, as the locals were unhappy about the tech companies causing them to lose their homes.

Looking for a place to eat, we walked along to Valencia and up to 18th. Here everything is in even more of a contrast to Mission Street. Big shops, boutique stores, very clean. A completely different world. We realised of course that this would have been a nicer street to walk down from where we started, and would have avoided all the dodgy parts, however it would have given us a wrong impression about the reality of SF.

Stopping at a restaurant called Mosto for some handmade tacos, and then going across the road to a chocolate factory to have brownie, made sure we were well fed. There was a chees store next door which looked really interesting, but after having eaten our meal, we thought we'd leave it for today.

On 18th we went left towards Dolores Park. On the corner was a Bi-rite Creamery. They had some amazing flavours of ice-cream on offer, of which I chose the Sonoma honey and lavendar, and can heartily recommend it.

There are some great views from this park, and people were enjoying playing, resting and walking their dogs, completely different to a few blocks across from where we just came.

The Golden Fire Hydrant was also found on the top corner of the park by the tram line (20th and Church). On 18th April 1906, an earthquake struck and the resultant fires from ruptured gas pipes burned most of SF to the ground. As corruption was so high at this time, corners were cut everywhere in building of the city, and despite being surrounded by water on three sides, the firemen were unable to get water up to the hills. The only fire hydrant that was working was this one (donated by Lotta Crabtree, a local opera singer). Lines were formed and buckets passed along, and most of the Mission Distric was saved by this one hydrant. As a result, this hydrant was painted gold by the residents, as a way of saying thank you for saving their homes.

Walking up Dolores (Mission Dolores was the first building to be built in San Francisco) we noticed the street is much wider than most others, lined by palm trees, very nice (and large) houses, and very clean.

When Dolores meets 14th, there is a church on every corner. One is German, another Catholic, a Jewish one and a Chinese one. It must be a very religious area (or the rent is cheap).

Reaching Market Street we hopped on a tram to take us back to where we started our journey in order to go across to visit the very important SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art). On arriving at the entrance, there were lots of big boardings on the street. Eventually we found some information written on one, saying that the museum is closed for refurbishment, and will reopen in 2016. Another well planned visit...

On to some shopping, as the shops are always open. The Banana Republic store was huge. It also had a 50% off sale on, which Olga liked. Then back to the hotel to relax before going out for dinner.

Leaving the hotel at 8.30pm, we walked up Market Street to the Ferry Building at the end. Unfortunately, the restaurants there had already closed for the night. We decided to walk back and see what we could find, initially along California, and then back on Market, we ended up at Super Duper Burgers. The food here was very good (burgers of course) and despite it being slightly chilly out, the milkshake went down a treat.

Finally after walking many many miles, we went back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep.

West Coast Diary: The Lay of the Land (Day 1)

After sleeping off those long hours of the plane journey, we went down to breakfast at the hotel where we were staying (Hotel Stratford). It was a simple affair; cereals, juice, coffee and some fresh oranges. As this was our first meal of a long day we decided to supplement this by going to a place we passed the previous day.

Sears Fine Foods looked busy and had a great breakfast menu. After asking the waitress for her recommendation, I went for the 18 Swedish pancakes with loganberry jam, and Olga for an omelette. Next time I should have kept with my instincts - the pancakes were okay, but the traditional American ones looked a lot better.

We then headed off for the Big Bus Tour (starting at Union Square), which was the tripadvisor recommended bus tour to take. This time the recommendation was spot on, and it definitely looked and felt like the better of the bus tours around SF.

Then came our first shock. Whilst riding around town we noticed a large amount of homeless people, either just hanging out on corners or lines up for what was probably a soup kitchen. Furthermore, we saw the people doing drugs in the open around the tenderloin district (which our guidebook had warned us against going into) which was quite a shock (in all the times I've been around London or other major cities, the only place we ever once saw this was in Oporto, and that was just a couple of people).

Passing by the City Hall the area became cleaner and generally nicer to look at. The bus then went past the Oak/Pine St park which smelled strongly of eucalyptus from the trees which encircled it.

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge it didn't seem as long as I was led to believe. But it definitely was very windy and a lot colder.

Pacific Heights had very nice houses, whereas Haight was very bohemian - painted houses and a hippy culture (apparently).

Passing through the city we went between big skyscrapers, glass-sided buildings, and old port buildings, always a different architecture as we went around the next corner. Also the steepness of the hills kept on surprising us. Just when you think you've seen the steepest one, another one blows your breath away (literally).

The old trams that run along the seafront. These are bought up from places around the world and set to work on this tourist route.

We got off at Fisherman's Wharf where we saw the sea lions at Pier 39. At midday this area wasn't very busy nor very touristy, although the smell of the sea lions, and the flies that buzzed around us there was quite annoying.

We took the next bus back to Union Square and went back to the hotel to rest and freshen up.

Following a recommended route, we walked along Kearne Street and up Bush Street to see the Chinese Gate. We entered into Chinatown and walked quite a bit around. The buildings were very chinese style, and there were lots of chinese around, but it wasn't bustling like the hollywood movies make you believe. Maybe we were just lucky.

We found the City View Restaurant (Lonely Planet top choice) and just made it before they closed to have some of their Dim Sum. This was very tasty, but there wasn't much choice left. Next time it would be worth getting there earlier for the full menu choice.

Carrying on our walking route, we headed up the very steep hill to Coit Tower. On these streets cars are advised that they have to park at 90 degrees to the sidewalk. I can imagine what would happen if you don't, but luckily everyone had followed the sign's advice.

Upon reaching the tower we found out it was currently closed for refurbishment. Despite this, the views from on top of this hill were worth trek, looking out over the Golden Gate Bridge as well as downtown.

There were hundreds of parrots on the trees around the Coit Tower, eating, squawking, and flying in big groups. It was quite a sight (and everyone stopped to look and take photos of them).

We then walked down Union Street to Washington Square where we picked up the Big Bus to get back to Union Square. From here we got the Big Bus again to travel over the GG Bridge, seeing the park as well. We were hoping to visit the de Young Museum here, but we arrived to find it was closed on Mondays. We took a few photos of the grounds and then caught the next bus back (not before a fire engine arrived to check out someone who had collapsed in the park).

Getting back to Union Square again, a bit of shopping ensued (Victoria's Secret, Aeropostale...) which was duly dropped off at the hotel before heading off to the Cheesecake Factory.


Last time we went to one of these restaurants we ordered main meals and then wondered why we couldn't manage the desserts, for which they are famous. This time we tried to be clever. Olga ordered a small salad, and I ordered a Santa Fe salad. They were still huge! The table of chinese sitting near us had ordered two main plates, and were sharing between the four of them. Olga said they were clever and knew how to do it. Then came another 2 plates of food, so they ended up with a full plate each. They must have got used to eating the American way.

Again we were unable to eat desserts, so went back to the hotel, hoping that the 25 metre walk might help digest the food somehow.

One thing I forgot to mention, at Fisherman's Wharf, the seagulls were enormous! Also very aggressive. Luckily we weren't eating outside at the time.


Off to sleep and plan the next day around this amazing city.