San Francisco Calling

For the first timers, San Francisco takes you by surprise. You don’t expect such steeply climbing and dropping roads in the middle of one of the most populous cities of United States. I was standing at Union Square and imagining driving up and down these steep roads full of traffic and felt relieved that I don’t actually have to drive here.  Like most of Europe, America drives on the wrong side of the road.  I have every right to say that my country drives on the correct side of the road (left) while most of the world drives on the wrong side (right) ! The main point is that when I visited San Francisco, I relied on buses, cabs and the historic cable cars. This is the most sensible thing to do in a city which has such steep roads as driving would be a nightmare.

The Cable Cars add to the charm of San Francisco

The cable cars are a tourist attraction and riding on them is not cheap. Last summer we paid $ 6 per person for a short ride. I wanted kids to travel on it so decided to ride one from outside the hotel at Union square.  All the cable cars coming were totally packed with tourists so we kept walking back a stop at a time but without any luck. Finally we realized that we had walked more than a mile and reached the origin point. Once on the cable car you don’t feel any special and ride is also nothing exciting.  It’s just that tourists are getting excited and you try to be excited too. Having paid $24 for the family I wanted the kids to be excited but they were least interested.  Our cable car was carrying us up the  steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. We had decided to have lunch at the waterfront.  I tried explaining to the kids that the cable car system was the icon of San Francisco and it was the last of the manually operated cable system in the world ! Still, they found it no big deal. When our conductor announced that we were at the beginning of Lombard street (famously known as the crooked street) ,  we decided to cut short the journey on the cable car and decided to walk down till the fisherman’s wharf by walking down the crooked street.
San Francisco is amazingly picturesque. While the city itself is up and down, once you are on top of the road or hill, the bay area gives you stunning views. We had a lovely view from our hotel room as well.

Lombard Street (Popularly known as crooked street)

The Lombard street or the crooked street is supposed to be the most crooked motor-able street in the world. Not surprisingly, it is one way street and goes by several houses. The street is a big tourist attraction and they have done a good job by having a lot of colorful flowers all along the way. It is a short street but very interesting. The kids finally found some interest in the happening and were pretty excited to see cars twisting and turning through numerous turns  on the way down. There were quite a few tourists and each one had a camera. We also clicked quite a few pictures and continued our walk down to pier 39.

Pier 39 is humming with activity

The weather at San Francisco also takes you by surprise. Even in the middle of summer you could feel as if you were facing a cold winter day. Temperature crosses 24 deg c only around 29 days in a year. We were thankfully warned about the need to carry wind cheaters and warm clothing in the middle of June. We had actually been staying at the suburban town of Fremont and would not have felt the need to carry jackets or wind cheaters as Fremont was quite warm at that time.  At the waterfront the stiff cold breeze welcomes you. It was a bright and sunny day. It was nice sitting outdoors and having some nice draft beer along with lunch. Being a weekend the place was bustling with people. I loved watching the crowds. The locals call the Fisherman’s wharf area and the area around Pier 39 as tourist traps.

We found a nice place for Lunch and Beer

 I didn’t mind these traps as long as we did not get cheated out of anything. The beer and lunch may have been pricey but I enjoyed every minute of sitting and roaming around this area. The shops were interesting and there was enough for all of us to do. We spent considerably long time here and as we were spending the night at the Marriott at the Union square, we were in no hurry. We did pick up a few souvenir T Shirts , Key chains, chocolates and caps from here.  There are upmarket restaurants and a lot of sea food stalls at Fisherman's wharf. These stalls were like our takeaway 'dhabas' and people were just getting their stuff from these stalls and sitting all over the place eating some nice sea food lunch. You could get crab, fish, prawns and all other type of sea food and obviously the stalls were cheap and attracted good crowds. The smell near the place was such that vegetarians from India would be well advised to stay away from there.
While walking around I saw a lot of people eating something from a round bread kind of thing. I asked someone what he was eating and he described it as Clam Chowder and pointed to several stalls selling it.

Clam Chowder

But he also told me that if I wanted to eat from a good place, then I should eat it from 'Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe.' Now this Boudin place was a pretty huge restaurant and a bakery with sit down restaurant on 1st floor. The bakery was totally automated and it was fascinating seeing different kinds of breads being baked and delivered to the restaurant through machines. The place was very crowded and I stood in a long queue . They were selling different kind of meals but clam chowder was most popular. Service was quick and I was served some white coloured soup in real hot bread. The bread was sourdough and the shape was like a bowl. The clam Chowder had some meat pieces in it and it was of good taste. You kept breaking the bread dipping it in soup and eating it real hot. More than the Clam chowder, I enjoyed the experience of this kind of a meal.

Union Square

The Union square itself is a nice place as it is the main business and shopping district of San Francisco. All the top names in retail are present here. I spent most of my time shopping at Macy's. Macy's men's shop was  a 6 storey retail outlet and each floor was huge. The women's Macy's was across the street and I guess it must be as large. With some major sales on, we had plenty to shop. All the prominent labels in the world seem to have set shop here but there is a limit to time so we could not enter too many shops as we had just one evening.The Union square was having some concert in the open area and it was lovely having so much activity and festivities around. Union square has everything which an entertainment hub should have. Restaurants, pubs, shops, theaters , jazz and blues clubs and open parks and theater. The Lori's Diner was right next door to Marriott and had an interesting decor. We had our breakfast there and quite enjoyed their pancakes and eggs. Dinner was a bit of a letdown at 'Lefty 'O' Doul's as kids did not enjoy the typical American food. Lefty 'O' Doull was a famous Baseball player from San Francisco so the theme was Baseball. The food comprised of things like corned beef, Glazed ham, roast beef etc so wife and kids were not happy. But we had gone late for dinner that chilly night and while most eateries were closing shop, the bars were doing good business. So we didn't have too much choice for dinner but as far as I am concerned, I enjoyed my dinner.

Another place which you can't actually miss in San Francisco is the 'Chinatown.' It is the largest and oldest Chinatown in North America and is very much part of the city centre. Once you enter the Dragon Gate you can feel the Chinese influence in houses and shops. The lampposts are ornamented with colorful Chinese motifs and all shops are decorated in the traditional Chinese way. There are Chinese Temples you can visit, have some great Chinese food and buy souvenirs from the shops. In short you can roam around this interesting place for a few hours without getting bored. Most shops are around the Grant Street so it is easy to navigate. 

The dreaded Alcatraz

Earlier that morning we had started early from Fremont to take a ferry to now a closed prison – Alcatraz. San Francisco is well connected to the suburbs through Bart rail system and once you get used to Bart Rail, it is easy to commute. We had a 10 AM booking for ferry to Alcatraz from one of the piers – pier 33. We had booked this trip more than a couple of months in advance as this is a very popular trip and tickets get sold out much in advance. Tickets are available online but for us my aunt had booked it and this trip was a gift from her side.  Alcatraz is referred to as ‘The Rock’ and a I remember that lovely film starring Sean Connery by the same name. Many films like ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ and ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ are based on this high security prison which shut down in 1963. Alcatraz authorities had claimed that no one ever escaped in 14 escape attempts in its 20 years as Federal prison. The claim may be correct but it is also a fact that 5 people did escape the prison and were presumed drowned and dead though no one knows for sure.

Inside the Alcatraz

The boat ride is short as it is only 2.5 km from the shore to the Alcatraz. You get magnificent view of the city and the famous bridges including the Golden Gate Bridge. The currents are strong and water extremely cold and that is one reason  why no one could escape the prison. The tour is very well organized and you are on your own once you reach the island. You are given audio system and you follow the instructions and the prison comes alive with stories and anecdotes. You are told about the most famous of inmates, Al Capone (watch ‘The Untouchables’ if you want to know more about this notorious gangster) and Robert Franklin Stroud (known as the birdman of Alcatraz). The failed attempt by 6 prisoners became the most famous ‘Battle of Alcatraz’ and you feel it all happening around the tiny cells as the audio commentary is pretty graphic. The recreation area, the dining hall and solitary confinements keep you gripped for a couple of hours you spend here.  Alcatraz is a must visit once you are in San Francisco. You would do well to watch a few movies about Alcatraz before you go.

Our entire family agreed on one thing - Alcatraz was definitely worth a visit.

Golden Gate Bridge is considered to be one of the construction achievements of the 20^th Century. It is certainly the most photographed bridge in the world. It looks particularly beautiful when the rolling fog covers part of it.  Fog is very common in this part of the bay area and can appear at any time without warning. The best part about the bridge is the walkways on the sides which are very popular with the pedestrians and the cyclists. The bridge may be 3 miles long but when the fog covers parts of it, it seems to look infinite. Most of the tourists who go to the Golden gate bridge are mesmerized as the bridge spans over the Pacific Ocean and you can see Alcatraz from the top.  Tourists on a short visit are always in a hurry and they miss out visiting the lovely Golden Gate Park. The park is so lovely that on a nice day you can spend an entire day here. Perhaps the next time we would spend a lot more time at this huge and interesting park.It could be this summer as we are headed to San Francisco this summer as well. 

The Golden Gate Bridge