Day 15: The (not so) long and winding road

We were out so long yesterday, and got back so knackered, the blog publishing has been delayed.

We began the day with a walk around nearby Presido park, so hilly that it felt like a bit of a route march, the weather was very misty, apparently this can be typical of early mornings in these parts.

By mid morning we were off downtown to meet an old school friend of Jan's - Sally, who is in town for a few days, (pure coincidence), we have arranged to have lunch. Sally knows SF really well and took us to a great eaterie, the Cheese cake factory on the 7th floor of Macy's. We sat on the roof terrace, over indulged and caught up on news.

                                     

                                     

                                             From the table at Macy's rooftop cafe.

After a really pleasant time we said goodbye to Sally and ventured out to walk off our considerable meal!

Another of the famous SF "must sees" is the "crooked road", so we set off to find it. The walk was long and the weather was hot but the sights and sounds are always fascinating, I kept suggesting short cuts and diversions so we didn't lose height, but avoiding hills around here is impossible.

Some streets are just so steep that the planners give up and there is no vehicular access, only pedestrian steps, on one stretch of Lombard Street they have gone for the Alpine "switch back" solution - the road is a single lane twisty route about 200 yards long, with about 8 hairpins. The sun was shining directly at me as I tried to photograph, so it's not too clear, I've resorted to Google images once again...

                                             

                                                            One solution to steep hills...

                                                           

                                               

                                                            The Lombard Street solution.

We had theatre tickets for the evening, and so decided to take the trolley bus from "Beach" back down town, by now it was rush hour and so it was the most crowded experience I've ever had, a sardine would have described his can as "roomy" in comparison, I could have raised my feet off the ground and still have been held upright! (Perhaps wisely, I didn't try this).

In the quest for some culture we had tickets for a show at the San Francisco Play house, we saw a musical called "Company". It was a good show and a nice experience, the Play house is a community based type theatre, very friendly and informal, we were pleased we went.

                                          

We're becoming good at the local transport, we caught the 3 bus from just round the block, and were back at the hotel, enjoying the complimentary cookie and coffee by 10:30. Footsore.

             

Day 14: A Bridge (not) too far

A visit to San Francisco would not be complete without crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and travelling on a cable car, well today we experienced both these tourist "must do's".  Our friends Andrew and Julie came here last year and gave us some tips about crossing the bridge, we followed their advice!

After getting the bus to the bridge's southern  information centre we set off on the walk way, the views were obviously great, and the pavement was busy. It had occurred to me to hire bikes and cycle over, good job we didn't, because there were loads of other people doing that, and they were a bloody menace! - I even saw one bloke trying to take a photo on his phone while cycling along the crowded path, plonker.

                                                   

                                                              Before we set off..

                                                   

                                                           At the south tower.

                                       

                                                Half way - watch out for the cyclist.

                                                       

                                                                The North side.

Once we crossed the bay we took a small footpath down to the water, almost underneath the bridge, and set off to walk to the small resort of Sausalito. It was remarkable how quiet and remote this walk was compared to the manic busy nature of the bridge, a pleasant break from the noise and traffic.

                                           

                                                      In the shadows of the north tower.

We set off along the shore line towards Sausalito when we came across a tourist shuttle bus, we were a little footsore, so we hopped on..

After a beer and ice cream, we caught the Bay ferry back to San Francisco, a great round trip in glorious weather.

Once back on terra firma, we wandered around the down town area, and came across the terminus for one of the cable car routes. These are like small trams, the "cables" are actually under the road, a continuous wire that is moving and the tram attaches itself and is pulled along. A mad system, but it works, because the routes get very, very steep at times!

                                                       

                                                     Our cable car just after we got off.

We got off the car at "Nob Hill", and I remarked to Jan that I could think of a few people who might live here, "So can I", she answered, with a funny look in her eye...

I read somewhere that San Francisco's China town is supposed to be the biggest Chinese community outside of China, we stopped by here and had our evening meal. It's my theory that chopsticks are designed to make a 30 minute meal last an hour - but I wasn't going to yield to the knife and fork!

Jan has an old school friend who is an air stewardess, and through Face book this friend has contacted her and it seems she is on a stop-over here in SF! Several texts later and we have arranged a lunchtime meeting tomorrow, what are the chances?

                                                  

                                                       The streets are blooming steep!

    
   
     

Day 13: Escape from Alcatraz

Moving on again today, we left Carmel early and headed north on the Interstate 101, we had booked a trip to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco for 3:30 pm - it was the only time "slot" available, and so needed to be rid of our luggage and car in good time. 

San Francisco is a difficult place to drive around, 6 and 7 lanes of highway, overtaking from both sides, and lots and lots of traffic, we had a sat nav in our car, thank goodness for "Britney" the alter ego of the GPS!

Speaking of "Britney", the typical young Californian girl has a manner that really does take some getting used to: 

(To be spoken in a high, nasally whine, whilst chewing gum),

"I was like soooo totally bummed when I found out, he was like, nooo not me, but like, I was sooo not gonna believe him, even when , like, he like said it was Debbie, I'm like sooo gonna not see him again...."

 California girl.

We found the hotel, dropped off the car, caught a "street car" to the quayside and had loads of time, we even had a beer and bit of lunch before we caught the Alcatraz ferry...

 Getting closer...

Well, what a great experience... The prison island of Alcatraz is only a mile and a half off shore, but it is still very bleak and sinister. The cells where such inmates as Al Capone and the "bird man",  John Stroud, were kept were all still there to be seen, it really must have been a bleak and scary place to do one's porridge. A fascinating place to visit, I recommend it.

 One of the cell blocks.

 One of the cells.

 The "chokey", for the really bad lads, no furniture, no light, 24/7.

 Only a mile away from San Francisco.

Our hotel is in a very posh part of 'Frisco, the thing is, it's at the very top of a very steep hill - there are lots of very steep hills... The walk back was exhausting, the buses don't go that near and by the time we got to the room we were knackered, so we treated ourselves to "room service"!

Looking forward to tomorrow already!

Day 12: Rebecca

OThere is a real coastal theme to today's blog, we stayed near Carmel for our last day here and spent it exploring the shoreline.

To begin the day we had a pre-breakfast walk along the beach of Carmel-by-the-sea, this place really is exclusive, no "banana boat rides" or arcades here, the sand is spotless and the sea-front road is populated by extremely expensive looking holiday homes. The weather was overcast at 8:am, but the skies were to clear beautifully later in the day.

 

Des res, suit millionaire!

Carmel beach at 8:00 am - "so bracing".

We had a breakfast in a cafe at the local mall, I will never understand why Americans think pancakes with syrup goes with egg, ("easy over"), and bacon! I still had it though, it seems like having a big cake on your plate!

We drove out along the coast to a Nature Reserve called "Point Lobos" for a visit, the weather by now was really warm and sunny, and this place really was a delight. Pine forests and rocky coastal outcrops, sea cliffs and hidden coves, loads of seals, sea otters and whales, we even managed to borrow some binoculars from a Park Ranger.

Images from Point Lobos - I kept calling it "Los Lobos", and I couldn't remember who they were!

It seems that like many sites up the west coast of California, this area was often used as a film location,  the sea and rocks being popular for movie makers, we discovered at the visitors centre that the Hitchcock classic "Rebecca" was filmed here, a little bit of Hollywood Cornwall no less.

Laurence Olivier was here...

After walking for what seemed ages we decided some chilling was in order so we visited another beach on the way home, lay on our towels and watched the birds - plenty of pelicans, which brings me to a fond childhood memory...

"A wonderful bird is the Pelican, 

His beak can hold more than his belly can,

He can hold in his beak, enough for a week,

I don't know how the hell he can!"

(My old grand dad taught me that years ago!)

OMG! Quick, clear the beach!

Day 11: Moby Dick

West Ham were playing at Arsenal today and I thought about making plans to watch the game in a Downtown sports bar, however I realised it was an early kick off and with the time difference calculated the start would actually be 5:00 am! I doubt even the hardest core sports bar would be open for a sad Limey to watch "soccer" at that time, so I resorted to the Talk sports commentary on the Internet instead - and we won 2 - 0 so it was worth it!

Later in the morning the  excitement got even greater because we took to the high seas, Monterey Bay and beyond actually, in search of whales and other assorted marine wildlife. We went whale watching from Fishermen's pier. When we boarded I asked the deck hand to call me Ishmael, and he asked me to leave my harpoon on the quay side, apparently they're frowned upon...

I recently mentioned James Dean crashing his car near San Luis Abispo, well yesterday I discovered through reading a guide book that John Denver was killed when he crashed his plane into this Bay in 1997... This trip is getting spooky.

John Denver - Leaving on a jet plane...

The weather for the voyage was how it has been for the last few days, warm but overcast, Jan was anxious about the waves, but her sea legs proved more than a match for the heavy swell. We steamed several miles out into the bay to where there were loads of sea birds - "sooty shearwaters" (honest), and this apparently is a real sign of whale activity. Sure enough hump back whales were soon "breaching" on both sides of the boat! Some just fleetingly, others for several seconds at a times. Marine law doesn't allow the ships to get too near them, (100 metres), and they are very difficult to photograph, so I have found some pics from Google images! But they are humpbacks seen in these waters!

Typical views of what we saw.

The highlight of the voyage was undoubtedly on the return leg, we came across a school of over hundred dolphins, "Long beaked commons" to be precise, (look it up Mike). They stayed with the boat for about 20 minutes, diving and leaping alongside, encouraging "oohs" and "aarghs" from the passengers - well at least those passengers who weren't being ill! Another video link - https://youtu.be/FNWTNCCHUVk 

The rest of the day has been very lazy; eating crepes, exploring supermarkets, (they're so big!), listening to "Adult Orientated Rock" on the car radio, (Aerosmith, Bob Seeger anyone?), and quaffing coffee.

"The man from Del Monte, he says...!"

Day 10: Cannery Row

After an early morning run along the beach at Carmel, and enjoying the news of England's cricket win over Australia, (not a single mention on US television of course), we headed into Monterey to explore. As well as the Fishermen's pier, Monterey has a famous attraction in "Cannery Row", this is an area which was formerly devoted to processing sardines, (canning them), on a truly industrial scale in large quay-side factories, the area is now a shopping area with diners, boutiques and galleries.

 Relic of a bygone industry

A traffic picture without a big Harley wouldn't seem right!

The local writer John Steinbeck based his classic book "Cannery Row" on this district, and Bob Dylan refers to it in "Sad eyed lady of the Lowlands", it is the place that made the present town what it is.

Steinbeck and friends...

At the end of Cannerry Row is the Monterey Aquarium, and we were lucky to have 2 guest tickets from our b n b host, (saved us $70!), and it really is a brilliant place. Some of the tanks are massive, we saw sharks, jelly fish, sardines and mackerel, (naturally, in light of the local fishing industry), and much, much more. There was a Ray from the Irish "O'Sunshine" family, (think about it), and even a groper - though he was dealt with by security...

This is actually a shoal of sardines

I've been experimenting with iMovie and Youtube, click on the link to see some fish... https://youtu.be/PwpgXjy_t6w

Jan has been insisting that I treat myself to a proper sea food meal, and this is the place to do it, at the  pier I enjoyed a "Crispy Fishermen's platter", very tasty, except for the calamari which was like vulcanised rubber.

Fishermen's pier - don't touch the calamari!

Fishermen's pier in the background, abundant wildlife in the foreground.

More strolling about and atmosphere soaking ensued before we gate crashed a wedding, the happy couple were tying the knot just across the way from our coffee table, we toasted their future happiness with our small decaf skinny Americanos - no foam, "for Dave!"

Windswept nuptials

We returned to Carmel on a scenic coastal route creatively named "17 mile drive", the route is er.. 17 miles long, and apart from the rotting seal carcass we stumbled upon on one of the small beaches is charming. We passed Pebble Beach Golf club, which I realised is the Pebble Beach golf club - as in the American Masters. It looked very exclusive, I doubt if they'd let an oik  like me within a mile of the clubhouse!

On the beach on the "17 mile drive", the rotting seal has been cropped out!

Home for tea and local wine, we have Apple TV so I want to watch some films - because we can!

Day 9: Rocky (the raccoon!)

Our day began with a laugh, breakfast on the terrace was interrupted by a raccoon on the roof opposite, he did his business, sniffed about a bit, and then wandered off, very entertaining!

It's "Rocky" the raccoon

We left San Luis Obispo about 9:30 and headed for the coast road, the Pacific Highway 1 to be precise. This is a famous scenic route, often included in those "10 best drives ever" lists, and it didn't disappoint. Soon after reaching the ocean we stopped at San Simeon, (famous for Randolph Hearst's castle), there was a pier, and from the pier we watched a whale breaching, dolphins cruising around, sea otters and loads of other wild life. We don't have binoculars or a really good camera with us, (I use the iPad for photos), so didn't get any decent pictures.

The Hearst estate chapel

5 miles further north we came across a beach full of basking elephant seals, at first you may think they're dead, but they are very much alive, and massive! https://youtu.be/Q_tIsTxXsVE

No they're not dead, just "basking"!

After this whale sightings became rather common place, we could have stopped every couple of miles. The road is very spectacular, last about 90 miles and "gas" stations are few and far between, the road really is remote and when we were able to fill up it was a relief.

90 odd miles of twists and turns, and breathtaking views!

Our lodgings in Carmel are great, this Airbnb system is a wonderful arrangement, we are staying in an upstairs apartment, the owners live below. We are very close to down town Carmel, which is extremely trendy and full of exclusive little boutiques and "studios".

We are up the stairs... It's about 8:30 pm.