Monday 13th October.
We were up early to be ready for the bus back to Calgary airport where we were to take the plane to Seattle then San Francisco. It was a good drive along excellent roads and we arrived at the airport in plenty of time. We went to the check in and found that in re- arranging our flights a mistake had been made in the reservation from Calgary to Seattle. What with the phone calls to other airlines, it took us over an hour to get past the check in counter. Just as well we were early.
Our flights to Seattle and then San Francisco were smooth with clear views of San Francisco Golden gate bridge as we came over the city. We had booked a room at the YWAM base in Ellis St in central San Francisco and they had recommended we take the Bay Area Rail Transport (BART) to Powell St Station and walk the remainder of the way. When we arrived at that station at about 10.00pm we asked a couple of Rail Police which way we needed to go. They decided that at that time of night and as we were obviously tourists it would be better if we had an escort and the two of them walked us along Ellis St to the YWAM Hostel. A distance of about 400 metres. (This was the second time we have had a police escort…but this time in very different circumstances.)
We were soon in our allocated room and pleased to get to bed.
Tuesday 14th October.
After a false start as Chris had left her camera at the hostel, and as we returned we bought some food supplies for our room, we finally made it onto the SF cable car towards Fisherman’s Wharf. The weather was warmer than we had expected and we had shed our jerseys when we had returned to the hostel to pick up the camera.
At Lombard street we left the cable car to walk down the ‘Crookedest Street’ in San Francisco. There are eight hairpin turns on a 40 degree slope about 150 metres long. (Has been in used in some films, we remember). We then walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf area to see the sights. This included a boat trip to underneath the Golden Gate bridge and a cruise passed Alcatraz Island.
We later spent some time watching the many seals on floating platforms near Pier 39 and had a stroll through the shops on the wharf. We returned to the hostel via the cable car.
Wednesday 15th October.
The YWAM base in San Francisco is in Ellis street and while close to Powell Street where the cable cars operate, the base is at the fringe of the area where the unemployed and homeless hang out. Across the road is the Glide Memorial Methodist Church that provides a soup kitchen twice a day for these unfortunate people who live on the streets in the area. The people start to queue for the meal at about 10.30 am and the queue increases to about 200 metres long nearer the lunch hour. We have been approached several times by people asking for ‘change’ to buy a beer.
The lobby area of the YWAM base is open certain hours of the day to provide a place for some of these people who come in off the street for a coffee and some fall asleep in the lounge chairs provided or play pool or even the piano. The YWAM staff do a wonderful job providing for those who come in.
We travelled again on another line of the cable car up Washington street to Nob Hill and near Grace Cathedral and then back down to Union square. Wandered into China Town which takes up quite a few blocks of San Francisco then back through Union Square to have a ‘shop’ in Macey’s department store. Union Square was being prepared for the women’s marathon that starts from that point on Sunday 19th with several marquees erected.
We broke our walk to the hostel with a meal of samosa and a drink at the nearby New Delhi restaurant.
Thursday 16th October.
We decided late in the day to visit Sausalito on the other side of the Golden Gate. First we went by tram to the San Francisco Port Terminal where we caught a ferry boat for Sausalito at 5.30 pm, with some of the commuters going home after work. The journey across the harbour took about 30 minutes and we arrived at Sausalito at about 6.00 pm.
We started to walk along the tidy foreshore and felt it was a little like Oriental Parade. We decided we would continue our walk to the Golden Gate bridge and across it towards San Francisco. The distance did not look too far but after the first half hour when the road left the harbour side we went to a shop to seek directions. We had been heading in the correct direction and were advised we had another half hour before we got to the bridge. We pressed on up the hill on the side of a road without a footpath and finally arrived at the lookout point near the bridge after the sun had set.
Fortunately the weather was calm although a little gloomy at 7.00 pm as we started to walk the 3 kilometres over the bridge. That journey with a few stops to look at the lights of S.F. took another 45 minutes. We were not the only ones on the bridge in the dark at that hour as we passed many people and cyclists on the way. The commuter traffic was extremely heavy and the roar of the vehicles mingled with the vibrations of the bridge. We finally arrived at a bus terminal at Fort Point on the southern end of the bridge at 8.00 pm. We waited for 15 minutes for a bus that took us along the waterfront to Fort Mason and then another one to the Cable car terminal at Hyde St. We enjoyed yet another Cable Car ride and we were thankful we had purchased a 7 day pass on the cable cars and municipal transport. This time though there was maintenance on the cables and about half way along the trip we were off loaded and travelled the remainder of the journey by a shuttle bus.
Back at the hostel we had a welcome sit down with our feet up before going to bed.
Friday 17th October.
We had a lazy day spent mostly at the YWAM hostel as we were a little on the weary side after our exercise of the previous day. Late in the afternoon we took a tram and then bus down to Marina Green where a display refugee village had been set up by the ‘Medicens sans Frontiers’ group and we were shown about by a doctor who had been involved in both Darfur and Vietnam. The aim was to show people a glimpse of what it was like to be a refugee.
The residential area we were in was near the waterfront and was very pretty with houses built in the Spanish style and all looking very neat and prosperous as were the pleasure boats in the Marina.
We started out for our return to the city in a bus that became very crowded, and had a hold up when one end of a sheet of metal protecting the moveable wheel chair ramp under the bus, dropped down on the road and could not be repaired. We were offloaded and had to wait for the next bus to the city. A few young larrikins were aboard and we were happy to depart that bus nearer the city and continue back to the hostel on the back platform of yet another cable car.
Saturday 18th October.
Another relatively quiet day. We took a local bus to the Golden Gate Park but by the time we got there in late afternoon the wind was very brisk and cool so we decided after a short stay that we would return to the city. We did a quick trip to Westfield’s shopping centre, had a last ride on a cable car up Powell Street and returned to the hostel.Sunday 19th October.
It was time to pack up again and leave for the airport on our 3 pm flight to Honolulu.
