Will just post pics for now. J will blog about our adventures later.
It is later and Ash is doing his final pack. We are about to make life easier by buying an extra bag. Don't want anything posted arriving after us.
San Fran-cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. We were surprised how many tourists were in SF. Overseas- the ever present German, as well as from elsewhere in the States. it is weird being able to read signs, ask for information and understand the answer and also to recognise places and names form films, Tv and the US culture that pervades our Australian life.
Hanging off the cable car is just as imagined, except for the push pull of gravity because the hills are really steep. Each street corner gives you a glimpse of something. The bridge, skyscrapers down town or just a pretty steetscape. It really is a lovely city to be in.
Walk down Lombard- steep views. We jumped off the car at the top of Lombard Street to walk down to Fisherman's wharf. It was so steep but really pretty walking towards the view of the Bridge with colourful gardens and lovely homes and apartments on either side. We just joined the crew of others doing the same thing. We were lucky in that there was no fog and we had a clear day. A bit of a summer rarity they tell us.
Fisherman's Wharf capitalism, rainforest shop, wierd after Russia.We weren't quite ready for the in your face action at Fisherman's wharf. Especially the piers.After Russia the endless array of large, signed shops with goods on display and the narrow footpaths felt a bit claustrophobic. It seemed that the challenge was to find a different way to market the same thing. The excess was a bit confronting. On the pier there were total sock shops with a million different types of socks. Candy stores with barrels of candy- yes barrels. A total shop of fridge magnets. Not a small shop- a big shop.Streets of shops and streets of tour offerings- all of the same thing but all trying to have a different edge.
One of the most extreme was the rainforest restaurant come green souvenir shop. It was an experience- music, moving rainforest animals, ceiling to floor fish aquariums, rainforest sounds, dim lighting inside caverns with bars. It had the lot on a grand scale.
We really enjoyed the Penny Arcade museum, which was free to get into and a reasonable price to make the machines work. We know about travelling circuses and sideshows but here were the oddities. Wurlitzer organs with the old carny music we all recognise. Laughing women who move their heads back and forth. String puppets which dance and sing. Burlesque shows in peep boxes. I loved the reminders of US history made into working models. You could see how the travelling shows could fascinate and inform the isolated settlers about what was happening and reinforce a sense of pride at the taming of nature and the setting up of towns and cities. They had working models of saw mills, wild West shows, an enormous carnival model and all in working order.
Walking back to the car we ran into Michael Jackson- a new sighting and Obama- who seems to be following us around. First to Jordan and Syria and then on to Moscow and finally at home in the States. Ripley's believe it or not- Carnival oddities, freak show had a strange fascination but we couldn't bring ourselves to go in.
One of the days aims was to use the cable car system so we changed lines and headed to the California Street line and into down town. As Russia was wide, SF is tall with varied architecture, old and new. Glass skyscrapers alongside detailed Art Deco, cubes and visually pleasing angles and reflections and street sculptures in pretty squares. Fountains and plazas and open spaces and closed spaces. Just wonderful to look at.
Early dinner, Ash to sleep, Tv in room. Jet lagged and blitzed we headed back to the hotel. The SF wind had set in and it was pretty chilly out of the sun. As is the way in America the TV was prominent in the room so we put it on and settled in to channel surf, really enjoying that we could understand and hearing our first news for quite some time. We knew Michael jackson had died so weren't surprised at the coverage of his memorial service, and knowing how the popular TV works weren't surprised at the interviews and footage with fans and people who knew someone who knew someone who knew something about him. We were reminded a bit of the footage we saw when the Pope died during our last holiday overseas. World wide events experienced elsewhere in the world!
Diner breakfast. Ash wasn't leaving the States without a Diner breakfast and a good move it was. They really know how to do breakfast with eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast and grape jelly, juice and coffee- all in a wonderful environment with comfy booths and those reminiscent hits playing on the jukeboxes. Again recognisable culture from movies and TV.
Haight Ashbury by bus, Mission area, finding the concert.Confident now we were going to explore a little further out by bus and headed for Haight Ashbury, the centre of the hippie revolution. The houses were just lovely with their varied colours and frontages however the hippie culture is still the same and nothing opens before 12 so the street was a little lacking in the ambience we were expecting. Not deterred we decided to head for a plaza closer to town which had a free music concert with a Mexican band. On the way, unexpectedly we found the very Russian scale City hall with corresponding paved park area. The scale was very Russian and grand with classical design and grandeur. Less easy to find was the Plaza with music. A great Mexican band playing at the back of a building with a very small crowd of people from the local Mission area. One woman was dancing and Ash unfortunately ruined one fellows video masterpiece by wandering through his shot inadvertently. At the end of the concert we hightailed it out as the fellow complainingly holed up the band members as only the cast of Cosi fan Tutti or One flew over the Cuckoo Nest could. We think the bloke who was trying to get his dog to dance with him might have been on one of the posters around town.
Shopping impressions, Kitty Koo vs Macys and Bloomingdales. On the way back we figured a detour to the shopping mall was a must, although we knew we wouldn't last long. They are the same world wide, glitz, lights, musac. This one was no different although Bloomingdales was very beautiful. It really was quite superb, though not crowded. The scale of the malls is just boggling so we headed back out to the normal streets. I found the scale of Macy's acceptable and had a look around there. Just like Myer- in fact almost the same floor and product layout. What was for sale was no different to home and prices were comparable apart form the 15% sales tax which is added after purchase and bumps up the price on the ticket.
We only explored a small iota of downtown but it was obvious the economic crisis had hit. There were heaps of closing down sales and empty buildings for lease where businesses had recently gone.
Little Italy for dinner, poverty here.A visit to the North Beach area was mandatory- so dinner it was. After the vast array of food we have been eating I found it a bit disappointing. we probably should have gone all out and chosen a more upmarket place.
Poverty is ever present with a visible presence of beggars on the streets and visible mentally disturbed and homeless. The Mission area is not far from town and the difference in this area and the more attracive suburbs was marked. Travelling on the buses gave us a small insight into the vast range of people in the States. SF is a guess a particularly multi cultural city. We didn't notice a large police presence though the sirens at night reminded me of Hill Street Blues. I quite enjoyed the sound of them, it felt like being in a city.
Today- lunch concert- music, walk Chrissy field, Chinatown. Our last day we started with another free concert- this time a Cuban band playing downtown. Interestingly the same woman was there dancing from yesterday and a few of the others with carers I guess. Added to this the office workers and tourists. Quite a large crowd really. The band was great and I was sorry we weren't around to go to the concerts everyday. It would be a wonderful way to hear a lot of great music.
Chrissy field is out near the Presido area by the Golden gate Bridge so we jumped a bus and headed out to the burbs for a walk in the park. They love their dogs here and dog walking and grooming is obviously a good small business option. Unfortunately the wind was very strong, they do call it the windy city, so we cut the walk short and inadvertently discovered an amazing classical palace in a nearby park. Like stepping into Egypt with pillars, carving and arches of a grandiose scale and very lovely next to a refective lake with ducks and swans.
Needing a bag to carry our luggage overflow we headed to Chinatown. Once again we inadvertently discovered one of the beat bars Vesuvios where Kerouac and Ginsberg had spent their time reading poetry and sharing ideas. It was great and a couple of cocktails later we had a wonderful Chinese meal, bought our bag and headed for the airport transfer.
As is fitting, our last trip on tour was an experience. The driver was- we think, stoned to the eyeballs, and for a while there I wondered if we were going to the airport at all.He seemed to wander all over the road and I was glad of the seatbelt. He was really strange so I was glad to get out.
For the first time all trip we had confusion at the airport with a fully booked plane and no seat allocations made. Again I was pleased to find we had seats together and lucky for us we were at the front of the back section with a bit of extra leg room. Yes! We were rapt and settled in for the 14 hour flight to Sydney, across the dateline to arrive on Friday.
Flying out and feelings.
It all seems unreal, like a suspension of time. Travelling every day is new and there isn't much to pin a time frame on. The days meld and each day is a new experience. You know heading home is back to normality and the flight is limbo until you hit home soil.
We've had a great trip and travel makes you realise how lucky we are to be able to travel and just how small the world is. Each country is different but, overall, people you meet in the street are the same. We speak different languages and eat different food but the bottom line is that the majority of people are kind, friendly and helpful. They enjoy a laugh, have families, work and are social.
I have loved the history of this trip. Seeing art and architecture from some of the earliest settlements and trading routes. We have enjoyed the Middle Eastern cultures and travelled comfortably in areas where the main religion is very different to our own.
We've been surrounded by sound and music. The call to prayer, the markets, churches and mosques with acoustics to die for, street performers and just music in everyday life, music recording everyday life.
Colour for the eye and colour for the ear.
Signing out at the risk of getting soppy- Janet
