A day in the city

Day 41, May 12, 1997

San Francisco

160 km in three days

We drove about 40 miles towards the city so that we could catch BART, one of the commuter trains. Rush hour was over by the time we arrived at the parking lot, and there was no parking to be found. We found a spot in a residential area a few blocks away. Next, we had to figure out how to purchase a ticket from the machines.

Erica suggested we begin our day by riding a cable car. I stood in the cable car line-up while Erica and Ralph bought three-day transit passes. Erica wanted to stand on the outside of a car, so we told her to go ahead and we'd take the next one and meet her at Fisherman's wharf. I was glad we were sitting: the people standing on the outside of our car brushed 5 ton delivery vehicles parked in the street. When we got to the end of the line, we couldn't find Erica. We waited and wandered and returned and waited and wandered down the wharf. The next time we returned, there was Erica! She had discovered that the cars alternate destinations, and hers had stopped at the other end of the wharf.

We rode the cable car back towards Chinatown. After walking around Chinatown and eating our lunch in a park, we walked slowly through the downtown area to the California line, another cable car route. It was a cold day, foggy and breezy. I wasn't warm all day, so I was happy to be walking as much as possible.

We visited some areas of the city that Tanya had recommended. Polk street had vintage/used clothing stores and interesting jewelry shops. We walked down Van Ness to Market, and caught a bus up Haight Street, which was also populated by trendy shops and restaurants. We had dinner in a Mediterranean restaurant and stopped for a beer in an English-style pub.