San Francisco

Day 291 – San Francisco, USA

I’ll start with a belated happy St Patrick’s day. People in green, or with green accessories have been around all day.

Arriving in San Francisco, I had to wait for my bag to arrive on the belt, which is pretty much the first or second time it happened in all my trips (since usually I spend a while in immigration queues).

Going to the commuter train station, I passed into colder air… and for the first time, leaving an air-conditioned space led to a lower temperature than a higher one!

I bought my Clipper card quickly -you insert the money, you confirm the amount, the card pops out-, and took the train to my station.

I chose a hostel by the last station shared by all the lines before they fan out into the surroundings suburbs; it is outside San Francisco, in Oakland -and the neighbourhood is frankly unappealing-, but I am in the centre of San Francisco in only a few minutes.

I dropped my bag into my room -after a complicated exchange with the staff, as I don’t get a cell/3G signal at the address, I have to walk back to the train station, and my phone refuses to connect to the Wi-Fi.

And as the day was warm and sunny, I went right back to San Francisco enjoy the waterfront. I started at the Ferry Building, the former ferry terminal now converted into shops and restaurants.

Ferry Building and Clock Tower

You may remember how I qualified a market in Adelaide, Australia as Bobo Central: well, they have a branch here. I bought a ciabatta with green onion and a walnut and cranberry bread (both delicious).

I walked from there from pier to pier, until I succumbed to a reduced hop-on, hop-off bus offer.

Waiting for the bus, I visited the Pier 39, with restaurants, souvenirs shops, and a colony of sea lions.

San Francisco – Sea lions at Pier 39

I finally got on the bus. On the one hand, I greatly appreciated the insights into the city, and you cross the Golden Gate Bridge, stop for pictures, and cross back. On the other hand, the tour guides (I tested three different in two days) had a cringing sense of humour, leaving my European neighbours and myself very embarrassed by their off-colour jokes and fake laughs (I’m not kidding).

As they depend partially on tips, I hope that they get the message quickly.

At the end of the tour, I went back to my hostel, and tried to shop for groceries. The only decent grocery shop was already closed (but being open on a Sunday afternoon is a miracle in itself), so I popped to the convenience store for emergency snacks.

Back at the hostel, I got into a discussion with a Pakistani man about the charms of Lahore and why I should visit!