Had problems logging on - so this is the last instalment of my San Fran Diary . . . sorry it's late y'all
After not enough sleep, 8 of us left the house at 8.45. Charlotte,
jessica, andrew, Johny, and myself, and jessica's housemates, Kate and
emma and emma's highschool friend Sam.
We were going to the annual 'Bay to Breakers' celebration/run/parade.
" The 99-year old ING Bay to Breakers 12k is one of the world’s
largest and oldest footraces, held annually in San Francisco,
California. The name reflects the traditional course which takes tens
of thousands of participants from the northeast end of the downtown
area near The Embarcadero (the "bay" side of the city) to the west end
of the city and the "breakers" of Ocean Beach. The 7.46 mile (12
kilometer) race features world-class athletes in addition to costumed
runners and 'fun-loving' folks out for a great day of running and
walking through San Francisco." FYI
I mainly experienced a massive piss up with way too many old naked
guys, and loads of people in crazy fancy dress wobbling through the
streets of San Francisco.
We took two buses to emma's friend's appartment on Arlen Square which
was where the parade was passing through. We had a few beers and met
some random people also dressed as dragons and watched out the window
as the crazy people walked by. There were lots of watermelon slice
costumes, bananas, people with no clothes on, hooters girls, scrabble
pieces , jamaican bobsleigh team etc. Walking by with the occassional
float with blaring music. We squirted water pistols and went and sat
on the scetchy roof for a while before heading out and joining the
parade.
It was like the Notting Hill Carnival but less organised and more
bizarre. Apparently there had been a serious race earlier in the
day . . . By the time we had got there there were no atheletes, just
party goers. It was excellent fun watching basically the whole city
partying in the street at 10am on a gloomy Sunday morning. I just wish
I had known beforehand so we could have found costumes - I love any
excuse to dress up . . .
We walked for about 3k before deciding to call it a day and go explore
the city. So with Jessica as our guide we headed of towards Ocean
beach, stopping for a bagel and some awesome cake along the way.
Ocean beach is where the parade was meant to have ended but by the
time we got there at about 2/3pm the party was over. But they were
giving out free water and we took advantage of that and went for a
walk along the beach looking for sand dollars. Which are these flat
shell like things with what looks like an etching of a flower in the
middle. I've only seen little ones before whilst diving, but the ones
on the beach were the size of my palm but rarely in one piece.
We walked until we got to the end of the beach and then hiked up to
the ruins of a look out point and had a fantastic view of the pacific
and southern highway 1 which we had driven up on, before dropping back
down to see the ruins of old sea water swimming baths which was quite
impressive.
We were going to walk 3 miles to the Golden Gate Bridge but we were
all feeling quite tired so we hopped on the bus and headed to Lombard
Street and decided to drive over the golden gate bridge tomorrow.
Lombard Street is famous because instead of a straight bit of road on
a very steep hill they have a slaloming road surrounded by gardens and
trees. It was quite pretty, but we didn't really understand the point
of it. The views of the city were fantastic though.
We returned to downtown on the bus via City Hall and after finding a
road named 'Powell' stopped for a drink near where Jessica works, at
the Rogue brewery. Four of us shared 8 taster beers each being about a
1/3 of a pint. They were all local and ranged from a light cider to a
heavy porter.
It was pretty funny getting on all the buses and watching san
Francisco go by. After the Bay to Breakers had disbanded lots of
people in crazy fancy dress scattered themselves throughout the city
in various states of unconciousness.
We then too the 'Bart', which is what they call their underground
railway system out of San Framcisco to Berkeley which is where Jessica
is from. We were going to meet two of her friends for dinner at a
pizza restaurant called Jupiters.
Her friends johan and giovannah were very nice and we chatted away and
ate pizza outside (again) even though it wasn't quite warm enough and
listen to a live band sing. One of their song being called something
like 'don't you be coming round here no more'. One person danced.
We then went out for Bubble tea, we were going to have ice cream, but
we were frozen solid already from sitting outside.
I have tried it before in Vancouver last year and am unsuprised it has
not made it over here . . . It's a bit like a fruity milkshake type
drink with tapioca balls in. The tapioca balls have the texture and
consistancy of frog spawn and taste of nothing. But we played some
board games before heading back to jessica's in the city via a little
side street with the most amazing murals.
Feet hurt, even though we took 10 different buses today.
17/05/2010
Another foggy day in San Fran. The whole city is frequently shrouded
in sea fog due to the warm, moist air that blows from the central
Pacific Ocean, crossing the cold water of the California Current,
which flows just off the coast. This creates cool moist wind along the
coast.
Not good for sight seeing but very good for wine making, as we
discovered today when we went to the famous Napa Valley, which is
Californian wine country.
On our way out of the city we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge,
stopping at the gift shop to squash some pennies and I bought a few
nice things too ;-)
We were booked on a $25 a head tour of the Robert Mondavi Vinyard and
Winary at 1.20pm but decided to stop off at Jack in the Box for a
lunch mainly consisting of curly fries first . . . Classy.
We were nearly there on time and joined our tour just as the guide was
explaining the weather patterns in the valley which means that none of
the fog makes it into the valley but it cools and moistens the air
and makes it perfect for growing grapes.
We then went to the vineyard where they had different vines in rows so
you can see the difference in the vine eg. Merlot, cab sav etc.
Unfortunatly it just looks like a load of leaves to me. The vines were
just blossoming, they only have little flowers because they are self
fertilising and don't need to attract bees or anything. It isn't until
about august that the grapes are ready to be picked, and then it's all
hands on deck. They only pick at night because it would be too hot to
do it during the day for the workers.
The grapes get put in lots of yellow stackable crates less than a foot
in depth so as not to squash or bruise the fruit and then taken to a
conveyer belt where people pick out leaves or bugs that might've
gotton in. They then go into a machine that destalks them and whilst
doing that opens up a split at the top of the grape, before emptying
them into these massive French oak barrels. They are currently empty
and awaiting the next crop in august/September but they still have to
be kept at the optimum temperature and not too moist or too dry. They
have an automated complex system of dehumidifiers, humidifiers and
fans so that the barrels don't go mouldy . . . Basically.
So they shove all the grapes into these barrels and add some yeast and
then leave it for about 9months - it all works by gravity and as the
grapes ferment the skins rise to the top and they then strain the
skins from the wine and then put the wine in smaller barrels to age
for another 9months. This is called the free flow wine. All the skins
are shovelled into a massive press where they are squished until all
the liquid comes out - this is called the first press and they use
this to blend in with the free flow at the bottling phase. Apparently
most of the flavour and colour comes from the skins.
They then move the barrels into ANOTHER room for a while . . . And
then they bottle it and leave it to age for another while . . .
As you can see from andrew's post we tasted three different wines. The
white was really good and I bought a bottle as well as another bottle
of White wine which I'm looking forward to trying at some point.
We tried to have a nice photo in front of the vineyard, but a lady
with a large umbrella kept getting in the way and then a crazy woman
from our tour offered to take a picture of us all . . . And it was
blurry. It was obviously never meant to be.
We then forced the boys to take us to the Napa Outlet Store where we
spent a few hours wandering around. I bought a massive leather handbag
and a very complicated dress from American apperal that comes with
instructions.
Johny spent the most though . . .
Charlotte decided that we should take the boys to Hooters for dinner.
Waitresses wearing tiny orange shorts, tan tights and tiny tank tops
that could berely contain their massive boobs.
We ate chicken wings and drank beer and got some very uncomfortable
photographs with the boys and the waitresses. It was pretty funny. Me
and Charlotte bought hooters tank tops as well . . . But I don't think
I'm going to fill it the way the waitress' did :-(
Afterwards on the way home, Johny decided he wanted to drive down
Lombard street, dispite the sign saying 'no vans, buses etc.' as it's
really narrow and winding. Luckily we made it down in one piece
although my knuckles were white from gripping onto the bottom of the
seat!!
Another foggy day in San Fran. The whole city is frequently shrouded
in sea fog due to the warm, moist air that blows from the central
Pacific Ocean, crossing the cold water of the California Current,
which flows just off the coast. This creates cool moist wind along the
coast.
Not good for sight seeing but very good for wine making, as we
discovered today when we went to the famous Napa Valley, which is
Californian wine country.
On our way out of the city we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge,
stopping at the gift shop to squash some pennies and I bought a few
nice things too ;-)
We were booked on a $25 a head tour of the Robert Mondavi Vinyard and
Winary at 1.20pm but decided to stop off at Jack in the Box for a
lunch mainly consisting of curly fries first . . . Classy.
We were nearly there on time and joined our tour just as the guide was
explaining the weather patterns in the valley which means that none of
the fog makes it into the valley but it cools and moistens the air
and makes it perfect for growing grapes.
We then went to the vineyard where they had different vines in rows so
you can see the difference in the vine eg. Merlot, cab sav etc.
Unfortunatly it just looks like a load of leaves to me. The vines were
just blossoming, they only have little flowers because they are self
fertilising and don't need to attract bees or anything. It isn't until
about august that the grapes are ready to be picked, and then it's all
hands on deck. They only pick at night because it would be too hot to
do it during the day for the workers.
The grapes get put in lots of yellow stackable crates less than a foot
in depth so as not to squash or bruise the fruit and then taken to a
conveyer belt where people pick out leaves or bugs that might've
gotton in. They then go into a machine that destalks them and whilst
doing that opens up a split at the top of the grape, before emptying
them into these massive French oak barrels. They are currently empty
and awaiting the next crop in august/September but they still have to
be kept at the optimum temperature and not too moist or too dry. They
have an automated complex system of dehumidifiers, humidifiers and
fans so that the barrels don't go mouldy . . . Basically.
So they shove all the grapes into these barrels and add some yeast and
then leave it for about 9months - it all works by gravity and as the
grapes ferment the skins rise to the top and they then strain the
skins from the wine and then put the wine in smaller barrels to age
for another 9months. This is called the free flow wine. All the skins
are shovelled into a massive press where they are squished until all
the liquid comes out - this is called the first press and they use
this to blend in with the free flow at the bottling phase. Apparently
most of the flavour and colour comes from the skins.
They then move the barrels into ANOTHER room for a while . . . And
then they bottle it and leave it to age for another while . . .
As you can see from andrew's post we tasted three different wines. The
white was really good and I bought a bottle as well as another bottle
of White wine which I'm looking forward to trying at some point.
We tried to have a nice photo in front of the vineyard, but a lady
with a large umbrella kept getting in the way and then a crazy woman
from our tour offered to take a picture of us all . . . And it was
blurry. It was obviously never meant to be.
We then forced the boys to take us to the Napa Outlet Store where we
spent a few hours wandering around. I bought a massive leather handbag
and a very complicated dress from American apperal that comes with
instructions.
Johny spent the most though . . .
Charlotte decided that we should take the boys to Hooters for dinner.
Waitresses wearing tiny orange shorts, tan tights and tiny tank tops
that could berely contain their massive boobs.
We ate chicken wings and drank beer and got some very uncomfortable
photographs with the boys and the waitresses. It was pretty funny. Me
and Charlotte bought hooters tank tops as well . . . But I don't think
I'm going to fill it the way the waitress' did :-(
Afterwards on the way home, Johny decided he wanted to drive down
Lombard street, dispite the sign saying 'no vans, buses etc.' as it's
really narrow and winding. Luckily we made it down in one piece
although my knuckles were white from gripping onto the bottom of the
seat!!
18/05/2010
So . . . Today we went to Alcatraz. It was really interesting I had no
idea it was more than just a prison.
Charlotte, Johny, Andrew and me met Charlotte's younger sister Lydia
(who she has been travelling with for the last year) and Lydia's
boyfriend Alex (who has joined them for the last leg of their trip) at
the ferry terminal. It was pretty funny though, in the queue for the
ferry there was a photographer with a backdrop of alkatraz island on
it in really bad resolution. Even though the island was only just
across the bay. We bought the picture anyway because it was a nice one.
Once we got to the island we went and watched a short documentary
about a brief history of Alkatraz. As I said earlier, I thought it was
just a prison, but actually it was originally built as a fortress just
before the cival war to defend San Francisco bay in the event of an
attack from the confederates. It had over 100 cannons, some of those
being massive ones that could fire huge 15 inch cannon balls.
The fortress was never under attack, although there were several plots
from the confederates that came pretty close.
Even when the original troops went out there in the 1850's there were
prisoners with them who had been sentenced to hard labour ( the hard
labour being to build the fort!!). There was a horrid looking cell
underneath the drawbridge into the main fortress which held the
original 11 prisoners.
The fortress was somewhat neglected after the end of the civil war and
they ran out of money so they decided to turn it into a prison in the
1930's. It could hold over 300 prisoners at a time in individual cells
which had a sink a toilet a bed and two bedside tables attached to the
wall. Pretty grim.
Cell block D was the punishment block. It had bigger cells but there
were no privalidges like recreation and sunlight . . .
There were two famous escape attempts one was 'sucessful' the other
was a blood bath. A handful of prisoners conspired to gain freedom by
escaping their cells climbing up to the balcony where the prison
officers patrolled with a gun force the bars open, get the guns and
the keys to the cells and recreation area and escape. But one of the
officers had hidden the key to the recreation area so they couldn't
escape. The officers they had captured were exectuted through thebars
of the cells, bar one, the youngest escapee, who was only 18, couldn't
kill the guard in his cell. He was the only one of the escapees not to
be sentenced to death afterwards.
The second escape was more sucessful, quite Shawshank Redemption-
esque. Three men used stainless steel spoons stolen from the dining
room to scrape away the concrete around the vents in their cells (a
feat they estimated took about a year) and escaped through the space
behind the walls where all the pipes were. They had made false heads
and made it look like they were asleep in their beds. They escaped at
night and weren't discovered to be missing until the following
morning, bythen they were long gone. No one knows if they managed to
get to the shores of San Francisco, it was a mile and a half to the
mainland through freezing cold shark infested water with very strong
pacific currents. Who knows . . .
It was quite interesting to walk around the island. There were gardens
and birds everywhere. The prison officers families had also lived on
the island in a secluded section where they tended nice gardens and I
guess had a relatively normal existance until the prison was closed in
the mid fifties as it was too expensive to maintain and most of the
buildings were falling appart!
In the sixties Alcatraz island was inhabited once again for 13weeks as
protesting native Americans landed on the island and held a stand off
because the government kept stealing their land and selling it. It
worked to some extent, afterwardsthe law was changed and they did get
some of their land back.
Afterwards we walked along fishermans warf to the Ferry terminal where
we had a Mexican lunch before walking back to the car and Andrew and
Johny were heading off to Berkeley to look round the university campus
there and then head east to Yosemite National Park, leaving me in
Charlotte's care = lots of shopping.
After swapping photos back at Jessica's house and packing the
remainder of their stuff I left Operation Blue Buffalo . . . Or maybe
operation blue buffalo left me . . .
Anyways, as you can tell by the blogs I had a fantastic time and wish
I was continuing the journey with them. Thanks boys and (as I know the
girls are now reading the blog) big thanks to Jessica Woodard and her
housemates for putting up with us and making us feel so welcome
(including letting us eat your cereal).
San Francisco is amazing . . . Go there!
So . . . Today we went to Alcatraz. It was really interesting I had no
idea it was more than just a prison.
Charlotte, Johny, Andrew and me met Charlotte's younger sister Lydia
(who she has been travelling with for the last year) and Lydia's
boyfriend Alex (who has joined them for the last leg of their trip) at
the ferry terminal. It was pretty funny though, in the queue for the
ferry there was a photographer with a backdrop of alkatraz island on
it in really bad resolution. Even though the island was only just
across the bay. We bought the picture anyway because it was a nice one.
Once we got to the island we went and watched a short documentary
about a brief history of Alkatraz. As I said earlier, I thought it was
just a prison, but actually it was originally built as a fortress just
before the cival war to defend San Francisco bay in the event of an
attack from the confederates. It had over 100 cannons, some of those
being massive ones that could fire huge 15 inch cannon balls.
The fortress was never under attack, although there were several plots
from the confederates that came pretty close.
Even when the original troops went out there in the 1850's there were
prisoners with them who had been sentenced to hard labour ( the hard
labour being to build the fort!!). There was a horrid looking cell
underneath the drawbridge into the main fortress which held the
original 11 prisoners.
The fortress was somewhat neglected after the end of the civil war and
they ran out of money so they decided to turn it into a prison in the
1930's. It could hold over 300 prisoners at a time in individual cells
which had a sink a toilet a bed and two bedside tables attached to the
wall. Pretty grim.
Cell block D was the punishment block. It had bigger cells but there
were no privalidges like recreation and sunlight . . .
There were two famous escape attempts one was 'sucessful' the other
was a blood bath. A handful of prisoners conspired to gain freedom by
escaping their cells climbing up to the balcony where the prison
officers patrolled with a gun force the bars open, get the guns and
the keys to the cells and recreation area and escape. But one of the
officers had hidden the key to the recreation area so they couldn't
escape. The officers they had captured were exectuted through thebars
of the cells, bar one, the youngest escapee, who was only 18, couldn't
kill the guard in his cell. He was the only one of the escapees not to
be sentenced to death afterwards.
The second escape was more sucessful, quite Shawshank Redemption-
esque. Three men used stainless steel spoons stolen from the dining
room to scrape away the concrete around the vents in their cells (a
feat they estimated took about a year) and escaped through the space
behind the walls where all the pipes were. They had made false heads
and made it look like they were asleep in their beds. They escaped at
night and weren't discovered to be missing until the following
morning, bythen they were long gone. No one knows if they managed to
get to the shores of San Francisco, it was a mile and a half to the
mainland through freezing cold shark infested water with very strong
pacific currents. Who knows . . .
It was quite interesting to walk around the island. There were gardens
and birds everywhere. The prison officers families had also lived on
the island in a secluded section where they tended nice gardens and I
guess had a relatively normal existance until the prison was closed in
the mid fifties as it was too expensive to maintain and most of the
buildings were falling appart!
In the sixties Alcatraz island was inhabited once again for 13weeks as
protesting native Americans landed on the island and held a stand off
because the government kept stealing their land and selling it. It
worked to some extent, afterwardsthe law was changed and they did get
some of their land back.
Afterwards we walked along fishermans warf to the Ferry terminal where
we had a Mexican lunch before walking back to the car and Andrew and
Johny were heading off to Berkeley to look round the university campus
there and then head east to Yosemite National Park, leaving me in
Charlotte's care = lots of shopping.
After swapping photos back at Jessica's house and packing the
remainder of their stuff I left Operation Blue Buffalo . . . Or maybe
operation blue buffalo left me . . .
Anyways, as you can tell by the blogs I had a fantastic time and wish
I was continuing the journey with them. Thanks boys and (as I know the
girls are now reading the blog) big thanks to Jessica Woodard and her
housemates for putting up with us and making us feel so welcome
(including letting us eat your cereal).
San Francisco is amazing . . . Go there!
No comments:
Post a Comment