Coddiwomple Stardate 180528

We boarded our train on Thursday 24^th early afternoon and arrived in Oakland 8.40am Friday. Apart from not preparing ourselves for sleeping overnight it was a fantastic relaxing way to travel. The Starlite Train is double decker with 1 panorama viewing carriage. Our seats we had were comfortable with more than enough leg room to stretch right out for sleeping. We should have bought our pillow and sleeping bag to make our night more comfortable. Some areas we travelled in had amazing scenery. The view through the panorama windows increased the pleasure of the experience as you could look down on rivers, lakes, out over forests and snow-capped mountains and up at the sky. The highest elevation the train rose to was 770m.

When we arrived in Oakland we had 30mins to pickup our backpacks and walk 1km to the Ferry Terminal to take us over to San Francisco or wait another 2 hours for the next ferry. The ferry trip took us to the bottom of Market Street where our accommodation was. We had great views on the ferry that took in Bay Bridge, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge and the City of San Francisco.

It was a 2.9km walk up Market St to Hotel Whitcomb. There was a lot of homeless people around parks which we have come to expect in the USA. But we were not prepared for what was next. While walking up Market St which is one of there major roads in the city I thought San Francisco looked fantastic and had a nice feel. Where we arrived in Oakland it was modern and clean. Market St up to 5th was very nice. We were now 2/3^rd of the way to our hotel. We crossed the road and we were into to the most horrific scene of the worst case of poverty we have ever seen. There were beggars and homeless everywhere. People with missing limbs people in wheelchairs many claiming to be war veterans. People talking to themselves others preaching to anyone who wanted to listen many people were suffering from crippled bodies trying to get around. People where shooting up heroin and everyone just seemed to be drugged up. There were police on many corners and these drug users are shooting up in plain sight of the officers. We still had 1km to go to get through all this before we reached our accommodation. We just wanted to leave we dreaded what our hotel was going to look like. When we did arrive at our hotel to our relief it was an old National Trust Historical Hotel and looked fantastic inside with plenty of security.

It was too early to book in, so we left our bags and made our way back down Market St to ride on one of the Historical Trams. We walked on the opposite side of the road but was no improvement with all the outcasts. The queue for the trams was massive it took over an hour to get on one. When we finally got on the tram it was crowed. By the time we got off at the famous Zig Zag road of Lombard street the tram was well over crowded and you never got to experience the steep inclines and views you expect. Sharon and I was seated but all I got to see was everyone’s arses and crotches to my left and a little of San Francisco on my right. We walked down Lombard St with 20 million other people. I’m wondering what was so fantastic about this road. When you look up it is a nice street with colourful gardens and another 20 million people taking selfies blocking the street. They have traffic management to control everyone because you can still drive down Lombard St which every tourist with a car wants to do.

We then went down to the famous pier. Another over crowed place. Didn’t stay long and caught a tram back to our hotel. Fortunatly it stopped near our hotel so we didn’t have to walked back up through all the homeless.

The reason we where in San Francisco at this time was to meet up with Katie and Jason while they have been travelling around the USA. We planned to meet them at 6.00pm at their accommodation. The reason we chose the hotel we stayed in was it was close to them. It was only a 15min walk but I thought the walk up Market St was shocking it didn’t prepare us for this walk. On the way, there were homeless drugged out people everywhere. Much more drug use in the eyes of police again with food scraps, rubbish, dog faeces and I’m sure human faeces covering the footpaths. When we arrived at their hostel with great relief I was checking myself for stab wounds and cholera.

It was a nice feeling seeing Jason & Katie. Last time we saw Jason was in Wellington NZ. Jason wanted to check out China Town then a bar called Barbary Coast Taproom Noc Noc. Then dinner at Pier 23 and a tram ride back to avoid all the homeless in the streets.

We wanted to spend as much time with Jason & Katie. They had a walking tour of San Francisco Saturday morning. Sharon & I joined the tour that took 4.5 hours. It mainly took us through China Town and our guide Christian explaining all the Chinese connection to the city. We sampled moon cake and fortune cookies as well as going to a small temple. We found out that the Chinese fortune cookie was originally made by a Japanese person in 1910 in San Francisco. He made a cookie with a note in it to say thankyou for people who attended his gardens that he maintained. In WWII service men in San Francisco ate out in China Town. They wanted something sweet to finish their meal. A Chinese family decided to recreate the Japanese cookie and put inside a good fortune note. We had another look at Lombard St then onto Musee Mecanique they have a collection of over 200 antique arcade machines. They date back to the turn of the 20^th century and are still usable if you put in your money. Then we finished our tour at Pier 39 and the very smelly Sea Lions. There is literally hundreds of seals on pontoons at the pier.

Sharon & Jason wanted a hair cut in the afternoon. Katie and I went for a Gelato Icecream and a very steep walk up to Coit Tower with great views over the bay. Then a few beers and diner before saying goodbye to Katie and Jason. They were leaving to head down to Los Angeles Sunday morning.

Sunday, we had blue skies until we got to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was all fogged in and a very cold walk across and back. We did see two whales in the bay and saw them lift their tales a few times. Then it was to a couple of well known properties Sharon wanted to see. One was the house that was in Mrs Doubtfire. It was sad, people had carved notes to Robin Williams in the tree out the front and notes written on the pavement. Next stop was the Painted Ladies which featured in Full House. We walked up the steep pathway to get a view with hundreds of other people taking selfies in front of the row of houses. It was a great view over the city from up there.

Sunday night we met up with Jake & Ally. Ally is Katies sister & daughter of Ben & Linda. They also have been travelling around USA. They leave today Monday to go back home. We had another great night and it has been fantastic seeing everyone and catching up with news  since we left New Zealand. Unfortunatly they were the last we will see of people we know until our planned return October next year. Unless anyone else wants to see us somewhere in the world.

Today being Monday we are leaving San Francisco to hire a car for 19 days before getting to Las Vegas. We have no accommodation pre booked and are hoping to find camping sites to stay in. I don't expect to get out any blogs either unless we stay somewhere for a while.

To sum up San Francisco you may have gathered by my blog Sharon and I have been very disappointed in the city. It is 1 of only 3 cities we both really want to see in USA. The other 2 are New York and Washington DC.