Skip to main content

A Good Day in the City

Ambient was warming as the fog was burning and we timed it well in terms of getting on public transportation to find seats for an hour long ride into San Francisco.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day and we with our visitors from out of town revisited parts of the city we did not have an appetite for by ourselves.

We started at the Ferry Building and pier 1 on the northeastern corner of the city and went west all the way to see the historic piers that provided home for trade ships over 100 years ago along with some restored hardware.



Quite a Parabolic sight - old cargo ship Balacutha in foreground to the Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz - the rock

that is a Tall Sail - or is it?

Along the way we also saw the newest addition to the sea faring culture parked at pier 27 that now welcomes large cruisers - over 2,500 of them to go gawk while consuming all day buffets.  The one in the dock belonged to Princess Cruise Lines.


We also wandered the birthplace of a 100 plus year old chocolate making establishment started by an Italian called Ghirardelli.



Today owned by a large Swiss holding company they produce fine American made chocolates right here in the bay area.

Calories boosted by a helping of cacao and sugar we snacked our way a few uphill city blocks to view the crooked most street called Lombard and then sauntered some 260 steps down to another that appeared to go up and downhill at the same time.  The glutes are gonna hurt tonight.




Subsequently ambled our way towards the sound of sea lions perched at pier 39.  Watched them sunbathe and then feeling light headed from hunger wound down to an ice cream shop back at the Ferry Building.


Live Life King Size


no SPF needed - Sealions @ Pier 39

Wrapped up the day by the Bay Bridge and witnessed the light art come aglow and then went into the underworld to find our commuter train back home.





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

You are important to us

Followed by piano music.   Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'.  Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac.  Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'.  Well I will be damned.  I thought  I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but  I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more