SF, CA - Back to the Wharf

Again we took the train into town but, this time, we took the next stop closer to the city since it is a major hub and the last run is at 9:00 rather than 7:00. We decided yesterday that we didn’t want to be constrained by the trail schedule and have to rush back for the 7:00, the last, train to our stop. When we got to our stop in town, we got off but this time we decided that we could walk to Fisherman’s Wharf rather than waiting for and taking that crowded trolley car. But, first we stopped in at the Ferry Building, named after all the ferries which used to arrive here from all other parts of the bay though a few ferries still dock here. Now it is a shoppe / restaurant / coffee shop area with a farmer’s market on Saturdays.

But the views of the Oakland Bay Bridge are superb and we got to watch some ferries take off across the bay.

We got a cup of coffee, a scone and went out to a bench on the wharf side to watch the ferries and other traffic on the bay. We could see Treasure Island where my father-in-law trained prior to shipping off for Hawaii for WWII. When we finished our coffee and scone, we strolled off down the Embarcadero for Pier 43 where we had left off yesterday. A delightful walk along the bay. It was warmer and less windy than yesterday so we were able to take off our jackets. This time, we put them both into a small backpack which I was wearing - we will not strap jackets to our backpack again.

Again, there was quite a hustle and bustle about the area since it is spring break and Easter weekend and lots of families and people have time off. There were lines at the Alcatraz ferry, lines at the harbor cruise ferries, lines at the double decker busses giving tours throughout the city and lines at all the shops. It’s fun to watch everyone bustling around. We got to the Maritime Museum near Ghirardelli (more about that later) and toured the building. There was not much there yet since they are still designing this National Park and the prime attraction was the building itself. It had been built before the 1930’s and the inside walls were beautifully painted and the outside walls were tiled by artists working for the WPA. What beautiful work.

Here’s one of the interior walls with some detail.

Here is a picture of a WPA artist crafting a mosaic and here is the mosaic he designed.

Next was Ghirardelli Square where the Ghirardelli family once had their chocolate factory. Now, it is shoppes and - and - an ice cream shop. What could be better. And it was time for lunch. Actually, we usually bring our own lunch along but decided that the plastic containers that I pack the sandwiches in take too much space in the backpack and we didn’t bring any. We also seem to have forgotten to bring our protein bars which we usually have with us. We’ve got to live off the land today. Unfortunately, the ‘land’ doesn’t have many good choices for good nutrition. And, Gary and I are susceptible to scones and ice cream and other sinful things.

One shared dish of strawberry cheesecake ice cream with milk chocolate sauce poured on top (I told you that we are susceptible to junk food) and we are off to see Lombard Street, called the ‘crookedest’ street in the world. Well, I don’t have any proof of that but we have to see it. I’m sure you’ve all see pictures of it and now we’ve actually seen it. We knew where it was as we approached by looking at all the tourists gawking and all the cars turning down it. (I can’t imagine living on that street - you’d have no peace at all, no sitting out side in the yard in your dirty t-shirt, no deciding to mow next week, no leaving your blinds up at night - you, your house and your yard are on continual display and tourists are continually snapping pictures of your house to take home to show all their friends. You have no parking spot in front of your home and tourists take all the spots on the side streets.)

Actually Lombard street snakes down the hill at a 40 degree angle amongst lush gardens and greenery. It was thought too steep to navigate it straight down so, in the 1920’s, the street was made one-way and zig zag turns (or as we hikers cll them - switchbacks) were added as a safety measure. Stepped sidewalks run along each side of the street and you can see the one we took on the left hand side of the picture.

We walked down the sidewalk and stood at the bottom for the best picture - in a row with all the other tourists. Then back down the hill to see the rest of the Maritime Museum which is composed of 1 very nice museum and a veritable flotilla of about 8 historic boats and ships along a pier. It was a nicely done and very informative museum about the seafaring, merchant and fishing trade in San Francisco and their importance in the growth of San Francisco.

We were both intrigued with how much the shoreline of SF has changed over the years. Many times the bay was filled in to make SF bigger and to expand its port facilities. Take a bit of a hill here and put it there. Take a bit from another hill and put it in over there. Here’s a picture showing 3 different iterations of the SF shoreline. The blue line is the original shoreline. The dashed line shows the 1852 shoreline after they had filled in the harbor some. Finally, the piers at the bottom of the picture show the current shoreline. Meanwhile, note all the title ships that are in orange. These are ships that sank and are now under the buildings which have been built upon the fill.

Here’s another picture showing some detail of the picture above.

We were able to fit in a short tour of the Maritime pier but there was not enough time to explore any of the ships here. We’ll leave that for another day. It’s time to head back to the train and our trip home. Again we figured that we could head straight for the train stop rather than going around. But that meant climbing several hills. But, we could also add to our ‘collection’ of those stairways and passages that we’re looking for. And, we found some exciting ones. Very old worldish.

But I was really flagging as we neared the end of our walk and entered the trail station. We hadn’t had much to eat and neither of us had packed our protein bars. Big mistake. As we neared the station, we saw the usual street performers. And, we learned that not all street performers were really good. We heard a ‘one man band’ tonight that sang the right words to the Who’s ‘My Generation’ but, my, I didn’t recognize the tune. Inside the station was a group of 4 cellist playing. They were much better but, then I looked over the shoulder at one of them and noticed that the piece they were playing was named “Californication’ and the name of the next piece had 4 letters and began with an ‘F.’

I was really happy to get onto the train and zip our way home. Luckily we had some left-over soup and some home-made bread for dinner. That perked me up a bit but I was tired. We’ve been on the walk for 3 days now and sometimes I get tired.

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