We'd planned to climb on the roof to see the fireworks. But it was really foggy! We could only see a few little ones near the ground. It would have been far worse for all the people at the Embarcadero, though - they could see even less! And they waited (in the fog) for hours....
At 4pm I walked down to Fisherman's to go to Trader Joes (supermarket) as the buses weren't running due to the enormous number of tourists. The whole area was packed with people getting ready to watch the fireworks. (I had to walk all the way home, as well. I was running late. I was not amused.)
There were also a lot of people camped out at the top of our street. But I think we had the best deal - the view was better, and we could just go back inside! It was a shame, because we could hear everything but not see it. Neither could anyone else in San Francisco, I think.
A tall building a few streets away caught on fire at the corner - I discovered our landline doesn't work when you try to call 911!
Overall, the party was a success. We had lots of fun.
If you're in America, we have some stuff to give away just before we leave - we're still using it! Come and see us on the 18th.
Showing posts with label fishermans wharf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fishermans wharf. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Revisiting San Francisco's tourist traps
We went back to San Francisco with Alex. We've decided to save the zoo trip for another time, since Onita got back late the night before and Stefan had her keys... now he's in the doghouse (so to speak) and she's not talking to him. Apparently they had to go shopping (communicated to Stefan via hand signals - he thinks she meant shopping).
(Update: turns out she REALLY is not happy: he ditched her at a party where she knew no-one (except Anita, Duncan's girlfriend), took the house keys so she had to sleep outside her house at 3am, then called her at 5am to ask that she pick him up. Ouch. Hope that sorts itself out OK.)
It was very hot - it was like a typical summer's day in New Zealand. Very hot. We were incredibly lucky with the weather in San Francisco, as it can be very Wellington-like. We still needed the air conditioning though.
Golden Gate Park: where San Franciscans go to walk their dogs. A ratio of 2 people:1 dog. There were dogs everywhere with their owners walking around on the big grassy lawn filled with sunbathing (often topless or tank-topped) people, and vast numbers of interesting (read: weird) people.
One man was rolled in an old quilt on the grass, fast asleep. He looked as if he hadn't bathed for days.
The 'NZ garden' in the Botanic Gardens was small and very young. The oldest-looking plant was a cabbage tree. It also contained many non-New Zealand plants, and squirrels. Everyone loves squirrels...
The big music place and museum was interesting, and I wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Gardens but we had no time. Must go back again!! Alex was fairly keen to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, and I can't say I blame him. I love the Golden Gate Bridge. (Click here for our photos.)
(A funny thing has happened to these photos on webshots: somehow the photos have been put in the category "baby shower" - how? We have absolutely no idea - that is most certainly not what category I put them under! Anyway, it means that suddenly a whole pile of strangers have viewed these photos, since they appear under the label "Golden Gate Bridge Baby Shower", shooting them from one of several thousand collections, to the 24th most popular in that category! Obviosuly a whole pile of people are curious as to what that might be. Miniature babies raining down?)
Celeb sightings: I swear I saw Rachel Bilson with huge sunglasses and a tall dark-haired guy (who wasn't Adam Brody - they broke up) in San Francisco, on Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately I only have the picture of their backs, as I thought it might be too rude to take a photo from the front only a metre away.
(Update: turns out she REALLY is not happy: he ditched her at a party where she knew no-one (except Anita, Duncan's girlfriend), took the house keys so she had to sleep outside her house at 3am, then called her at 5am to ask that she pick him up. Ouch. Hope that sorts itself out OK.)
It was very hot - it was like a typical summer's day in New Zealand. Very hot. We were incredibly lucky with the weather in San Francisco, as it can be very Wellington-like. We still needed the air conditioning though.
Golden Gate Park: where San Franciscans go to walk their dogs. A ratio of 2 people:1 dog. There were dogs everywhere with their owners walking around on the big grassy lawn filled with sunbathing (often topless or tank-topped) people, and vast numbers of interesting (read: weird) people.
One man was rolled in an old quilt on the grass, fast asleep. He looked as if he hadn't bathed for days.
The 'NZ garden' in the Botanic Gardens was small and very young. The oldest-looking plant was a cabbage tree. It also contained many non-New Zealand plants, and squirrels. Everyone loves squirrels...
The big music place and museum was interesting, and I wanted to go to the Japanese Tea Gardens but we had no time. Must go back again!! Alex was fairly keen to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, and I can't say I blame him. I love the Golden Gate Bridge. (Click here for our photos.)
(A funny thing has happened to these photos on webshots: somehow the photos have been put in the category "baby shower" - how? We have absolutely no idea - that is most certainly not what category I put them under! Anyway, it means that suddenly a whole pile of strangers have viewed these photos, since they appear under the label "Golden Gate Bridge Baby Shower", shooting them from one of several thousand collections, to the 24th most popular in that category! Obviosuly a whole pile of people are curious as to what that might be. Miniature babies raining down?)
Celeb sightings: I swear I saw Rachel Bilson with huge sunglasses and a tall dark-haired guy (who wasn't Adam Brody - they broke up) in San Francisco, on Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately I only have the picture of their backs, as I thought it might be too rude to take a photo from the front only a metre away.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
San Francisco! We loves!
We've just this minute got back from San Francisco. I loved it, and so did Brendan. We could definitely live there. It's very glamorous. I can imagine being a San Francisco girl - living on one of the hills in a tiny turn of the century apartment, wearing very high wedge heels and a tiny skirt and walking my tiny glamorous dog. I guess it's a city made for small, elegant people.
I loved pretty much everything about it. The teeny, tiny boxy apartment houses, clustered so tightly, each one with ornate security gate and windows and other decorations. (An architecture student's wet dream.) The incredible views from most hills we drove up or down. The funny little cable cars - so old and clunky - decorated with Victorian advertisements for chocolate (1800's) and filled with tourists clinging on tightly and swinging from the back as they ground up steep hills. The bustle of Chinese New Year in Chinatown, with constant firecrackers - the first day of the New Year. (There are 15 days.) The sense of overwhelming scale as we drove in on the freeway/ motorway - I felt like there was too much to take in at once. How the shops in the financial district sold clothes which screamed, "Bankers!" The clothing... mmm.
Yes, I would love to live in San Francisco. I just don't know if we could afford the rents. US$1.25million for a studio apartment! It reminded us heaps of wellington - a dirtier, bigger, more vibrant Wellington.
One of the first things we saw when we arrived on Mission Street was a homeless man walking through the centre of the waiting cars on the street with a sign - "please give money for coffee". I thought you only found that in Wellington....
We also drove down Lombard Street - the world's (or is it just the US?) most crooked street. It was full of tourists taking pictures, and cars waiting all along a steep hill to drive down. A cable car stopped at the top so the tourists crammed into it (most barely hanging on with one hand) could use the other hand to take pictures. Driving down Lombard was quite odd - I felt as if we were a toy car being pushed back and forth by a toddler.
Our friend's mum drove us, which was great. Our friend lives with Stefan - she told us he wears special toe socks with one big toe shaped into them, so he can wear them with jandals. As much as I think this is a fashion crime and should be outlawed, I am informed by some people in New Zealand that this is considered acceptable. Ew. Reminds me of high school - roman sandals and knee-high socks were de rigeur at my college/high school for so long.
Anyway, our friend bought some bright green fluorescent ones to wear with her jandals/sandals, to tease Stefan with. People stared at her feet a LOT. It was funny to watch. She looked like Shrek. Proving it IS a heinous fashion crime. (You know who you are...)
Before we could grab lunch, we had to park! The joke is that you know you're a true Californian when finding a parking space brings tears to your eyes. This was true. We went around Chinatown for a long time trying to find a park so we could have lunch. Eventually we went to Fisherman's Wharf and parked there instead, and had lunch at Fisherman's. It was very touristy, and the smell of fish filled the air. Crabs sat packed on top of each other in a big glass aquarium next to where we ate, motionlessly awaiting their fates. I felt bad for them.
We wandered around the Piers for a while as well, feeling touristy (and buying socks). We also walked past the wax museum! I need to go! You can see the wax models of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt right there as you walk past.
Just as the sun was starting to set, we went and drove over the Golden Gate bridge - the sunset was amazing, looking over at the city - it was alight. I felt bad because our friend told a woman standing next to us taking pictures to move so we could have a photo with no-one else in it! The Golden Gate was very impressive, and the area was gorgeous. Alcatraz - the impenetrable fortress - we could have reached out and touched. It must have been so heart-wrenching for people imprisoned there - the city, and freedom, looks so close.
Lastly we wandered around Chinatown and found dinner. Firecrackers went off all the time - kids ran around stamping on little ones. It had a disturbingly high number of strip clubs in that area. Including a place called "Showgirls".
We really need to go back. There are so many things to do, you need to make many trips.
I loved pretty much everything about it. The teeny, tiny boxy apartment houses, clustered so tightly, each one with ornate security gate and windows and other decorations. (An architecture student's wet dream.) The incredible views from most hills we drove up or down. The funny little cable cars - so old and clunky - decorated with Victorian advertisements for chocolate (1800's) and filled with tourists clinging on tightly and swinging from the back as they ground up steep hills. The bustle of Chinese New Year in Chinatown, with constant firecrackers - the first day of the New Year. (There are 15 days.) The sense of overwhelming scale as we drove in on the freeway/ motorway - I felt like there was too much to take in at once. How the shops in the financial district sold clothes which screamed, "Bankers!" The clothing... mmm.
Yes, I would love to live in San Francisco. I just don't know if we could afford the rents. US$1.25million for a studio apartment! It reminded us heaps of wellington - a dirtier, bigger, more vibrant Wellington.
One of the first things we saw when we arrived on Mission Street was a homeless man walking through the centre of the waiting cars on the street with a sign - "please give money for coffee". I thought you only found that in Wellington....
We also drove down Lombard Street - the world's (or is it just the US?) most crooked street. It was full of tourists taking pictures, and cars waiting all along a steep hill to drive down. A cable car stopped at the top so the tourists crammed into it (most barely hanging on with one hand) could use the other hand to take pictures. Driving down Lombard was quite odd - I felt as if we were a toy car being pushed back and forth by a toddler.
Our friend's mum drove us, which was great. Our friend lives with Stefan - she told us he wears special toe socks with one big toe shaped into them, so he can wear them with jandals. As much as I think this is a fashion crime and should be outlawed, I am informed by some people in New Zealand that this is considered acceptable. Ew. Reminds me of high school - roman sandals and knee-high socks were de rigeur at my college/high school for so long.
Anyway, our friend bought some bright green fluorescent ones to wear with her jandals/sandals, to tease Stefan with. People stared at her feet a LOT. It was funny to watch. She looked like Shrek. Proving it IS a heinous fashion crime. (You know who you are...)
Before we could grab lunch, we had to park! The joke is that you know you're a true Californian when finding a parking space brings tears to your eyes. This was true. We went around Chinatown for a long time trying to find a park so we could have lunch. Eventually we went to Fisherman's Wharf and parked there instead, and had lunch at Fisherman's. It was very touristy, and the smell of fish filled the air. Crabs sat packed on top of each other in a big glass aquarium next to where we ate, motionlessly awaiting their fates. I felt bad for them.
We wandered around the Piers for a while as well, feeling touristy (and buying socks). We also walked past the wax museum! I need to go! You can see the wax models of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt right there as you walk past.
Just as the sun was starting to set, we went and drove over the Golden Gate bridge - the sunset was amazing, looking over at the city - it was alight. I felt bad because our friend told a woman standing next to us taking pictures to move so we could have a photo with no-one else in it! The Golden Gate was very impressive, and the area was gorgeous. Alcatraz - the impenetrable fortress - we could have reached out and touched. It must have been so heart-wrenching for people imprisoned there - the city, and freedom, looks so close.
Lastly we wandered around Chinatown and found dinner. Firecrackers went off all the time - kids ran around stamping on little ones. It had a disturbingly high number of strip clubs in that area. Including a place called "Showgirls".
We really need to go back. There are so many things to do, you need to make many trips.
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