USA Holiday 3, October 19 (Seize The Bay)

After yesterdays heat I expected a similar day to follow. Wrong again. In Chicago, New Orleans and Vancouver I have also arrived to a pleasant warm day, only for every other day that follows to have a sharp drop off in temperature. Seattle was jut the opposite, where the last day was the only time the sun made an appearance, but I still wouldn't have described it as warm.

I had spent a lot of time researching and planning the rest of the trip, but the last couple of days in SF and LA I didn't have a lot to go on. I must have run out of time or motivation, plus I have already been to both cities at least once. Jason found an advertisment for a MythBusters interactive exhibit which sounded fun, but probably designed more for kids, but it was all the way down in San Jose, so would have taken almost the whole day by itself. There was also a Jelly Belly factory tour which sounded fantastic, but it was a long way past Oakland and not accessible by public transport.

So instead I just jumped on the clunky Caltrain again to downtown San Francisco, only about three stops away.

The station is right near the San Fransisco Giants park, so I had a look inside their store but I'm not a huge fan of orange. They had just gone down 3-1 in their division series, little did I know they would then win 7 straight games and win the world series. So I was about a week early for their world series victories and two week early for the celebration parade.

SF Giants.

Walked up along the bay on The Embarcadero (it's Spanish for wharf, but it's actually a street in this case). Past the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge, and up to Pier 39 and Fishermans Wharf. Saw a few new things on the way and a few old things too, such as Coit Tower on top of the hill and Alcatraz just barely visible out at sea.

The Embarcadero and Bay Bridge.

Alcatraz.

Not sure why it has Melbourne on the side.

Alligator bread loaf.

At the end of Fishermans Wharf I got in line for the cable cars. The line was about 20% of what it was last time I was here, and only had to wait for the second car to get on. Each car seems to idle for 5-10 minutes at the end of the line before taking off, despite the car already being full. I didn't have the best spot for photos, since I didn't fancy trying to take photos with one hand and hanging on to the car with the other, especially since there are a few crazy hills along the route.

On a clear day the Golden Gate Bridge would be clearly visible. It was not a clear day.

Passing another cable car.

People hanging on for their lives as we go uphill.

Inside view, the driver blocks any chance of a good photo.

There are just a few stops along the route where people can get on and off, and some people got on at the front - the place where you hang off the side of the car - as the ticket inspector came up through the cabin and asked them for tickets or money. I have no idea how you would continue to hold on and get your wallet out for change at the same time. Seems like it would be either impossible or lead to a fatality.

Passing by Lombard Street.

Another go at Lombard Street.

Got lunch at this place called Burger Meister, which was sadly almost right back where the cable cars departed from. This place was terrific for one reason, you get to construct your own burger. You order off a standard menu, and I didn't realise the default order *does not* come with cheese, but when they serve it to you on a plate all of the fresh burger ingredients are laid out on the plate for you to put together as you please - lettuce, tomato, onions, pickle etc. Very cool.

I did not manage to locate Japan Town the last time I was in SF, so made a better effort this time. They had a couple of interesting looking structures so I guess it was a bit Japanese, but no neon lights or anything like that. I went inside a J-Pop Centre which I thought might have some cool anime, merchandise or general Japanese stuff but there wasn't much there. I almost didn't realise there was an East and West mall at either side of the main square too. There were a lot more stores in there, I didn't find any t-shirts I liked again, but it was fun to look around anyway. I would say the best part of Japan Town was that there was lots of Japanese girls.

Japan Town.

More Japan Town.

Back to downtown, there was a new UNIQLO that had just opened in the last couple of weeks. This place was packed. To describe the place, it sells clothes in a wide variety of colours. So basically they have a small to medium range of styles, mens and womens, and then they mass produce it in all the colours they support, maybe ten in total. The clothes don't appear to be branded and are intended to be good value. The stores started in Japan, I think I remember seeing a couple when I was in Tokyo.

Union Square.

UNIQLO. It means unique clothing.

The end of the line for the cable cars, and my trip to SF.

Without having any plans for the day, I'd say it turned out to be a success.