San Francisco (Thursday)

I’m staying at the City Garden Hotel near the airport. Unless you booked 12 months ago it is very difficult to get into a hostel at this time of the year. August is peak tourism season as the school summer holidays come to a close.

It is a $2 bus ride into town and $4 to come back (not sure why). The weather here is cool (bloody freezing by my standards!) and there seems to be a permanent cover of low misty clouds over part of the city, including the great Golden Gate Bridge. Her towers have been hidden in fog the whole time I have been here. This is their summer of course and daylight stretches from early (haven’t witnessed sunrise) to 8pm. And it’s windy!

I hired a pushbike today and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge. if you come here, I recommend you do this. It is a popular thing to do and the narrow path on the bridge is full of bikes and walkers. The wind is persistent and cold. On the way to the bridge you pass by some small beaches (nobody swimming) and some historical sites. San Francisco has an interesting past for which I will have to do some more research, but she has been an important port and centre of defense over her lifetime. Fort Point was built in 1853 just after California became the 31st state of the Union. Beautifully built, it was seen as a prime example of the US Army’s most sophisticated coastal fortifications. A layer of cannons were positioned as close to water level as possible so the cannon balls would ricochet across the waters surface. Anyway it is beautifully restored and maintained and the Golden Gate Bridge is built over the top if it.

The bridge is beautiful and impressive. As far as bridges go, it’s not that big but it is a unique structure and some clever building techniques were required in her construction. I need to learn more.

Everywhere I go I see gum trees and other eucalypts, and paperbarks. I thought they were endemic to Australia, or have I got that wrong too (Helen Keller did not discover a vaccine for polio as previously stated). Or am I seeing things. I will chew on a few leaves tomorrow for confirmation.