Saturday 23rd
We arrive. We have no problem at customs, no line, no checks. 'Welcome to America'. US Flags, shrines to Bill Clinton. Police sniffer dogs in the garden, SFPD cop cars... we're here.
It doesn't seem real. We've been in a plane for 14hrs+ but we could be anywhere... It was like a strange dream. Everything was familiar but everything was wrong. Construction everywhere, concrete everywhere, strange cars everywhere.
Cars! They're huge. The word gasguzzler means nothing until you've seen the average American car. The buses look like they've been around since World War II. A WWII bus pulls up and we jump on.. heading into the city.
Freeways. Australian freeways are roads. These were freeways. Three levels, twisting and turning everywhere, on ramps galore. SF is surrounded by rolling hills, however they're all bear, not a tree in sight. All the adverts are for dotcoms, naming rights for sports arenas.. 3Com, PacBell.
I notice petrol is $2.06 a gallon. Apparently a gallon is 4.5461 litres. So petrol isn't much cheaper in the US.
We get off on Market and walk to our hostel. We cannot book in until 12 and so dump the bags and go for a walk.
First impressions. Almost no trees, homeless on EVERY corner, a general rundown look. I'm reminded of my time in Mexico in the 80's. I hated Mexico. But I'm drawn to this place.
We wonder around, to Union Square, up past the Chinatown Gate and eventually up Market st. We notice a few buildings with no windows. Large concrete boxes with a door in the front. Hell for an office worker thanks again to PacBell.
We hit the water and decide to eat. American pizza. Enormous slices. I grab a Coke. It's the same as in Oz. I notice it contains 'High Fructose Corn Syrup'. I'm to quickly discover that everything in the US contains this magical ingredient.
We up the Embarcadero feeling happy. Feeling American.
We walk up to Coit Tower, already very tired from the walking, our weedy IT bodies not used to self powered transport. A mass of stairs and $3.50 later (do we tip the elevator driver?) we have full views of SF. It looks great. American flags on every building, the Golden Gate on the left, the Bay Bridge on the left. Treasure Island. The works.
We see people have tried to throw coins off the tower, past the plastic windows and over the edge. Pennies.. and Australian 1c coins. Go Aus.
We see Lombard Street and decide to walk there. On the way we see a Tower Records and pop in. Huge selection, but no Orgazmo soundtrack. DVD. So many DVD. I want DVD.
Lombard Street is crooked. Tourists drive down it with cameras running, clicking. Few people walk up it. There are many people at the top, waiting (we find out) for a cable car. The cable is a continual noise under the street. We wait too.
Cable cars arrive but they're all full. We walk down a bit.. but still no luck. So we start to walk back to the hostel. A long walk up and down hills. San Francisco seems to consist mostly of three/four story buildings in square blocks that go on for miles. There doesn't seem to be 'suburbs' as such.. just parts of the city where most of buildings are homes rather than commercial.
We arrive back at the hostel and book in. It's a clean, oldish building. We are sharing with two guys from Japan. We don't know that yet.
We have dinner at a diner near the hostel. We're very tired (we've been up for over 30hrs with only an hour or so of sleep). We have a burger and a beer. Bud has great TV advertising, but it's shit. Anchor Steam, a San Francisco brewed beer was great. We were to find home brew beer was very popular in SF and mostly fantastic.
8pm and we're exhausted. We try to stay awake but it ain't gonna happen...
Sunday 24th
We walk, intending to get to the SOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) but bump first into Sony Metreon, a massive centre with arcades, IMax and various themed shops. We check out Microsoft SF and send webcam shots to our friends.
Airtight Garage is an arcade. It's dark and insane. We get $10 worth of card credit and check it out. We notice people playing the 'dance' games we have in Melbourne and instantly see we just don't have a clue how to play it. Kids were dancing like no tomorrow, clearly enjoying themselves and actually dancing on the machine. In Aus I've seen people play and they're either just crap or methodical and boring. This was fun.
The main game seems to be a try hard Quakeish multiplayer game. I'm sure it was impressive once but it was pretty darn average to my eyes and eventually when I played it. Hyperbowl on the otherhand, a bowling rink set up, with bar (they sell beer EVERYWHERE in America, even in arcades) and seats... you play ($6US) and use a huge bowlingball trackball to roll the ball around SF streets to bowl pins down at the other end. Much fun, much bruising on hands.
We see the Where The Wild Things Are theme playground upstairs and wonder if such a place would have ruined the book for ourselves if we'd been there. We decide to eat downstairs and have Mexican. It's very bad, bland, no taste, but a huge meal, much more than we can eat.
We enter, without knowing it, the Yerba Buena gardens. They're a lovely green spot in the middle of a concrete city. The Martin Luther King Jr Memorial is brilliant. Quotes on large plastic plates sit behind waterfalls. The waterfalls create silence for contemplation through static noise, much more effective that 'quiet' could ever be.
We see SFMOA and walk over. Most of it is closed and we can only see the 2nd floor. Some interesting design related art.. but the main event was definitely the "Darker Side of Comic Art", a collection of art relating to children's toys, comics etc... but with a touch of darkness.. a touch of questioning evil. MOB, the Japanese? not-MickeyMouse, surrounded by mushrooms with eyes. Cutesy, in the way the little green children in Galaxy Quest were cute... with teeth.
We walk up Folsum, down the Embarcadero toward the Bay Bridge. We want to walk under it. On the way we pass the Gordon Biersch Brewery. We drop in for dinner on the way back. Fantastic. Our first taste of San Francisco homebrew and it's all great. US bars, sport (Gridiron and olympics highlights) on TV. All the beer is served in pints. All the beer has an organic taste, reminding me of sauces. The pizza is fantastic. We loved it. The lights came on on the Bay Bridge. What more could you ask for?
We walk back to Metreon, we have missed the 8:15 Fantasia 2000 showing. Walk back to Union Square, ride the glass elevator of San Francis. The view is stunning. Finding the elevator was fun in itself. It's amazing how scruffy you can be in a swish hotel and not be asked questions.
We walk back to the hostel. I'm ill, too much beer. Sleep.
Monday 25th
We catch the number 30 the Palace of Fine Arts. It sticks out of the skyline like some huge mistake. Orange.. pink.. red.. enormous.. wrong. It's beautiful but horribly cheesy at the same time. I don't know what to think. It's falling apart. You're not aloud under it. A while later we remember it from 'The Rock'.
We want to check out the Exploratorium but it is closed. Damn. We walk along the beach, briefly glancing at the huge international orange (red red red) bridge on our left. We wander along a long straight road. The houses are all different and lovely. Many have flags out the front. Everyone walking seems to have a Golden Retriever dog.
The sewer grates all steam, even down here on the beach but especially in the city. Great plumes of steam coming from the ground. Cars parked on top of them seem to be on fire. Strange.
We see Fort Mason. It is pretty dull. We walk on to Aquatic Park. It's just a name... for a park. We check out the San Francisco Maritime Museum.
We have lunch at 'La Pasta'... we are carded when we ask for beer. Carded in the USA! I had to be 21 and I was.. barely. mmmmm. I notice nearly all eateries add '15% gratuity for parties of 5 or more'. So tax.. tip.. gratuity?
We walk down Fisherman's Wharf. Tourist city. We are shown a card trick by a random 'street performer'. The trick was dull but he ranted about politics, or Germany, or something. He got my change. He asked for $5, he didn't get it.
We wait in line for Alkatraz (pre booked tickets the night before). Seals all over Pier 39. Bark bark bark. Pretty amazing really...
The boat to Alkatraz sells beer. It's comfy enough. Alkatraz looms. It's a rock with old buildings on it. We get off, buy a map, listen to the legal warnings and walk. It's falling to pieces and they're letting it. In ten years there will be nothing but rubble surrounding some jail cells and tourists.
An interesting photoart display of 'elderly' people in jail grabs our interest before walking into the cells... surrounded by tourists. The cells are small. The tourists all have headphones on for the audio tour. Are their brains turned on? The views from the island are great. SF, the city of views.
Alkatraz is described as hell... I've seen Port Arthur in Tasmania, this place didn't look so bad.
[Added 9th December 2003: Around this point I called home and my girlfriend informed me that I better take some photos or I won't be allowed to come home, so I bought a disposable camera.]
We leave on the second last ferry and walk down to USS Pampanito. We take the audio tour (it's all there is) and walk through. Incredible... apparently Pampanito destroyed a ship full of Australian and English POWs.. and came back three days later to discover them all floating in the water. The audio tour plays "Waltzing Matilda" and a familiar if odd sounding Aussie voice says "You bloody blow us up and then come back to bloody save us.". We can't escape.
We eat at the Stealhead Brewing Co for dinner. We try their 6 beer sampler. A table with 12 beers on it is a must see. The glasses are small. The beer is nice but nothing on GBs.
All meals come with bread and water beforehand. I liked this a lot. We complain about having to give tips, but quite often it was deserved. Service is great. Many Americans complain about Australian service and often it's justified.
We plan to take the Powell/Hyde cable car back to Union Square. We wait in line. Cars are turned on a large wheel, manually pushed around by the drivers. It's a look into the past. A man walks the line in an annoying Tom Arnold voice advertising limo rides to downtown for $4. Most ignore him.
The cable car ride is a must. We hung on the side, me by only one arm. We are asked to wear our packs on the inside to avoid being hit by the other cable car on the way past. Wow. Up and down hills, awesome views. A massive rush. Well worth $2.
Tuesday 26th
We walk back to the glass elevator and check out the view during the day. Just as grand.
We take the number 30 again back to the Exploratorium. It's open! But the Tactile Dome is shut for repairs and cleaning. NOOOOOOO. The one week we're in SF and it's shut. We are convinced to go in anyway and we're glad we did. A huge warehouse filled with exhibits of fun and learning. The stereo eye tricks don't work on me, my right eye is lazy... we get to hear what an Aussie from Adelaide sounds like. Dave is not impressed. We stay until 2:30pm.
We walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. We look at Fort Point. Old, brick, pretty much as expected. It's covered up top with orange and grey paint dots, from the bridge. You can't walk under the bridge on the ground 'closed for safety', but you are right under it when on top of Fort Point. Strange...
We walk up and onto the bridge. We walk halfway across. I'm scared of heights, mostly when I think about it, through a childhood fear of loosing my glasses or other possessions over the edge. Again the views are amazing. People try to kill themselves windsurfing faster than sound down in the bay. Amazing...
We take the 29 through Pardisio by mistake but enjoy a look at a tree filled section of town. It could have been in the middle of nowhere. Very pretty. We get off the 29 and board the 28 to Fort Mason, catch the 30 downtime to Union Square. Someone is robbed while standing on the bus, the robber falls off the bus. People stare and comment.
Behind us people are chatting about the Olympian who lost her gymnastics gold for taking cold tablets. They're pissed off. Someone pipes in with a counter argument. About five random people talking to each other about current affairs on a bus. Random people constantly helped us out with a smile, had no problem chatting with us. Americans, at least those in San Francisco were really really friendly. My impressions of America have been changed forever.
We have dinner at the Firewood Cafe, it's very very nice.
Head off to Metreon for IMax Fantasia. The second biggest IMax in the world. Huge. Loud. Very nice. But Fantasia... like some bad awards ceremony. I liked half of it, mainly the last half. The whales section at the start is terrible... and Steve Martin is not funny.
We head back and enter an Irish Pub. We contemplate the fact the Olympics are getting a harsh bashing in SF papers. Bad coverage from NBC to blame. Australia in general is all through the papers, with lots of coverage on the plight of Aboriginals. We look very bad. Good.
The Japanese guys have been replaced by a German bloke.
Wednesday 27th
We take the number 7 from Market to Height (pronounced 'hate' as the many puns around the place informed us). We have breakfast in The People's Cafe. None of the shops open until 11, they shut at 7. We check out a record shop (Recycled Records) and walk down to Golden Gate Park.
We pass and try to ignore an old guy playing the worst cover of Smashing Pumpkin's 'Disarm' I've ever heard. I'm tempted to record it and stick it on Napster as 'Disarm (Live in Golden Gate Park)'.
We walk through the Children's Playground. We stumble across the AIDS Memorial garden. An old man sees us and asks us if we've been here before. He shows us photos of the memorial from 1996. He is random.
We walk into the people trap known as the 'Botanical Gardens'. We walk and walk but cannot escape. We pass some old men hiding on an off path, possibly drunk, possibly stoned. We walk back to the main gate and escape.
The Bison Paddock sounds interesting. It isn't. A few bisons hiding in the far corner, away from tourist eyes. We walk back up JFK drive to the Japanese Tea Garden. It's very beautiful and a welcome place to rest feet while drinking green tea.
We walk back the way we came and up Stayton, down Frederick, past a house with a tiger mural, up Masonic, up upper terrace to Buena Vista Park. The view is awesome, as are the trees and fauna in the foreground (Bluebirds rule).
Down Dubace, down Alpine, down Castro. We pass the Castro theatre. We have a drink at The Bar on Castro. It is dark and filled with faery lights. I wonder if they get the joke, or if it's just me. They have Fosters on tap. Why? American's must think Australian's have very bad taste in beer. *sniff*
We walk back to Market to find the Names Project. It has apparently moved to 575 Castro. It hasn't. It's gone. We head into a shop. Dave buy's a shirt. I'm tempted by the Koala's with huge dicks. I don't give in to my temptations.
Another bar on the corner of Castro and Market. It's full of men as old as my dad. We drink Miller. We feel very young.
We take the Subway back to the Civic Centre. The subway is almost an underground tram. It's small and you can see out the front to watch the well lit tunnel flow under the city. Quite a cool ride.
Civic Centre impresses us with it's Town Hall but otherwise appears very run down and popular with the homeless. We walk through UN square and up Market and into Cafe.com. My first computer since arriving in the US.
I didn't miss computers that much, and I didn't receive much interesting mail. I read some news but otherwise was a little bored. I found this very interesting...
Random drunk guy out the front of the SF Shopping Centre asks us if he looks ok, he had fallen over. Random. Drunk. Amusing.
At Union Square a band plays a good cover of 'All Along The Watchtower' (Jimi version). We walk back to the hostel, we're tired. Walking walking walking.
Sirens fly past at 12:15am. This is getting annoying. I bought a Cherry Pepsi and some Tic Tacs. Tic Tacs in the US are coloured and come in many interesting flavours, Cinemon, Wintergreen... Cherry Coke and Cherry Pepsi kick the shit out of Doctor Pepper.
Before I go to bed I spot an Aussie in the general room, chatting up the girls. He tells stories of Yosamite. They're looking and smiling. I smile.
As I go to sleep I read in my guide book that getting off at Civic Centre Subway station is a "BAD IDEA". Oh well ;p
Thursday 28th
We got up late (9:15am), have breakfast and hire a car at Ace Hire Cars. They have a deal going with the Hostel and we get it for fairly cheap (about $50 all up). We have to pay an underage fee for being under 25. Young? Underage? Bah. The guys who hire us the cars are crazy. 'Berkley? Why? There's nothing there!' One of them tries to tell me I have parking tickets back home.
We drive around SF. I'm scared shitless, as driving usually bothers me anyway but Dave is being very careful, and all the drivers are being nice to us. It's pretty hard not to drive carefully in SF without crashing so we had that going for us.
Up and down the hills, and eventually to Lombard Street. We join the line of tourists driving at five mph down the road and taking photos. I feel like I fit in...
We drive up toward Coit and follow the signs to the Bay Bridge. On the radio are a country channel, passable pop hip hop channel and an 'alternative station' which had about seven CDs from which they played a song each, then a 'new song', then back to the loop. Nirvana's Nevermind, Stone Temple Pilots Purple, Limp Bizkit's last album, Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Californication. How anyone listened to it for longer than an hour without going insane I don't know. They were also fond of the 'adless hour' during which they talked so much about how good it was they had no ads it destroyed the point.
We check out Treasure Island, recently opened to the public after the Navy base was decommissioned last year. Awesome views of the city again. Boring views of Oakland.
We take a wrong turn and spend half an hour driving around Oakland. Oakland is, to put it nicely, a hole. Every part we saw looked horribly run down. Eventually we figure out how to get back on the freeway, take a wrong turn again, try again and end up on our way to Berkley. Everyone is doing at least 80Mph in 55 zones. Ouch.
Berkley is immediately pleasing. With mountains looming over the university, and many youth oriented shops around, I can see why it is a popular town. We park at the Uni and walk up to the Art Museum. It's ugly as all hell, "brutalism" it calls itself. A huge concrete block. Horrible. We look in the window and are not inspired. We walk past.
We check out a huge Tower Records. They don't have Orgazmo either. I see a Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld single. JOY!
We have Pizza. Huge pieces. Yum. The shop is playing System Of A Down and has various good CDs on the wall. They source their music from a local music shop. They rule.
We spotted a comic shop on the way on University Drive and check it out. Brilliant. They have everything. Everything. I find Red Meat.
I am looking for a comic for a friend. Its about an old guy, it's huge, it's very well painted. I ask at the front. He doesn't know but 'he might, he knows everything' *point*. The comic book guy from the Simpsons ('worst episode ever') arrives and knows what I mean straight away. I find Jimmy Corrigan. I am happy.
We walk back through the Uni and admire the view of the mountains over the Uni. Back in the car, back to SF. Driving back to SF over the top of the freeway, rather than under it (on the way to Oakland) is far more impressive view wise.
We have to bring the car back full and so spend an age trying to find a petrol station. We finally find one and you must PAY FIRST and then fill up, coming back for change. Bizaro world.
Shopping. Disney Store for presents. We walk to Chinatown where I find a cheap Discman. I intend to come back before I go. We have dinner. It's not fantastic, but at least we can say we did it.
An hour in an Internet Cafe. Again not much interesting mail.
The new guy back at the hostel is nice, from Germany. He's going at 5:30am in the morning. Argh.
Friday 29th
Check out of the hostel, drop bags back in lockers and walk off to the nearest Internet Cafe.
The Transamerican building is freaky and we intend to walk to the top and check out the view. However it only supplies a 'virtual observation deck' with controllable cameras. The zoom on the cameras is unreal and we can spy on people on the docks. Small comfort really. We wanted up.
Back to Chinatown for the CD player then off to Toys R Us, 555 9th. Its a long walk and not really worth it, although we did get to see dark skinned Barbies and US President Barbie... no 'cripple Barbie' though.
We have a drink and catch an airport bus (not the one we booked ;p). Traffic is pretty busy, and it's only 3pm.
We sit and read until 5:30. Nothing more boring than sitting in an airport waiting for a plane. We finally board at 6:10 and it lifts off at 6:30, very late. The plane is pretty much a bus. Minimal of service, flying very low (17k feet) and doing a lot of turning. There are airphones for every three seats. They're not working today.
I wonder why, if they know laptops etc. cause the plane's instruments to stuff up, why they let you use them at all?
Nice view the whole way as we fly over the land, but I can see little as I'm not on a window seat. We fly over LA for ages. LA is huge! We finally land at LAX and ... LAX is a hole. Nasty place, with a few shops and lots of bored people.
We eat at a bar with it's own beer (even in the airport).
The plane back to Melbourne is full. We're offered $500US or $800US in flying credits. No way, I'm going home. I try in vain to ring my girlfriend but she's not home. Finally they decide to let us on.
The weather is bad and they have been delaying. Passengers are being taken off because they're too heavy. We're going to Sydney now to refuel, then to Melbourne. We end up being delayed about an hour.
The Aussies on the plane sound very Aussie. So do we. We have exit seats. Lots of leg room. This is countered by the large woman sitting next to me and the small child behind me constantly kicking the seats. Amusingly the hostess came up to the mother behind me and asked how much her child weighed. She didn't know but guessed 16kg. The hostess said, without preamble, 'give him this if you have to' and walked off. Nice talk for 'stick this in his mouth or we'll throw him off'. yay. He slept most of the way.
The plane doesn't stop in Sydney, makes it all the way to Melbourne, and it only a little late. And the landing is perfect, the best I've ever experienced.
Home. Yay. Customs asks why my trip was so short, and where I work. Our bags are searched.
They question my Tic Tacs.
'Do you have Tic Tacs at the bottom of your bag?'
'Probably'
'Just checking'.
Go Aus.