I dont think there's a better spot anywhere.
I'd throw my pie for you,
Emma
x
Monday, 20 January 2014
The day started off with Fisherman's wharf. Alex was late so I went to check out the sea lions at the end of the wharf. I hadn't seen any there before but there were masses upon masses of sealions just sunbathing on the floats. They stunk like shit and also made lots of noise. But they looked at ease and like they were enjoying themselves. I don't think a life as a sea lion would be half bad. They're the furry couch potatoes of the ocean.
Once Alex arrived, we went to rent two bikes from Blazing Saddles near the wharf. We cycled between crowds of people and cars, along Fort Mason, until we reached the bike path where we cycled next to the water with a view of the bridge.
It was probably 24~26 degrees that day and I felt so happy just to be able to bask in the sun for a bit, knowing that it was San Francisco. Here are the pretty views we came across as we cycled towards the Golden Gate bridge.
I just love how many different points you can see the city from and how it looks so different every time. There were quite a few uphill points towards the bridge. I nearly died but when we made it, I was unproportionately giddy.
Then we cycled on the east side of the bridge to Sausalito. For future reference, always stick to the right side of the bridge. I discovered why San Franciscans are so friendly. Its because all the angry, blood-boiling locals are too busy cycling their rage away near the Golden Gate bridge.
When we finally got to Sausalito, we enjoyed the view of the city from Vista Point.
Then we cycled down a series of hills (It was soooooo fun) to reach the town part of Sausalito. Even though its still part of San Francisco, and just across the bridge, Sausalito felt like an entirely different place. The streets were clean, there were fancy boutiques everywhere, the buildings looked so quaint and refined- it was definitely a change of scene.
By this point, we were both starving from all the cycling. So we walked around the town and we found a little fish and chip shop near the other side of the piers.
After lunch/arvo tea, we went to a Starbucks and hung out till the sun started to set. Then we walked out towards the water and waited. And took hella photos.
We had two choices to get back to San Francisco. Either take a ferry from Sausalito, or take a ferry from Belvedere Cove, which would have been another 2-3 hours worth of cycling away; or cycle back to San francisco via the bridge (the way we came from). The ferry cost money so we were a bit reluctant to take it. But the journey back the way we came would've been all uphill (gigantic hills at that)... so, we decided to take the ferry. We could've cycled to Belvedere Cove, but that would've taken too much time too if we wanted to check out the rest of Sausalito. So we decided to catch the ferry from Sausalito and to explore Belvedere Cove another day.
Here's the view from the ferry back to the ferry building in SF.
We cycled back to Fisherman's wharf from the ferry building, and returned the bikes to an afterhours garage. It required a lot of effort to return but at last, we figured it out with two other girls who were equally as lost as us.
It was already 9 or 10 by the time we finished with the bike. We went to Applebee's at the wharf and had a really really good dinner (and it was so cheap ah someone take me back. I lurv steak)
If that wasn't a great enough day, after dinner, we went to explore the sea caves at Ocean Beach. We didn't know where they were, but we knew the approximate location. So we went venturing with a small torch, and gathered some fire wood along the way. We didn't know where the entrance to the cave was, and at one point, Alex was so freaked out he thought there was a man in a white suit standing outside the entrance of the cave. It turned out to be a giant rock. And it wasn't even the entrance to the cave. The entrance was actually marked with visibly noticeable graffiti so we found it in the end. We didn't know how deep the cave was either, or whether animals/ hobos lived in it. So we chucked some of the wood far into the cave and waited to see if anything would run out at us. I don't want to admit this but it was pretty scary. But anything scary makes things more exciting. We walked into the cave to discover that it was actually much smaller than we thought it was. And it was beautiful; filled with graffiti, and the perfect size to start a small bonfire.
We had a few beers, and just chilled out next to the fire.
After that we took the empty bottles, and threw them against the rocks.
It was so satisfying, hearing the sound of the glass shattering against the hard stone. By then it was 2am in the morning.
I'd throw my pie for you,
Emma
x
Also, I took so many great snapchat videos that night, but they all deleted themselves because I didn't have 4g. I hate snapchat.
Saturday, 18 January 2014
A week or so ago, I hung out with Jen on her second last day in San Francisco. She really wanted to visit Dolores park, which I thought was fitting seeing as its a pretty iconic SF place. It was a pretty warm day, despite it being January, and Jen bought some fresh strawberries, some beer, and some corn chips w/ dip to indulge on. We sat at the top of Dolores park because of the view, but I only just realised that there are apparently different districts in the park that only locals know of. So a few days ago I went with some of my local friends to the park again to chill, and they told me that the top of the hill is where all the gay men sit (It has a specific name but I forgot it), and apparently at the bottom of the hill is where all the college kids are. Thats funny because every time I visit something with different groups of people, I always get different things from it. I need to learn more local knowledge in order to self-identify as a local (ha). There's also this asian man who's ALWAYS there everytime i go, what he does is he balances a bowling ball of some sort on a very thin plastic tube and tries to walk around and jump with it without the ball falling off. The first time I saw him, I was pretty impressed that this guy had the talent to do this. But then I figured out that the ball's actually attached to the tube. Which means that the guy's got no talent, and is all crazy. Dolores park has a LOT of crazies.
Also, I was told that there are heaps of couples who do balancing tricks with each other (ie. the guy lays on his back, and the woman tries to balance herself on his legs in the air) which I thought was completely random. Do they have a professional group of balancing couples or is this just a trend for couples to try and balance on each other in the park?
- Things I need to find out before I leave.
After the park, we met up with Simone to go bar hopping. Since I'm not 21 yet, and they're all over 21, I felt like such a hassle since we had to find a bar without bouncers to get into. The first one we tried was Vertigo bar on Polk st, which had no bouncers. Jen got a drink and we sat down, and I approached the bar to buy a drink. Then they kicked us out because I didn't have a government issued ID... even though Jen hadn't even started on her drink yet. Then we went to a couple more bars, and finally found one (I forgot the name of the bar but something starting with Hi--- ) It was an average bar but, since I got in, and since there seemed to be a lot of people, we decided to stay. We had a nice chat and then we decided to go back to mine for some more chills but Simone ran into a lot of troubles with her housing, so she didn't end up going. Jen came over, and I invited a couple more people over to hang later that night. Pretty eventful day.
I'd throw my pie for you,
Emma
x
A lot of my international friends have left me after this semester. Simone, my good friend from Germany, left a week or so ago. So I hung out with her on her last day before she left to go tour more of America. She's coming back in February though so I wasnt that sad when she left. Instead of just going to hippie hill, which is at the very tip of the park, we decided to go through the whole park. By foot. Simone thought it would be amazing to go see the bisons (why the hell would they have bisons in the middle of a park I have no freakin clue). First, we visited hippie hill, and (of course, when you bring someone to check something out, expecting there to be some certain thing...it never happens as you want it to) there was no drum circle. None. Barely any hobos, and no drum circles. It was the weirdest thing. It must be at least the third time I've been to hippie hill, and each time beforehand, there had been drum circles. We brushed that under the carpet and pretended that never happened, and then we walked towards Stow Lake- the one that's rumoured to be haunted by a dead mother and her drowned baby- but it wasn't scary because it was day time. Some parts of Golden Gate park were gorgeous. At one point, we walked along this quaint, running stream of water and I felt like I was in New Zealand for a bit. It was just a nice, tranquil break from the crazy that is San Francisco.
At about 1/3 of the way there, we passed by the De Young museum and the California Academy of Science- both of which I still haven't visited. We didn't have enough time to actually go in, but the exterior of both of the buildings were nice. They also had a romantic park in the middle with bare-branched trees that looked like they belonged in fall.
After that, we walked a short distance to the japanese tea gardens. I haven't even been to the japanese gardens at Sydney- which made me wonder whether I'm just bias, and whether Sydney actually has lots of nook-and-cranny secret spots that I just haven't appreciated because I've been there all my life. Maybe? I guess I'll just have to wait and go home and see. Even though I don't want to leave.
At around half way, we finally reached Stow Lake. We got tired so we sat on a bench near the lake and looked at ducks and had a nice chat.
Also when we started walking again, we saw a really twisted tree. I wanted to take it homeeeeeee.
When we got back on track, we walked for another half an hour or so, and made it to the bisons before the sun set. I realised I took absolutely no photos to show you guys, because to be very honest, they were super, super boring. I went right up to the fence down the hill to see if I could attract a bison nearer but all my commotion only brought me a head-tilt towards my general direction and no actual leg movement in any of the bisons. They just had a good time eating grass... so boring. They may as well have had cows in a giant paddock. It would have made no difference. (Oh wait, here's ONE photo)
By then, it was already dark. And we had to walk through the rest of the foresty park in the dark. It was equal parts scary and exciting. We were starving by the time we got out of the park, so we went to Irving and I took Simone to try some pho (trust). I think she liked it, besides the fact that its such a hassle to eat because, chopsticks. Now I want pho, shit.
At around half way, we finally reached Stow Lake. We got tired so we sat on a bench near the lake and looked at ducks and had a nice chat.
Also when we started walking again, we saw a really twisted tree. I wanted to take it homeeeeeee.
All in all, it was a really relaxing day. Sometimes you don't need to do much to be happy as long as you have good company.
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