By Michelle Creux
San Francisco - Sitting on the dock of the bay where Otis Redding sat as he wrote a song of the same name was the perfect way to end a glorious trip to San Francisco.
My sister, Nicky, and I had just cycled from San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and we were rewarding ourselves with a glass of wine and a snack.
We arrived in San Francisco three days earlier and the trip had become a music pilgrimage instead of just an exploration of an unknown city.
We left the small town of Davis, which was our base for the trip, and headed to San Francisco Bay on the Amtrak train. We had to get off the train at Richmond and catch a Bart (Bay area rapid transport) train into San Francisco. Buying your tickets for the Bart on the Amtrak will save you a few dollars.
When we arrived in the city we hailed a cab and went to our hotel, The Casa Loma. After getting settled we went looking for lunch. Eating in San Francisco is quite an experience and there are food tours available for those who want to try the best the city has to offer.
After a sandwich at the Lunchpad we took a walk into town. We ended up strolling along the Embarcadero. The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and roadway of the Port of San Francisco. It has been constructed atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land.
It derives its name from the Spanish verb embarcar, meaning “to embark”; thus, “the place to embark”.
We stopped at Pier 23 Cafe to have a drink and take in the views of the bay. Feeling revitalised, we continued walking to Fisherman’s Wharf. Here we got our first look at Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.
We sat on the beach watching the sunset while eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. After a short walk we went in search of some real food, and opted to catch one of the city’s famous cable cars into town, and then catch a bus to our hotel.
The cable car was full so we had to stand on the runner boards. It was an exhilarating ride up and down the city’s steep hills.
When we got to the hotel we discovered that the nearest restaurants weren’t really that close by, so we ended up ordering gourmet sliders and sweet potato fries from a food truck on the side of the road.
The following day we donned our hippie outfits and walked in the footsteps of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom lived in the Haight-Ashbury area for a while.
We started with a hearty breakfast at a diner frequented by locals. We took a detour to the houses known as the Painted Ladies, the exteriors of which were used for the sitcom Full House.
Afterwards we walked along Haight Street looking at the shops, admiring the murals and getting into the vibe. Haight-Ashbury was the heart of the hippie movement in the 1960s, and for anyone who loves the music of that era it is a must-see. Walking along those streets I could just imagine what it must have been like in its heyday.
We walked down Haight Street until we got to Amoeba Records. We decided to pop in and take a look around. It is a massive music store bursting with T-shirts, books, records and CDs.
We then continued on our mission, which took us to the Golden Gate Park. We passed Hippie Hill, left the past behind us, and went in search of the California Academy of Sciences. It is well worth a visit. It has themed aquariums and a four-storey rain forest. One of the highlights of the aquarium is the seahorses. They are so graceful.
The Amazon aquarium is under the rainforest dome and you walk along a tunnel that runs through the middle of the aquarium. It is truly stunning.
The rainforest dome is teeming with life and, everywhere you look, something is flying or moving. The butterflies are gorgeous.
The academy also has an exhibition on earthquakes that includes a house that shakes as if it is in an earthquake.
On April 18, 1906, the city was hit by a devastating earthquake at 5.12am. Fires broke out in the city and burned for several days. As a result, about 3 000 people died and over 80 percent of the city of San Francisco was destroyed. The shaking house exhibit demonstrates what the residents felt when the earthquake struck.
After learning a great many things about fish, rain forests and earthquakes, we returned to Haight Street. We had a drink at the Rum House and watched the world go by while listening to the Rolling Stones. Then it was time to go back to the hotel and get dressed for dinner with friends.
The next morning we went into town to meet a friend for breakfast before catching a cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf. Here we found a fishing boat that was taking tourists on a bay cruise for $15 (R220); half the price asked by the official tour boats.
We bought our tickets, rushed over the road to buy some beers, and went aboard for a tour of the bay. The boat took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.
The weather was perfect, and there was no sign of the famous San Francisco mist, which would have hidden the bridge and ruined our photographs. We also got a look at some sea lions who were lying on a pier in the harbour. They also seemed to be taking advantage of the sunny weather.
After the cruise, we checked out Lombard Street, the world’s most crooked street. It is a popular tourist attraction, and there were lots of tourists there taking photos.
We then returned to the hotel to dress for a rock concert at the Fillmore. The Fillmore is a gorgeous live music venue.
It’s an old ballroom, complete with chandeliers, that has hosted the Who’s Who of the music business over the years. Among those who have played there are Tina Turner, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Cream, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, The Who, The Dead Kennedys, Smashing Pumpkins, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Radiohead, The Cure, Sonic Youth, Prince and The White Stripes.
Just to be at the venue that has hosted those big names was special. That night we were there to watch Disturbed, a rock band that recently got tongues wagging with their cover of Sounds of Silence. The show was amazing and we went back to our hotel happy.
On our last day in San Francisco, we hired bicycles, with the most comfortable seats we could find, and cycled across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito.
There are bike paths most of the way and it’s not a very difficult ride. There are a couple of hills, though. There were a few scary moments when pedestrians and cyclists ignored the rules of the bike lane but it was, overall, a great experience.
I had to keep reminding myself to ride on the right instead of the left but I got used to it. The views from the bridge are breathtaking.
Arriving in Sausalito, we got off our bikes and opted to walk them on the pavement instead of riding in the road when the bike lanes ended.
A local applauded our decision. He told us that there had been a nasty accident involving tourists on bikes and a vehicle a day earlier.
We arrived safely at a restaurant called the Trident, which overlooked the bay. There we sat singing Otis Redding’s song and toasting the beautiful city that is San Francisco.
Saturday Star