He left his heart in San Francisco and it's clear to see why!!!
The arrival into San Francisco was a tad rude. Namely, 0200! An ungodly hour I'm sure you'd agree. Fortunately, unlike a lot of the US west coast, the fog stayed away leaving a nice crisp cityscape. After a morning of work, I was able to step ashore in the afternoon and stretch mylegs!
Leaving the ship behind I headed into the city. I had a list of things I wanted to do so figured out a rough guide for myself and set off.
There's a standard joke everyone has heard when they think someone isn't too bright or perhaps lives in a geographical area of the world that may be rumoured to be a tad behind the times.. It goes along the lines of 'they still point at planes'
That was me today as I marvelled at the driverless cars. Waymo have a huge fleet of driverless white, electric Jags that bimble around the city. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for progress but I challenge you to see these things, steering, indicating, stopping at junctions (thankfully) with an empty drivers seat and a rotating steering wheel without it feeling a bit weird! They're everywhere!! The photo below shows two, side by side, waiting at traffic with not a driver in sight! Mind. Blown.
After I stopped 'pointing at planes' I made a beeline further into the city in search of a Target supermarket. En route, I stumbled across some of the bigger hotels where there was a lot of commotion, a lot of security and I mean a lot!!! I'm none the wiser as to who was in there. Some guy walked past followed by a lot of very excited young women. He was pretty happy with himself but I couldn't identify him in a line up I'm afraid.
It was all a bit over stimulating and when I eventually made it into Target, I realised much of what I wanted to purchase was in locked cabinets...... Even the socks!!! I'm guessing shoplifting is alive and well. I didn't have the energy to press a doorbell and wait for someone to come and liberate socks for me, so that trip was abandoned in favour of taking in some culture!
So with my ambitions of owning new socks abandoned I figured I could get to my end destination via some sightseeing. Chinatown was the first up!
Wherever you go in the world there is a Chinatown, there's a tourist bit and then there's the Chinese community bit. I've visited quite a few around the world and they're always interesting!
My commute was on foot and it took me through a tunnel where Chinatown awaited
Sure enough, as advertised the tunnel dropped me into Chinatown where I then had the challenge of navigating the busy pavements outside each store selling all sorts of dried and fresh goods. At the risk of being cancelled I won't make the obvious COVID reference but I did however note that the post COVID facemask business continues to boom?
How to say something without saying it right?
Chinatown remains as bouyant as ever. Real hustle and bustle!!
Leaving Chinatown led me to Little Italy which is a bit underwhelming by comparison. There is Lombard Street nearby but I'd accidentally found myself at the bottom of Lombard Street and a Google search will soon tell you that when you're thirsty for a beer and have walked a few miles, walking up Lombard Street ain't happening!!
So it was through Little Italy and on to Fisherman's Wharf
En route I happened upon the trolley station. One home to the San Francisco trams that trundle around the more scenic bits of the city
From Fisherman's Wharf you get a great view of Alcatraz! Can you imagine being stuck on somewhere in the middle of a body of water unable to get off? It's at this point I would insert a winky face emoji
Another famous bit of San Franciscos waterfront wharfs are the resident Sea Lions. Who just seem to spend their lives having beef with one another as to who is the biggest or noisiest!
And of course lurking in the background of that photo is the Golden Gate Bridge, spanning 1.7 miles!!!
The Sea Lions live around pier 39 which is pretty much the centre of all things Fishermans Wharf. Those that know me can imagine my delight when I went on to stumble across a brewery!!!!!
Humble Sea Brewing Co. A lovely range of lovely beers! After a long walk, 16k steps I'll have you know! A cold beer was very much in order. It's a friendly little place, unpretentious and they make good beer! Some of which is not shy!!
I came, went and literally bought the t-shirt and an 8% take out beer called Edward Shredderhands!
Travelling the globe one brewery at a time
Other than the beer, the other takeaway from San Francisco is that it's a lovely port of call. I'm very lucky to have been able to sail here and it's just part of a far bigger voyage. To sail around the world!!!! Wow
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