Final day exploring San Fran
We had a slow start to the day today, I woke up and was surprised to find out it was 10am already. We had planned to hire bikes today and cycle round the bay but the weather was against us! So, we got ready and wandered down towards union square for a brunch. A very long, skinny cafe that did good breakfasts. We both ordered Eggs Benedict and hash browns but Edd had the sweetened, spiced bacon.
The portions arrived and I have never seen such big hash browns ever! They took up half the plate! The bacon is also very different than it is in England I would consider it more like ham, they serve very thick slices. I'm still struggling to eat and the portion completely overwhelmed me, Edd enjoyed his and helped me with some of mine but I did get to try his bacon. I have to say I quite like sweet bacon, I can now see the attraction to bacon and maple syrup pancakes.
We then went for a long wander through the shopping streets of San Fran, it was a bit pointless as neither Edd nor I know how to shop very well, but it was nice being a bit normal and just having a chilled out morning. We walked passed the international art museum of America and, as it was free admission, we had a wander round. It turned out to be a very quiet (we were the only two) weird exhibit that was mainly Chinese style paintings in very grand rooms. We walked through pretty quickly but we weren't in a rush so it was fine to make a little detour.
We finished our wander by the city hall which is a stunning building, it reminds me of St. Paul's, the biggest contrast however were the amount of homeless people around. That area especially felt very busy with people begging and sleeping on the grass of the city hall. You do slowly get used to the number of homeless people in the city but it can be unnerving, some areas are dramatically more unnerving than others.
We caught a few buses which was a bit of a faff but we eventually got on the right route. The first bus driver was the grumpiest person we've had to deal with on the whole trip. When a very slow, walking, disabled lady got on the bus with her 'service dog' (tiniest dog in the whole, of no help what so ever) the bus lady told her to keep the dog with her at all times, because the woman was very disabled she struggled to keep the dog close.
Next thing we knew the bus driver stopped the bus, told the woman off and slammed her little driving compartment door shut before continuing. The situation was made funny by a group of totally confused French tourists who were happily enjoying looking after the dog as he had unexpectedly jumped up and sat on one of the guys laps. They were in hysterics at the grumpy bus driver and her 'allergies' to dogs, I overheard the guy say "I can't grasp English but I'm very good at 'dog'".
We jumped off at the Golden Gate Bridge in grey drizzle and laughed at the sight we had got the bus all the way to see. We spent half an hour in the visitors centre/shop and dashed out to get a quick picture as evidence we had got that far! Our tickets on the bus lasted 90 minutes so there was no incentive to hang around and we were back on the bus not long after. I did however get to learn a bit about the bridge whilst walking around the visitors centre.
The chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge was Joseph Strauss who took his job so seriously which eventually had consequences on his health and he sadly died a year after the bridge was finished. He was very invested in the safety of his worker and insisted a net be put up below the bridge whilst it was being constructed.
This net saved 19 lives in total. Statistically in the 1930 one life was lost per million $ spent on bridge making so with the bridge costing $35 million there was a lot at risk. Thanks to Joseph and his strict safety policies they only lost 11 lives in the 4 and a bit years it took to build. Wages for the people working on the bridge were $4 per day for the labourers and $11 a day for the skilled craftsmen.
The two towers rise 227 meters above the water level and get thinner as they go up to make it look taller than it is. The towers are riveted together with 600,000 rivets in total! The total length of wire used to make the cables is 80,000 miles which is enough to go around the world 3 times at the equator!!
We got dropped off around the corner from the cable car museum but of course had to climb yet another hill to get to it. It was such a lovely museum, situated in the warehouse where the cables are kept turning the noise is very loud and it smells of machinery but it was great to actually see the machines at work. The cable cars were invented by an English man who worked in the gold mines here in San Fran and helped design carts to move rocks and rubble around the mines.
The cable cars were a great solution to overcome the steep hills in the city and the horse manure causing diseases in the city streets. They were extremely popular up until the earthquake of 1906 which not only destroyed most the city but also a lot of cable car tracks. In the renovation the need for lots of two tracks was replaced by electric trams only a few cable car lines were kept on.
It's very cool the way they work, the cables move continuously at the same 9.5 miles an hour speed under the streets and the carts are gripped on and off depending on what speed they want to go. What I found interesting is that even with modern cars it's up to the driver and their strength to clamp on and off, there are no markings to tell the driver what speed they will go, it's all about feel. These guys have to be rather strong too. We haven't been able to ride one because a one trip ticket is $7 and these days we are trying not to pay for too much unnecessary, the hill climbing has been good for us!
We stopped off for a drink on the way home in, what felt like, a dodgy area when we went in but seemed absolutely fine when we left. We then went for 'the best burgers in town' in a small cafe with metal chairs that looks like a take away shop. The burgers were good but definitely not the best we've had this trip. By the time we got out it was really raining and we trudged back up the hill along the edge of the wall to try and stay as dry as possible. Let's hope the rain stops before we have to take our packs into town tomorrow to collect our car hire.
We had a slow start to the day today, I woke up and was surprised to find out it was 10am already. We had planned to hire bikes today and cycle round the bay but the weather was against us! So, we got ready and wandered down towards union square for a brunch. A very long, skinny cafe that did good breakfasts. We both ordered Eggs Benedict and hash browns but Edd had the sweetened, spiced bacon. 
The portions arrived and I have never seen such big hash browns ever! They took up half the plate! The bacon is also very different than it is in England I would consider it more like ham, they serve very thick slices. I'm still struggling to eat and the portion completely overwhelmed me, Edd enjoyed his and helped me with some of mine but I did get to try his bacon. I have to say I quite like sweet bacon, I can now see the attraction to bacon and maple syrup pancakes.
We then went for a long wander through the shopping streets of San Fran, it was a bit pointless as neither Edd nor I know how to shop very well, but it was nice being a bit normal and just having a chilled out morning. We walked passed the international art museum of America and, as it was free admission, we had a wander round. It turned out to be a very quiet (we were the only two) weird exhibit that was mainly Chinese style paintings in very grand rooms. We walked through pretty quickly but we weren't in a rush so it was fine to make a little detour.
We finished our wander by the city hall which is a stunning building, it reminds me of St. Paul's, the biggest contrast however were the amount of homeless people around. That area especially felt very busy with people begging and sleeping on the grass of the city hall. You do slowly get used to the number of homeless people in the city but it can be unnerving, some areas are dramatically more unnerving than others.
We caught a few buses which was a bit of a faff but we eventually got on the right route. The first bus driver was the grumpiest person we've had to deal with on the whole trip. When a very slow, walking, disabled lady got on the bus with her 'service dog' (tiniest dog in the whole, of no help what so ever) the bus lady told her to keep the dog with her at all times, because the woman was very disabled she struggled to keep the dog close. 
Next thing we knew the bus driver stopped the bus, told the woman off and slammed her little driving compartment door shut before continuing. The situation was made funny by a group of totally confused French tourists who were happily enjoying looking after the dog as he had unexpectedly jumped up and sat on one of the guys laps. They were in hysterics at the grumpy bus driver and her 'allergies' to dogs, I overheard the guy say "I can't grasp English but I'm very good at 'dog'".
We jumped off at the Golden Gate Bridge in grey drizzle and laughed at the sight we had got the bus all the way to see. We spent half an hour in the visitors centre/shop and dashed out to get a quick picture as evidence we had got that far! Our tickets on the bus lasted 90 minutes so there was no incentive to hang around and we were back on the bus not long after. I did however get to learn a bit about the bridge whilst walking around the visitors centre.
The chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge was Joseph Strauss who took his job so seriously which eventually had consequences on his health and he sadly died a year after the bridge was finished. He was very invested in the safety of his worker and insisted a net be put up below the bridge whilst it was being constructed. 
This net saved 19 lives in total. Statistically in the 1930 one life was lost per million $ spent on bridge making so with the bridge costing $35 million there was a lot at risk. Thanks to Joseph and his strict safety policies they only lost 11 lives in the 4 and a bit years it took to build. Wages for the people working on the bridge were $4 per day for the labourers and $11 a day for the skilled craftsmen.
The two towers rise 227 meters above the water level and get thinner as they go up to make it look taller than it is. The towers are riveted together with 600,000 rivets in total! The total length of wire used to make the cables is 80,000 miles which is enough to go around the world 3 times at the equator!!
We got dropped off around the corner from the cable car museum but of course had to climb yet another hill to get to it. It was such a lovely museum, situated in the warehouse where the cables are kept turning the noise is very loud and it smells of machinery but it was great to actually see the machines at work. The cable cars were invented by an English man who worked in the gold mines here in San Fran and helped design carts to move rocks and rubble around the mines. 
The cable cars were a great solution to overcome the steep hills in the city and the horse manure causing diseases in the city streets. They were extremely popular up until the earthquake of 1906 which not only destroyed most the city but also a lot of cable car tracks. In the renovation the need for lots of two tracks was replaced by electric trams only a few cable car lines were kept on.
It's very cool the way they work, the cables move continuously at the same 9.5 miles an hour speed under the streets and the carts are gripped on and off depending on what speed they want to go. What I found interesting is that even with modern cars it's up to the driver and their strength to clamp on and off, there are no markings to tell the driver what speed they will go, it's all about feel. These guys have to be rather strong too. We haven't been able to ride one because a one trip ticket is $7 and these days we are trying not to pay for too much unnecessary, the hill climbing has been good for us!
We stopped off for a drink on the way home in, what felt like, a dodgy area when we went in but seemed absolutely fine when we left. We then went for 'the best burgers in town' in a small cafe with metal chairs that looks like a take away shop. The burgers were good but definitely not the best we've had this trip. By the time we got out it was really raining and we trudged back up the hill along the edge of the wall to try and stay as dry as possible. Let's hope the rain stops before we have to take our packs into town tomorrow to collect our car hire.
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