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This is my second visit to California. About eight years ago I got a chance to attend an American style technology conference in the heart of that techno-paradise Silicon Valley.

San Francisco

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 16:31:26

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like. California's tend to be a fraction less parochial and annoying than some of their American counterparts.

One of the reasons I like California and San Francisco in particular is that it reminds me of Australia. San Francisco especially has a lot in common with Sydney. They are both built around a harbour, they both feature massive bridges as centerpieces of the cities and they both sport all year round outdoor lifestyles.

On this visit I took the time to enjoy the outdoors in San Fran and took a ride across the Golden Gate bridge, still one of my all time favourite landmarks. My friend and I hired a couple of bikes in the Marina district and rode along the harbour and up into Golden Gate park. From there we turned right across the massive red-iron bridge towards Sausalito. From the top of the bridges arch you can watch tiny yachts in the water below, battling the fierce tides that rush through the Gate.

On the other side of the bridge lies Sausalito and the very affluent Marin County. Sausalito seems like a nice, laid back kind of small American town and it's only the real estate prices that tell you your just minutes from downtown San Francisco. From Sausalito we cycled another 8 miles (12km) to Tiburon on the tip of the peninsula facing the city and caught the ferry back to Fisherman's wharf. (We were keen, not stupid!).

The next day we discovered we had managed to time our visit just right. On the Sunday San Francisco was hosting it's annual Gay Pride parade. Akin to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this is a celebration in support of homosexuality that commandeers the streets of the city for most of a day. The floats were fun, the outfits were spectacular and the mood definitely a carnival.

One of my favourite places in the city is Cityscape, a bar atop the heights of the San Francisco Hilton. From there the views are panoramic and one giant glass window faces the bay and the Golden Gate bridge while another looks out over the bulk of the city to the Oakland side. I normally stay long enough to watch the sun sink down behind the Golden Gate bridge in a blaze of orange and then headed off in search of dinner. Drinks there are, as you might imagine, not cheap but the view more than makes up for it.

The final weekend in San Francisco was taken up with a trip to the Sonoma valley, the smaller cousin to the more well known Napa.

Since the weather was nice I had hired a open top convertible for the tour. Thinking it would be a pleasant way to wend our way through wine country I accepted the proffered Ford Mustang with pleasure. How wrong I was. The Mustang is I think the single most miserable excuse for a car I've had to drive in a long time. The original might have been nice but the 2001 model we got weighed nearly two and half tonnes and drove like a Volkswagen bus. On the twisty roads around the Napa it was more like a wrestling match than floating a sports car through the corners.

On the personal recommendation of a friend we went up to the Benziger winery in the north of the valley and did some tasting followed by a very well presented tour of the premises. A picnic lunch in a local park completed the day and we headed off back to the city.

Sadly this time I didn't have time to wander through Golden Gate Park or take photo's from the top of Quoit tower but even after eight years the place seem strangely welcoming, as though it remembered me from before. I wonder if it will remember me again in eight years…

Sunday 30/06/2002 12:17

My travels