Post PCT - San Francisco
Around midday after a long trip from Oregon I decided to not waste any time and start exploring the city. I went along the San Francisco Bay and seen the Treasure Island, Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge from the distance. I kept on walking and finally arrived at the Pier 39 where I could take a boat tour going around the above attractions, Alcatraz tours visiting the island itself were sold out for the next two days so I decided to substitute it with the bay sightseeing. The tour took 90 minutes we went right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, twice around the Alcatraz and then to the other side of the town next to Treasure Island with a good panorama of the city, it was definitely worth the time and money.
Pier 39 had another unexpected (for me) attraction a bunch of sea lions decided to make it their home in 1989 after their habitat got destroyed by earthquake. They been resting and causing all kind of drama on the wooden platforms at the bay, they were an absolute joy to watch and I spend here good half an hour alongside many other tourists looking at their adorable antics.
After that I carried on walking along the coast until I reached Fisherman's Wharf where I had a delicious clam chowder in a sourdough bread at the Boudins bakery, took pictures of the ship SS Jeremiah o Brian where apparently few scenes of Titanic were shot and spent some time in a really fun Musee Mecanique looking at a big collection of old entertainment devices. I let Gypsy Queen give me a tip for the future for 25¢ (pictures below) haha. Then I slowly started to make my way towards the hostel through the Italian and Chinese sections of the city.
San Francisco made a really good impression on me, it had a much more chilled out vibe compared to the other American cities I visited so far, people seemed happier and the place was well looked after. The announcements on the bus I took were in English, Spanish and Chinese and people I was seeing were an amazing cocktail of cultures and nationalities.
After a long bus ride and even longer walk (I couldn't use subway for various reasons, which would make my journey way easier but explaining it would be boring) and finally arrived at SFO Crashpad at 8pm, place turned out to be basic and rather dirty squat but it was really cheap to start with and the owner decided to save me 14$ in taxes I was still suppose to pay, so I really shouldn't complain about it. The bed was clean and comfortable, two other guys I was sharing the room with were snoring so I ended up waking up few times due to their hellish, death metal vocalisations.
The following day I decided to visit Golden Gate Park and go to the bridge itself but ended up spending the entire day in California Academy of Sciences located in the park which contained a huge aquarium, a planetarium, rainforest experience walk and various other exhibitions, the ticket wasn't cheap (41$) but it was worth every cent. Once I got out of there it was 5pm. I dropped the plans to go to the bridge which I saw anyway yesterday during the bay tour, instead I started making my way back to the hostel.
Tomorrow was going to be an early start, I booked the bus to Santa Barbara for 10am from the city centre, the plans to visit Las Vegas has been cancelled as it would be too much of a logistic jigsaw and too 'last minute' for comfort. I only had few days left and wanted to arrive in Los Angeles sooner than later, Santa Barbara even if not as exciting, felt like a safer and more straightforward choice. I will spend a day and two nights there, I'll probably end up wild camping, hiking one of the surrounding trails and chiling on the beach.
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