a golden ride

In a lot of places I visit I have a mini Bucket List of things I want to do. In London it was walk the Monopoly Board, in Seattle it was ride a ferry boat. In San Francisco there were two things: ride the cable cars (check) and go over the Golden Gate Bridge. My original plan was to run over the bridge but I didn't pack my running shoes and opted out of buying a new pair to keep my luggage at a minimum. So instead I decided to ride over it.

Unfortunately San Francisco had other ideas. When I woke up on Thursday - my first and last full day in the city - I was greeted by rain. Despite my protests that it was not supposed to rain in California, which Barclay thought was amusing, it didn't let up. So instead of rising early, I slept in a little and took my time heading into town to find some breakfast. I waited at the end of one of the cable car lines - in the rain - for ages for a carriage to come around. The rain was only really a drizzle but enough to put tackling the bridge off the agenda. I grabbed some breakfast in what could well have been Little Italy, but I'm not sure. Then I ventured up to the Cable Car Museum. It was free and it was still wet so that was good enough for me. A little while later I emerged to sunshine! I couldn't get down to the wharf quick enough to hire a bike.

The ride out to and over the bridge is supposed to take about 45 minutes. It took me a little bit longer because I kept stopping to take photos...lots and lots of photos. There were a lot of tourists on the bridge, but mainly at each ends. Not many seemed to be trekking across. But there were plenty of runners and cyclists making the crossing. At the other end the road weaves down into Sausalito, a waterside town that Brad, from the dining cart on the train, had recommended I visit. I locked up the bike, walked around, had some lunch and took a lot more photos. The town was full of galleries, cafes and some expensive looking jewellery stores. There was a Starbucks though - disappointing.

The bike hire company provided maps for more routes from Sausalito so I headed in the direction of Tiburon, however after not making much progress on the map and the ferry time nearing, I decided to head back instead of risk not making it back to the city in time.

It was a perfect time to cruise back to the city. The ferry took about 30 minutes and went passed Alcatraz, which I've decided not to bother visiting, and gave me some great views of the bridge with the sun setting behind it. After riding back to the bike drop-off point I headed back to Pier 39 (which I've decided is the worst place in SF) to see the sea lions, which I missed last time. I forgot to read the information about why they are there, but they are, and they're funny.

Barclay was working pretty late so I killed time by riding the F-line street car for nearly its full route before jumping off and going back in the other direction. The second car I got on used to run in Milan but was given as a gift to SF. The city liked it so much, operators then ordered 10 more when Milan decided to retire them. Back downtown I had some dinner and then walked a lot of blocks (up hill and down) to a bar near Barclay's house to meet him for a drink. Climbing back up the street after a couple of G&T's was fun though!