I Left My Footmarks in San Francisco

Welcome, sure-footed reader, as this week I talk about the weekend we had in San Francisco, immediately following our move out of Palo Alto.

Having packed all our stuff and moved out of the house in Palo Alto, we relocated to a hotel in San Francisco for the weekend. We spent most of the time walking the legendarily hilly streets of that fair city, taking in the tourists sites for the last time, at least for now.

Our first day there involved a trip down to FanFest at the Giants' ballpark, a free event where the Giants let you wander around the field a bit, join a 2 hour queue for a player's autograph, and listen while the stereotypically inarticulate team members try to mumble their way through insightful interviews. Oh, and did I mention you can buy something? Yes, of course, you can get your season tickets or single-game tickets for the forthcoming season, and the dugout store is also open so you can get your Giants gear too. This was actually useful, as Helen's favourite hat (a Giants cap) got stuck in a box and whisked off with the furniture, so she needed to buy a replacement.

Following this, we wandered over to Lombard Street, the infamous very twisty street carved into the side of a San Francisco hill. As I've often told Helen, the weather in this town is usually foggy and drizzly, and so it was that Saturday. In fact, the rain persisted a bit more than usual and we got soaked as we took in Lombard Street then walked back to the hotel. Fortunately we had a good view of the street from our room, so could watch the famous Chinese New Year parade in the evening whilst we dried out.

Sunday was slightly better weather, and had us again scaling a hill to take a look around the Castro district, then wander down to the bayshore again. Monday was beautiful, and had us once more climbing up a big hill - this time, Mount Sutro, a hill which has both a nature reserve and a massively ugly (but distinctive) TV transmission tower at the top of it. The Sutro Tower is incredibly famous - if you've ever been to San Francisco, you've definitely seen it, even if only from the plane as you fly in or out.

Sutro Tower from Ocean Beach

From Mount Sutro we walked the 40 or 50 blocks down to Ocean Beach, which is pretty much what it says it is, then round to Lincoln Park where you'll find the Legion of Hono(u)r, apparently a filming location for Hitchcock's Vertigo.

We've been living in Palo Alto for three-and-a-half years, which is about 30 miles South of San Francisco, so our relationship with the city is a bit like our relationship with London back home: we're more familiar than tourists, and go up there every month or two for an event, but we don't live there or consider ourselves locals. As such it's good to explore the tourist spots and see parts of the city we wouldn't otherwise see.

We had mixed feelings leaving the city, although Helen declined my offer of one last lingering walk through the Tenderloin area. The Tenderloin is a desperately sad part of the city, right next to the downtown financial district, which is mostly populated by homeless drug addicts living on the street in tents. The closest analogy I can find in the UK would be what I remember the King's Cross area to be like in London in the late 80s and early 90s, but the Tenderloin is in a worse state than that, and it's also a lot bigger. It makes me quite angry that in one of the richest cities in one of the richest countries in the world, there's nothing to help these folks.

So San Francisco itself is a city of contrasts and perhaps not the easiest to discover on foot, although all the walking we did is doing wonders for my step count in February. I wouldn't say I left my heart in San Francisco, but I'm sure it'll be one of those places we remember fondly once we get home.