Once I grabbed the suitcase from the belly of the bus, I put my backpack on both shoulders (most often it's hanging only on my right shoulder), and then had my laptop firmly in my left hand, and my suitcase in my right. Thankfully I didn't have anything else to carry or I would've been stuck...I then set off towards 7th Avenue, where I'd turn north to get to my hotel - the Best Western Americania. The weather was nice, and I didn't feel too unsafe walking down Market Street...But man was I ever bombarded by people asking for change! I suppose I should've told them that only governments can bring about true change, but provoking these people can probably bring rather undesired results. I decided to stop and put some headphones into my ears and listen to music as I walked down Market Street to 7th Avenue. After making the corner and walking a block I was approached by a black teenager probably not much younger than myself. I politely listened to his sob story and his request for something for his disabled father...He asked for something to drink and I replied that I had a drink box that I had brought all the way from Surrey (and was probably never going to drink...) that he could have. He brightened up considerably at this but he was clearly disappointed when I pulled it out of my backpack...He said he needed money...cash...I told him I didn't have any (well, I doubt he'd take any of my Canadian Currency...), and this was all I was willing to give him...He decided to cut his losses and took the drink box and I went on my way...When it comes to people in those situations, I don't give out money...If they ask for food, I'll probably give them something to eat...Money can be spent on the wrong things...So, if they don't want that, they won't get anything. Everyone has a choice in this life and I'm sure that the teen who approached me could get a retail position almost anywhere... Most businesses are in need of outgoing people who can approach anyone without too many hesitations...If you work that much for a handout, I'm sure they can sell something and make money while they're at it. I may seem a little callous, but people who won't help themselves surely aren't in a position to be helped by anyone else. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now.
After that I arrived at my hotel, and then bickered about the price of my room...I had reserved a single room, but didn't complain early enough to make sure I got a single room (the reservation confirmation said a Single room)...Instead I ended up with a double room which cost an extra 10 bucks a night...Of course, 10 a night is an extra 15 canadian for me...which can definitely (and did) add up when you look at the fact I was in San Francisco for a better part of the entire week. (5 days, 5 nights).
Later on that week (I'll spare you the details of the MacWorld Expo...if you want this, go to my Macintosh Page once I get it completed...), I took a quick tour of a couple of the "other railroads" operating in the San Francisco area...The San Francisco Municipal Railroad (AKA the Cable Cars), and BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)...With the San Francisco railroad I toured all over San Francisco on a couple of the lines that they had running (If you plan on doing some touring on the Cable Cars, buy the day pass...for six bucks for an entire day's travel, it's a lot cheaper than buying a single fare (two bucks) and realizing the day pass costs what three one way fares would...I'm glad the "conductor" mentioned the two different fares...I was about to shell out the two bucks when I heard about the day pass.)
Riding around on the Cable Cars is fun...Sure they're old, loud, uncomfortable, and extremely inefficient (two people to handle the car which doesn't carry many people), but the fact that this municipal railroad is still running lends a lot of credit to the people who didn't want San Francisco's best known tourist attraction to fade away in pages of the history books. It's also the reason why I didn't balk at the fares asked...I gladly paid my six bucks for travelling around on these things! This was an experience that I didn't want to miss...after all, how can you possibly go to San Francisco and not ride the cable cars...or hear the "ding ding" in real life after listening to god-knows-how-many Rice-a-roni commercials. Strangely enough, the bells sound the same, but I never did hear the ding ding that I heard on the commercials. And speaking of bells, there certainly are enough of them on the car...I think I counted at least three bells from what I heard...
For those who haven't had the opportunity to travel on the cable cars, here's the basics for how they work...
Contrary to most beliefs, these cars have absolutely no electricity on board...everything is manually done. The gripman selects a cable from within the roadbed, and has the car bite into it. The cable moves at a steady speed (I think 19 1/2 miles per hour) pulled by the cable house some distance around. Because the cable moves at a constant speed, it acts as both drive (going up hills) and braking (going down hills)... However, the gripman can choose whether to bite into the cable or let it go...When he lets it go he can pull on the other lever which sets wooden blocks onto the rails (between the wheels) which are the brakes of the train. Believe it or not, these blocks make for very good brakes! While going up a hill we were forced to stop by a stretched limo taking it's time in parallel parking...the hill was a good 15-20 degrees and we were able to stop and not slide backwards (and it was a fairly heavily loaded car too...). Pretty simple concept, and I suppose that's a good thing...But it's a little weird seeing us stop right in the middle of an intersection to stop and let people on and off...And another thing. How do you keep contact with the cables when you're passing over a crossover (such as the intersection of California and Powell)? Some minor details...
Oh yah, I decided to take some pictures while I was touring around San Francisco...Unfortunately, I didn't realize how badly the film in my camera handles low light situations...(hey, considering I rarely use a film camera in the first place, I'm pleased with how many pictures actually did turn out)...
Later on that night I decided to hop on the Powell & Hyde cablecar route and see what that had to offer...The ride was pretty similar, except this one put me no more than a couple blocks away from Ghiardelli Square... It's also the place where I got the Gripman of the cable car to take my picture...
Anyhow, getting back to the chocolate thing, The name Ghiardelli means absolutely nothing to me as the famed chocolate is sold only in the States. Intrigued by the interesting look of Ghirardelli square, I decided to go and take a look. Plus I was getting a tad hungry. I ended up seeing a few interesting things, but the big thing was the Ghiardelli gift shop...Mmmm...Bought myself some chocolate covered raisins and a couple bars of mint milk chocolate. One for myself and another for Lisa (I later learned that she never eats Mint Chocolate...too bad for her, more for me!). A little later, I found the original chocolate factory in a corner of the square. The equipment is still operating, but it's not making chocolate for public consumption...Definitely an interesting display of how Chocolate is actually made. While there I had a sundae that was absolutely to die for. Mmmm...even 3 months after having it I can still remember how good it was. After that I went back to board the Cable car, and strangely enough I found there was a rather massive lineup! They were busy loading one up and I'm near the back of the line when they say they've got room for one person to stand...I decide to pipe up and I walk over and squeeze myself onto the car between two rather good looking girls (probably aged 15-17), and the guy (senior citizen) I'm standing in front of says that he's proud of me for getting such a good spot... I laughed at his remark and blushed a little bit. Fun was had by all, and when it came time for the females to get off the cable car, I pondered jumping off and joining them...Sadly though, I had to get back to my hotel room and sleep...So, I stayed on the car. Once I got off, I think I walked back to my hotel room. I must admit, I took to streets that I felt safe on, and y'know? I think the darker streets which don't have too much activity are safer than the busy ones...Less people to take offence to me being there. Of course, don't take my advice without a grain of salt...
And, then there was the BART. This is the modern railway running in San Francisco (save for the Caltrain), except it's underground...For the most part. Once you cross the bay in the Transbay Tube, you surface, and for the most part, you're completely above ground. The trains that they run are rather comfortable, nice for viewing and quite nice for speed. Contrary to the Cable Cars, these trains are completely electric. Seeing the third rail and how it all works is rather interesting. On each truck of the car, they have these paddles which pick up the massive amount of electricity (probably better than 500V DC) from the third rail which is off to one side of the train all of 6-12 inches from the ground...What's most interesting is that even through crossovers, switches, and other complications the train still gets power...Through switches and so on, there are breaks in the third rail, but not long enough to cause any part of the train to lose power...and if it's going to be a long enough stretch, they erect short lengths of the rail...all on it's own. My trip went from the Powell street station clear across and down to Fremont, all the way up to Richmond (the one Amtrak stop that is remotely close to a BART station), and then back into San Francisco...and I did the entire tour on less than 5 bucks! If you actually calculate the fares required to do all this, it should be well over 9 dollars...In fact, had I gotten off at the right spot I probably would've been charged a dollar ten...But because I got off at the Powell street station I was charged a decent fare...$3.80. After realizing that I could save myself a bit of my walk I could actually get on and go for another station...that cost me a dollar ten, which knocked the amount of money on my fare card from a dollar twenty to ten cents. I'd show you, but I forgot to scan it in when I had a chance. Definitely a tip for those who want to tour around the east side of the bay and not pay a lot of money...The only hitch is that you can't leave the stations...hehehe...yah, I suppose if I went from Powell to Fremont to Richmond and back to the Civic Center stop I probably would've paid all of a buck ten...But hey, for the amount of time spent and the distance travelled, the $3.80 took me quite a distance! Overall, BART is a very nice rapid transit system...
For the rest of the week though, I decided to just putz around San Francisco on foot...but for the most part it was spent at the Expo, or in my hotel room recooperating from the Expo...Saturday morning came and it was time for me to board the bus to go back across the bay to Emeryville where I'd board the California Zephyr...To read on that segment of my travelogue, click here.