San Francisco

and its fabulous golden gate bridge - which I did not get to see :((
I had planned to wake up early on saturday morning and get to the train station at 8 to catch the weekend hourly Caltrain that would come by at 0819. I finally woke up at 1100 (which is not unusual) and got ready to go by 1150 (which is a record). Not wanting to miss the next train at 1219, I took a cab from the hotel to the train station, which was a good thing I did, cos I got there just in time. Now these Caltrains are just huge. They have two decks and are over 30 feet tall. Its a very impressive sight to see them running (they can be spotted from the RH office). An hour and 15 minutes later I am at San Francisco. Only I am about a mile out of city center. So I leg it onto the 4th street till I hit market street (city center), which just like any city center is full of shopping malls, showrooms, boutiques and the like. On my cards this day was to visit the fisherman's wharf (there are sea lions to be seen here for free:) ) and the golden gate bridge.
Getting to fisherman's wharf is an experience by itself - you do this in a cable car from market street. Cable cars are a 19th century invention which are still running today (and hence are expensive to run as well). The one way fare is $5. But its the experience which counts. A cable car is not much bigger then a mini bus, it runs (quite slowly) on tracks laid on roads, is powered by underground electricity cables, and you can hang out on the footboard (much like mumbai local istyle). One half of the car has covered windows, which is a good place to sit if it rains. The ride to fisherman's wharf goes through a lot of traffic, the roads are crazy steep (like > 45 deg) and the neighborhood is a charming place to be in. I recall having seen these roads in some movie in a car chase - where the cable car speeds out of control with the villian on board and the hero following in a car. There is also that amazing strip of zigzagging road going from top of the hill to the bottom. So the cable car ride takes about 15 minutes, landing near a historic chocolate factory right next to the wharf. There are a number of piers here, and walking all of them would take forever.
The first interesting sight is pier 43 (or 41 i forget which) where there are a lot of antique ships moored and you can go on board for a price. You can also see Alcatraz which is the prison island from the movies (Pictures coming later ;)).
Then there is the Boudin's bakery which makes sourdough bread shaped like crabs and lobsters and crayfish and other crustaceans. They also serve you clam chowder soup in a sour dough bread bowl, which is very yummy. The best part is that you get to eat the bowl after you finish the soup. I tried doing this, but only managed to eat half of the bowl. I bet a lot of bread gets wasted in this manner. I also had a tuna fish sandwich which was just passable. And that was lunch.
(It starts drizzling post lunch.)
The next most important feature is Pier 39. This is where you get pure unadulterated commercialised tourism. Souvenir shops, whacky toys, cafes, the works. There is a joint here that makes movies of you riding a magic carpet. You stand on a carpet in front of a green background and act as if you are really on a magic carpet. They then mix the movie and show you flying all around the world.
The best part here are the sea lions - who are the permenant residents of pier 39. Most of them were sleeping but there were a few playing around, jumping in the water, fighting, and barking loudly. These guys definitely are fun to watch.
By now it was 1700, the sky was getting darker, the rain was falling harder and I started looking forward to getting back to the hotel. I would have loved to go see the bridge, but it was already late, I was all damp, the hotel was over 45 miles away, and I had no car. So I decided to start back home.

(This piece was written when i was in SFO, I only got a chance to edit and post it now.)