After just a short while in Monterey in the morning, it was back into the car and on the road again. I considered following Highway 1 right up to San Francisco, but eventually took it as far as Santa Cruz on the northside of Monterey Bay and then joined the freeway to allow more time in the City by the Bay. Highway 17 winds it way through some lovely forested mountains, before approaching San Jose. From San Jose its another 40-50 miles drive on the 101 to reach San Francisco.
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I had now driven over 1800 miles (on the wrong side of the road, remember!), and San Francisco is the only place I took a wrong turn from the freeway and entered the city, some way from where I expected. After pulling over to look at the map, I managed to work a route to where I wanted to be, sort of straight on for three blocks, left for five blocks, and then right. However, I was somewhat taken aback when I turned left into California St and came across my first cable car!! Er, what do I do?? Can I pass? Do I pass on the left or on the right? Am I allowed to pass? Do I have to stop and let the people off? And why does there have to be a Taxi right behind me? |
OK, what do I say about San Francisco that hasn't been said already? Well, I don't think I'll be able to say anything original about this city. So anyway, I arrived just after lunchtime, and managed to book an afternoon coach tour of the city and an airtour to Yosemite Park the following day.
As with the previous tours I had taken, the host was very knowledgeable about San Francisco, and full of information which is hard to gain elsewhere. San Francisco has a population of just 730,000 but a further 1,000,000 people commute every day from surrounding areas, such as Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose. Due to lack of ground space, the city is very densely packed, with just one inch between adjacent buildings. There are 43 hills within the city limits, the tallest two being known as Twin Peaks which offer a spectacular view over the city and Bay Area.
With land at such a premium, house prices are very high,
and there are no grave yards. The last cemetery in the city was closed
in 1963, and since then all burials have had to take place out of town.
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The city's most famous landmark, the Golden Gate bridge was built between 1931 and 1937. The tides and weather within the area, combined with the height of the suspension towers meant the workers were effectively on top of a skyscraper in a hurricane. 11 men lost their lives during the construction, several bodies were never recovered. |
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Highway 1, known locally as the Great Highway runs along Ocean Beach, past "Seal Rocks". These rocky outcrops just a short distance from the shore were inhabited by thousands of seals, until just a few days before the 1989 earthquake, when, for reasons that cannot be explained, they all moved into the bay, and took up residence at "Pier 41". Only now, nearly ten years later are they starting to return to their original home. |
