San Francisco

13 May 1999, Thursday

I took a train late morning to San Francisco (SF). Srinivas had to visit
his office and do his laundry, so he did not accompany me. I planned to
use AAA walking tour guide for the day. Saw lots of tech companies on the
way to SF. 

I started walking from Union Square, and went through "West" Wall street.
Its the financial district of SF. There were also lots of departmental
stores etc. 

From there, I walked into the Chinatown. This is the biggest Chinatown in
the world. SF has highest number of Chinese in a city outside China. There
were lots of souvenir shops and Chinese grocery stores. 

I then went to Washington Square, and decided to walk up the "stairs" to
Telegraph Hill instead of taking the bus. SF is a very hilly city. In some
places, the hills are so steep that the sidewalk has stairs on it! The
parking is usually parallel on the roads, with wheels turned in or out.
But on the really steep hills, the parking is perpendicular to the road!

From Telegraph Hill, I got a panoramic view of the city. I saw the
Alcatraz prison, Bay bridge, Golden Gate bridge, and a section of Lombard
street. Its known as the "World's crookedest street" because of the series
of sharp switch-backs as it descends down a hill. 

I then walked to Fisherman's wharf, which is basically a tourist spot.
Obviously it had lots of shopping areas. I then decided to come back via
the famous cable-car. Its not self-propelled. There is a cable running
under the rails at a speed of 9.5 mph. The car clamps itself to the cable
while moving. I was hanging out from a pole, when we saw a car approaching
us in the same lane! The cable car driver gave warning bells, but the car
driver did not heed. He passed inches away from me! The cable car driver
pulled the emergency brakes and ran after the wild car to get his license
plate number. 

I then walked back to the train station, reached Mountain View. Srinivas
picked me up. I again had a great South Indian dinner courtesy Ranjani!
We slept early as we had to catch an early morning flight the next day.