Oh no, you've caught me eating sashimi this time. The Pacific's fish just aren't safe whilst I'm here.
Anyway, I picked up yesterday at Fisherman's Wharf, after taking the trolley over the hill. This is where I finished my impromptu coastal walk of the day before, so made some kind of odd sense to me to begin here. My main sight for the day was the Golden Gate bridge. That was a good 2.5 miles away, a brief stroll on these seasoned legs.
On my way I stumbled across some great outdoor exhibits, measuring temperature using the sag of the bridge-span, and taking an hourly photo of the bay to record the weather. These were linked to the dramatic Exploratorium I later spotted by its shiny dome sat upon tall columns, at which they were filming an advertisement for a hospital. Coming soon to the Tory-led UK.
Just up the road (up being operative) was the bridge itself. Looking up at the supporting towers and down to the water was suitably vertiginous. But at just over 1.5 km in length it's a bit of a tiddler as far as spans go. Pretty amazing though, and surrounded by gun emplacement earthworks from some distant time. I didn't bother checking when.
Next was a bus ride to the Golden Gate park, an attempt to better Central Park which certainly had a better sense of being a communal garden but less of a sense of scale. The Japanese tea garden was pretty special though, and even more beautifully maintained than the public areas.
Done with the park I strode purposefully another ten blocks or so to Alamo park in the Haight district, and the essential SF view of the downtown skyscrapers over the wooden clad 'painted ladies' row of houses. Pretty as a picture, and as the sun was shining through, worth a few mb.
Talking of pictures I've taken over 3,500. That's about 1.2 photos for every mile I've driven, maybe 70 for every mile I've walked. I've ruined my feet, gaining 7 blisters, and knackered my trainers too. I'm down to almost a 32" waist from an (over) 34". I've had my first 'drink' drink in over 6 months. I've inspired 6 natives to visit their national parks. I've heard no gunshots and seen no bears. I've said "oh wow" out loud to no-one on at least 6 separate occasions. I've been sad three times, and full-on, jaw-droppingly, amazingly happy too many times to count.
You have a lot to live up to, day-to-day life. But I've missed you. Just a little.