|
|
I thought of writing my trip to the center of the universe. That's how the people over there in San Francisco term the place. Rightfully so all the computer related activity is very much over there and also the fun life people enjoy sparing the traffic jams which are a reality all over the big cities. The temperature is around 55 degrees F in winter due to the Pacific Ocean. The climate is very beautiful. I visited San Francisco for the first time in December. I had only one day of which half of it was wasted due to rain so I could see only the Golden gate bridge so I did not feel like writing about it. I again visited last week and now I have plenty of experiences to share with you. This time I had training from Monday through Friday. So I started here in Detroit on Saturday and came back on Sunday so that I had a Sunday before training started and a Saturday after training was completed to enjoy.
As usual my flight was late by 2 hours. The flight I was to go was to come from Connecticut and was late due to snow storm over there. I think I am in love with Northwest Airlines. Whenever I travel it is late and after my experience at the airport I have become bit cautious. I arrived at San Francisco at 5 PM (it is 3 hours behind Detroit time). We had a couple of surprises. When we went to pick up the rental car. They gave us a bigger car for the rate of a smaller car as the smaller cars were not available as we reserved. At the hotel I got a double bedroom for the rate of a single room as single rooms (non smoking) were not available as I had reserved. Then after checking in the hotel I went to my cousin’s place (Daly City) which is 20 minutes drive from the Airport and brought him to the hotel. Next day in the morning at 10 AM my friend came with his car and we started our tour of San Francisco.
First we went to the Fisherman’s Wharf. This is a place in downtown from where the boats leave for bay cruise along the coast of San Francisco under the Golden Gate bridge or to the Alcatraz. We took a boat for Alcatraz. This is a island which is located near to the bay. This island once had a very huge jail which was considered to be inescapable. We also took the audio tour which is a waste of money. Not much to see on the island but for the remains of the jail which is converted now in to a museum. There are many reasons why this island was developed. First a fort was built to guard the bay area and destroy any ships entering the bay without permission. Later on it was converted in to a jail. The winds which blew around the island the water formed concentric circles around the island so prisoners who tried to escape in a boat used to go round the island and reach the place where they started but could not escape to the bay. Then there was a notion that there were sharks all around which held the prisoners back. Coming to the jail it was very huge. There were cells where no light entered. This was for the more serious criminals who did not want to change. But once they were in there for a day they would definitely change. There was a huge kitchen and hospital. The prisoners had all the facilities except for water. Water had to be brought from the bay area. This was a very costly proposition for the jail authorities.
Then we went to an Indian restaurant and had the North Indian Thali. The other attraction at the wharf is the Underground World. This is basically a tunnel with a glass about an inch thick on all the sides except the bottom. There was water on all sides with different types fish in the water. For the first time I saw an Octopus moving. Then there were star fish of very vibrant colors. It was beautiful watching the star fish with its numerous legs. The most elegant swimmer was guess who? The shark ofcourse. There were many small sharks in the water it was very beautiful. It was comfortable that there was glass separating us from those creatures. The tunnel is in the shape of a circle and is around 300 ft in length. In the top floor there is a store and there was a stall where we could touch the live star fish. It was very soft.
Then we went to the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge is the center of attraction for every visitor. It is very very huge. The red color which is an anti-corrosion paint gives a good look to the bridge. There is a view point after crossing the bridge where we could park the car and take some pictures. Then there is a hill beside the bridge from where we can have a good view of the Bay Area and the bridge itself.
Then there is a street called Lombard. One end of this street slopes down and has very narrow curves and is famously called the crooked street. This street has flowering plants all along on both sides of the street which make it very beautiful to see during the Spring season. The inclination of this road is almost 60 degrees. Then we called it a day and returned to hotel. We then went to an Indian Restaurant and had our dinner.
Whole of the week was busy for me at Siebel. One day I drove to Sunnyvale which is 25 miles from San Francisco Airport and ate at a South Indian restaurant. I had Onion Pakodi and Pesarattu Upma. The spices were less but it tasted good. The attraction at the hotel were an American couple. The man was performing on the violin and his wife was performing on the Tabla and they were in to Indian Music. People enjoyed the music and gave money to the couple. Surprisingly 90 % of the crowd there at the hotel were Americans. Whole of the week I was eating at different restaurants along with my colleague who is an American. I tasted Mexican, Hong Kong, Chinese, Indian food. It is a very small world for Vegetarians like me. I relished only the Chinese and Indian food. Otherwise I did not have much to eat except for pasta or noddles.
Then on Friday I had to vacate my hotel and my colleague left for Detroit. I went to my cousin’s place. That area was very beautiful and 90 % of the people living there were Chinese. The apartments were very beautiful. On Saturday my friend came with his car and we decided to take the 49 mile drive. This is the length of the road one will be traveling if he traveled through the route marked on the San Francisco map. This road went through all the important centers of San Francisco and along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Among the important places where we halted were the City Hall, Civic Center (this place was full of gays and they were selling drugs very freely), Japan City, China Town and of course the downtown buildings, Fisherman’s Wharf. The drive along the coast was very beautiful. There was some fog so we could not take pictures otherwise the drive was good. We reached home at 3.30 PM and my friend left for Sunnyvale where he lived.
I heard a lot about BART (Bay Area Rail/Rapid Transport) during my stay and wanted to see how the train looked like. So I and my cousin started for Fremont which was a hour and a half by BART from Daly City. The train is very neat with carpeted floor. The seats had cushion and no eatables were allowed inside the train. And of course no smoking. While going the train crosses some part of the ocean through a tunnel under the ocean. I chose Fremont because it has 80 % Indian population. I was expecting to find an Indian Restaurant there. My cousin also was new to that place. So we got down at the station and I saw the map and found a Fremont Blvd near by. We went there and found an Indian Restaurant which was run by a man from Delhi. There was a Buffet there and once again it was festive time. He also gave us carrot halwa. Then we came back. Next day I was coming back to Detroit and as usual my flight was 2 hours late due to the foggy conditions at San Francisco.
So the places of interest in San Francisco were the Under Ground World,
The Golden Gate Bridge, Crooked Street, 49 Mile Drive, Golden Gate Park,
City Hall, Down Town and finally the numerous Indian restaurants.