Second day, San Francisco: More walking, more people.
Day 2, Golden gate park, Kilometers traveled: 40
Today our private room was no longer avialable, so we checked into a seven person dorm room.
Meeting people in a hostel is great. Yesterday, while checking a day-by-day schedule of things to do, we met a guy from Switserland. It turns out he goes to Enschede every year for the Batavieren race. He hung out with a French girl, Liza. Liza hangs out with Jack and Sam, two brothers from England. The five of us decided to gang up and spend the day exploring the Golden gate park, west of the city and quite far from GG Bridge. It took about half an hour on two busses to get there, all bus tickets have to be paid in correct change. Just throw a handfull of coins into a machine and it spits out a ticket.
We did not have a proper map of the park, so we just started walking. It was very cloudy and not warm at all, still there were people barbequeing, relaxing or running everywhere. Heading for the sea, we encountered some bison in their 'natural habitat'. Not particulary exciting; it just looked like five stuffed animals surrounded by a big fence. Every now and then, one of the bison moved an ear or a tail. Further down the road there was a 'typical Dutch Mill'. It was a mill allright, but it didn't look Dutch at all! We Finally got to the sea, took off our shoes and discovered the pacific ocean is a very cold place. The sand was nice and hot, altough it was a very cloudy day.
We took a free shuttle to the 'The Young Museum'; a big twisted metal building with a statue garden, the tower offers a nice view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Park. When we arrived, after a ten minute ride, the sun was shining and the skies were clear blue. Quite a contrast from the beach; the weather here is ever more unpredictable then in the Netherlands. In the statue garden I had a little accident with a safety-pin, nothing serious though.We continued to the Japanese Tea garden with its bonsai trees, japanese architecture, zen rock gardens, bridges and ponds.
Everybody was feeling very hungry right now, so we headed back into the city to grab a bite. Passing through the hectic Chinatown, we ended up at an Italian sandwich shop, bought a sandwich and walked to Washington Square park. Here I was, thinking a piece of bread could never be a satisfying meal. I ordered the Turkey special, it had two balls of mozarella, 10 dried tomatoes, a three centimeter layer of turkey, and the size and weight of a football. It didn't even fit my mouth when I removed the top half of the bread. Liza, Sam, Jack, Bart and I sat and chatted in the park for two hours, it was great fun. There were all kinds of people around us: some guys playing footbaal, a grandfather teaching his son baseball, an Asian woman collecting plastic bottles, a loud laughing drunk guy and a group of grils chatting on their mobile phones. It all seemed very American.
We got back at the Hostel around nine, where we met Sahana from South Africa. She speaks English and ZuiAfrikaans, the African version of Dutch. Real fun to hear. We had a few drinks and played cardgames like cheater, shithead and a made up drinking version of poker. Feeling tired and a bit drunk, we went to bed. The first night in a seven person dormroom. Although I don't like locking all my bags all the time, it's not so bad. People are friendly and considerate, nothing like the loud sweaty experience I thought it would be.
Today our private room was no longer avialable, so we checked into a seven person dorm room.
Meeting people in a hostel is great. Yesterday, while checking a day-by-day schedule of things to do, we met a guy from Switserland. It turns out he goes to Enschede every year for the Batavieren race. He hung out with a French girl, Liza. Liza hangs out with Jack and Sam, two brothers from England. The five of us decided to gang up and spend the day exploring the Golden gate park, west of the city and quite far from GG Bridge. It took about half an hour on two busses to get there, all bus tickets have to be paid in correct change. Just throw a handfull of coins into a machine and it spits out a ticket.
We did not have a proper map of the park, so we just started walking. It was very cloudy and not warm at all, still there were people barbequeing, relaxing or running everywhere. Heading for the sea, we encountered some bison in their 'natural habitat'. Not particulary exciting; it just looked like five stuffed animals surrounded by a big fence. Every now and then, one of the bison moved an ear or a tail. Further down the road there was a 'typical Dutch Mill'. It was a mill allright, but it didn't look Dutch at all! We Finally got to the sea, took off our shoes and discovered the pacific ocean is a very cold place. The sand was nice and hot, altough it was a very cloudy day.
We took a free shuttle to the 'The Young Museum'; a big twisted metal building with a statue garden, the tower offers a nice view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Park. When we arrived, after a ten minute ride, the sun was shining and the skies were clear blue. Quite a contrast from the beach; the weather here is ever more unpredictable then in the Netherlands. In the statue garden I had a little accident with a safety-pin, nothing serious though.We continued to the Japanese Tea garden with its bonsai trees, japanese architecture, zen rock gardens, bridges and ponds.
Everybody was feeling very hungry right now, so we headed back into the city to grab a bite. Passing through the hectic Chinatown, we ended up at an Italian sandwich shop, bought a sandwich and walked to Washington Square park. Here I was, thinking a piece of bread could never be a satisfying meal. I ordered the Turkey special, it had two balls of mozarella, 10 dried tomatoes, a three centimeter layer of turkey, and the size and weight of a football. It didn't even fit my mouth when I removed the top half of the bread. Liza, Sam, Jack, Bart and I sat and chatted in the park for two hours, it was great fun. There were all kinds of people around us: some guys playing footbaal, a grandfather teaching his son baseball, an Asian woman collecting plastic bottles, a loud laughing drunk guy and a group of grils chatting on their mobile phones. It all seemed very American.
We got back at the Hostel around nine, where we met Sahana from South Africa. She speaks English and ZuiAfrikaans, the African version of Dutch. Real fun to hear. We had a few drinks and played cardgames like cheater, shithead and a made up drinking version of poker. Feeling tired and a bit drunk, we went to bed. The first night in a seven person dormroom. Although I don't like locking all my bags all the time, it's not so bad. People are friendly and considerate, nothing like the loud sweaty experience I thought it would be.
posted by Branko | 12:30 PM
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