Monday 31st of May 2010 - San Francisco - Oakland

Awoke this morning at six, so I started to pack and popped down for breakfast at seven, had a couple of their quite nice croissants, which were not quite as good as the ones I had on my first morning, but were still not unpleasant. Went back to my room and finished the packing, unfortunately it seems that I have purchased too many clothes and the case was very difficult to close, in a way I am looking foward to Seattle where I can give my presents to Sharnina and Karchita which will give me a little more room ;-) On the other hand I think maybe I need to roll my new shirts rather than trying to pack them flat! Anyway with a bit of pushing I managed to get the bag closed, then turned round and noticed that my bottle of Pimms was still on the table. Having only had one glass of it so far (last night) I was loath to leave it behind, however there wasn't really room for it, so I unpacked my jacket to give me the room, and resigned myself wearing it around town.

So went next door to check out, which involved me passing them my keys and them telling me to have a nice day, and to leave my case as I didn't really want to walk round the city with it. Then to the cable car line just up the street where I caught a trolley to Fishermans wharf and walked along to pier 39. Looked around pier 39, which was quite touristy, and caught the harbour cruise at 10, this took us out and under the Golden Gate Bridge, and round Alcatraz, I have been very lucky with the weather, so of course all was clear and the views were really very nice, although the commentary was a little irritating.

Arrived back at the pier at about 11 and decided to have a clam chowder in a sourdough roll at Boudins who claim to have invented the concept, and do actually have a bakery just up the road from the pier. It really was rather nice! Although I have to admit that I don't know if one is supposed to eat the bowl when one has finished or not, anyway as Molaholic had recommended a Mexican place to me I decided that I wouldn't. Then I went to the Aquarium of the Bay, the first few rooms were less impressive than the Academy of Sciences, but still interesting, however after that one went down in a lift and walked through 100 yards of undersea tunnel, now the tunnel isn't actually in the bay and so they were able to have two separate environments to walk through, firstly a "close to the surface" one, where I had a school of anchovy swim over my head, and a "Deeper water" one where I had a ray and a few sharks swim over my head, I was captivated, particularly by the anchovy! Then one took the lift back up to an area where one could fondle fish, having touched enough fish in my time I wasn't too disappointed that the area was overrun with children.

After this I walked back to catch the cable car, and came back to Union Square, went into Chipotle on O'Farrell street and ordered a Barbacoa Burrito as Molaholic had suggested, they then asked me a lot of technical questions, to which I replied "whatever you think goes best" and I ended up with a lot of "hot" sauce on my burrito. What I ended up with was a soft taco filled with rice, haricot beans, warmed rillettes, cheese, and of course "hot" sauce. Now I'm not really one for hot things, I can go to a dhansak ot Patia because I adore the flavour, but it can be a little warm for me, this sauce was really quite mild from the British pov. The burrito was interesting, I think I would have enjoyed it more had there been less in it and the meat could have taken a more prominent role in the meal, I may try another Chipotle in Seattle and go for less rice.

Sat back in Union Square for a while just soaking up the rays, then back to the hotel to pick up my suitcase, I never want to have to walk up as many hills as I have in San Francisco! After retrieving the suitcase walked down Mason to get to the Powell street BART stop, leapt on the train and then off at 12th street Oakland, checked the directions for the train station, and all I have to do is walk up Broadway and I will be in Jack London Square. Well I reckon that Oakland my be the panhandling capital of the US I was asked for money seven times, and sworn at twice for not just handing it over. I do find the aggressive begging they have here to be quite unpleasant.

Anyway down to Jack London Square, if I had a connection I would check who he was, I'm thinking he wrote Whitefang or A call of the Wild, not sure, anyway he was an author and in order to recover myself I popped into a pub which was mentioned in one of hos books, inside the bar was set on a slope, but built flat if that makes any sense, picture a normal American pub, then tilt it 10 degrees, not sure how people kept their drinks on the bar, I sat outside!

Then tried to walk to the station, however I was on the wrong side of the line, and wasn't able to get over, so I returned to the pub, where I had another wheat beer, then decided as it was about six and my train wasn't leaving until about a quarter to ten that supper would be a good idea. Walked to a restaurant called Kincaid's (Presumably after Tex Kincaid, frontier accountant) where I had a Sirloin steak with mashed potatoes, crispy onion strings and half a pound of King Crab legs, it was all very nice, never had King Crab before the legs were huge, I only got two for my half pound (or was it a pound?) and they were full of meat.

Then meandered over to the station, where I checked in, waited a while for the train and the boarded, unfortunately the lady who boarded me misread the ticket and put me in the wrong cabin, I was in my skivvies when she asked me to move, dressed and moved carriage to one that it closer to the parlour and dining car. undressed again this time in my correct cabin tp sleep with the rhythm of the rails by about 11