Sunday in San Francisco...

This was what they call, a long weekend, meaning 3 days off in a row.Monday was off because of Labor day and we planned to go and visit San Francisco on one of the days.Saturday passed off like any other and late at night we sat before the laptop googling maps of SFO and places to visit...We zeroed in on the places that we wanted to visit and could be managed in a single day. Since we haven't got a car of our own yet, it did need some planning.We went to bed, hoping for a bright and sunny day.

Sunday morning, the alarm rang at 6.45 a.m...I looked at it, turned it off and went back to sleep and got up at 8.30.So now we had half an hour to prepare everything and run to the BART stop. That was not to be.We were out by 10 and in San Francisco by 11 or so...Now starts the fun, we walked and walked. Initially we were walking in circles and then we had the good sense to follow that great big building visible in the skyline and reached the Transamerica Pyramid. It was built in 1972 and is 260 metres high. It is a sight to see, to crane your head to take in the height of the massive building. Then next on the list was Grace Cathedral (the pics will be updated later, when they arrive). It was a straight walk from where we were...the road seemed a bit steep, but we weren't deterred.So we started walking and after a mile or more on roads that were 40 degrees inclined we reached the cathedral...Okay, now I guess I need to say something about the Cathedral...well, it was nice as all of them are....but, we were so spent with the huffing and puffing that it did not appear to be of some extraordinary beauty, rather it seemed a very big price to pay for the effort we had put in.

From here we decided to start going downhill to the famous Fisherman's wharf, we went through Chinatown, where we went into a lot of shops, saw the price tags and I again scolded myself for not bringing more stuff from India. Here in US, things seem very unreasonably priced to me....and then do you really want to buy a not that great Tshirt for all those dollars when it says on the tag "Made in India".

We searched for a good place to eat while we discussed the fact that there is a Chinatown in perhaps all the big cities in the world. And while I looked around and found a lot of good places , they were all rejected...and why? Pat came the reply, " I don't want to put something into my mouth that will make me want to throw up." Hmmmmm.... point." I remembered the place and incident in question. Place Singapore and what we, or rather I had ordered was noodles with fish ball soup...YUCKkk..I went on with a lot of courage and effort but finally gave up and lunched modestly on the jam and toast he had ordered.

Anywhich ways, we couldn't find any other restaurants till we reached Fisherman's wharf...We were looking for an Indian place to eat so we knew what we were putting into our mouth...we found one and after looking at it from all the directions the one word I decided on was " spooky" and he decided on was " shady", so we kept on walking.

And then we knew we were there on the famous Wharf , the hustle bustle over there...the over powering smell of fish , the seagulls, the crowd, everything. It seemed a FUNDAY inspite of the otherwise gloomy weather. After roaming about for some more time we had lunch at a chinese place and I tell you it was good.So much so that I wouldn't mind going there again.
After lunch he got a hot coffee and I got an icecream and walking down the street we noticed a place where they rented out bikes(bicycles) to people to move around or cycle through the GoldenGate bridge. We came and sat by the beach enjoying the breeze , the sea, the people, the birds and feeling a little guilty in our hearts because his coffee was getting cold and my icecream was melting fast but alas, we were too full to dispose of them.

It is then we decided to try those bikes. We threw what was left of the coffee and the icecream in the bin and got ourselves two bikes. I got on a bike after perhaps a decade and wobbled and hobbled on the road to the delight or horror (whichever way they took it) of the passers by. And we biked along to the foot of the GoldenGate bridge. It was real fun. I got used to the cycle after scaring a lady and her two dogs and lots of credit goes to him for egging me on. No, we weren't able to go through the Golden Gate bridge we stopped near the mouth of it and rode back.We took lots of pics in between and sat wherever we saw something interesting going on whether it was kite flying or yatching.

We returned our bikes and after doing a final round of the wharf strated to head towards the BART again.. It was a long way back to the BART on the Embercadero by the piers but it was also beautiful. We reached home at 10.30 and after having dinner calculated that we had walked for around 9 and half miles and cycled for about 7 miles. I still dont believe I did that or was able to do that, but am always reminded of it because of all the sore muscles in my body.Walking all that distance and then cycling on a full stomach , that too after a gap of 10 years is not a very intelligent decision.But inspite of the soreness I have to say it was fun ,real fun and I hope the cramps go away before the next weekend. I do not want to miss on any of the madness that might come my way.

To HIM : A very big thankyou to you for being so cooperative all these days , for not minding when I said that I cannot do the Golden Gate bridge and for your faith in me that I could cycle again.For helping me out with the chores around the house because I cannot, for the dinner last night, I couldn't have cooked.And for all the little things you do with me at the back of your mind.THANK YOU.