Natrium - Into the Fog

Natrium

There is a bridge there - honest

Na is the symbol of the chemical element with atomic number 11. This old latin name is more commonly replaced by the English word Sodium. It is the element most prevalent in Fog in San Francisco bay. As you can see above, and can also see in many other photos on Flickr, Fog played a big part in today's visit in San Francisco. Fog is so prevalent in the bay here that it has its own wikipedia page!!


But first back to Saturday evening.

Dinner on Saturday Night

Those of you who have been reading my blogs over the years will know the effect that flying west has on me. On a number of occasions the second night jetlag has led to me being not just tired, but mentally foggy (the first one to say: "How do you spot the difference" gets a demerit!). Last year Drew suggested we try and manage this by having a simple meal on the second night, near enough to the hotel, so that if I am exhausted and dimwitted it is easy to get back. We managed this on that occasion at Tony's Pizza, Marblehead. So this year we planned the same at Uncle Vito's, on Nob Hill at Bush and Powell, just two blocks up from the hotel. As it turned out, this year Drew was even more tired and weary than I, though I could feel the sensation coming on.

Uncle Vito's 

Uncle Vito's at Bush and Powell

We left the Hotel at 6.00pm and walked up to the restaurant. While the restaurant is small and does a roaring take-away trade we were seated at one. Cristiano, our waiter, explained he was a Brazilian not an Italian, but that he loved Italian food. 

Sauteed Mushrooms - Uncle Vito's

Drew has always been a fan of garlic mushrooms and these mushrooms were sauteed in garlic to such an extent that chunks of garlic were visible in the dish. Drew says that the mushrooms were delicious.

Cheese Ravioli Friti with marinara dipping sauce - Uncle Vito's

I've had ravioli many times before, this filled pasta is popular all over the world, but this was the first time I had seen ravioli fried. Apparently it is an American adaption of the Italian dish, and a pleasant adaption it is. The marinara dipping sauce was rich with peppery tomato and the ravioli when dipped in oozed with cheese and soaked up the tomato sauce. I had the sense to cut the ravioli, as the cheese inside was piping hot and needed to cool a little before dipping into the sauce.

Pizza with Pepperoni and Onion - Uncle Vito's

Instead of one of the pre-selected pizzas, Drew opted for a simple pizza with pepperoni and onion. He was delighted when it came and loved the crispness of the traditional thin crust on which it was served.

The Calzone - Uncle Vito's

As I often do when eating in an italian pizzeria, I opted for the Calzone, this stuffed pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, salami, ricotta and mozzarella cheese was a wonderful combination of crispy crust, oozing meat and delicious cheese. Yummy indeed.

When we paid Cristiano noted I was using a Sainsbury's bank card and explained that he had learnt his English while in London for four years, where Sainsbury's had been his local supermarket. 

Dinner over we walked up the road a little to check the laundrette we will be using on Monday, though Mr Google is good for lots of things, I find it is always worth taking a visual check. It was clean and had 20+ machines, so looks like it will be fine for our purpose in a few days time.

Sunday

Starbuck's is across the road - view from room 510 Hotel Triton

I woke on Sunday at 4:30am and began to write up yesterday's blog post. I showered at 5pm and at 6am I was due for a return run to Starbuck's for coffee, but when I got to the hotel lobby Coffee was out and available.

Morning Coffee

The hotel advertises coffee from 6 to 10 on weekdays and at 7 to 11 on weekends, but someone must have forgot it was Sunday, as the coffee had arrived at 6, so instead of walking to Starbucks, I was able to go straight back up to the hotel.

Notre Dame Des Victoires Church

At 7.00am I left for the 120 yards walk to Notre Dame Des Victoires Church for the 7.30am Mass. Time to pray and thank God for all the blessings of my life, especially those that have brought me back to this lovely City.

There was a congregation of about 60 for the 7.30am Mass, I reflected what a civilised time it was to have Mass. As an early riser I like being able to make the Lord first in my day, so going to early Mass helps with that.

Given the events in Dayton and El Paso in the last few days the theme of the homily and prayers at Mass were for love to overcome hate and despair, for each of us to find peace in our hearts and offer it to others. 

San Francisco Bay Trail

Down to the bay

View from the Cable Car

Two of the Cable Cars end up at Bay Street in San Francisco. One at Hyde and Bay, the other at Taylor and Bay, so after Mass (and Drew doing his exercise in the hotel gym). We walked up the two blocks to the Cable Car stop nearest our hotel and caught the next car to come along. It was in fact the Taylor and Bay car. I was lucky in getting a place on the 'running board' so was able to see the route as we went up, then down, then up, then down again in the streets of San Francisco.

A nice young couple from Carlow, who were to afraid to stand on the running board themselves agreed to take a photo of me in situ. She did a wonderful job.

Haydn enjoying the ride through North Beach

I didn't realise how much of the joy of the experience showed on my face

I was able to reciprocate by taking a photo of the two of them hanging on later when the Cable Car had stopped!

Breakfast

Our breakfast plan for today was - get to Fisherman's Wharf, find somewhere for breakfast. I'm sure you'll be glad to know that we do leave some of the holiday to spontaneous activity. Though lots of it is planned in advance. 

We walked along Taylor from the Cable Car stop and came to Darren's Cafe, this small cafe was busy even at 9 in the morning. We were lucky to arrive when we did, because ten minutes later and people were queuing on the street outside for breakfast. By the time we left there were 10 people in the queue. 

Haydn's Popeye Scramble - ground beef, spinach and mushroom scrambled egg with country potatoes

My breakfast, named for the cartoon charecter, was just what Popeye would have ordered, rich spinich with its iron flavour, going well with minced (or ground as they say here) beef in a scrambled eggs, with lovely juicy potatoes and spring onions.

Corned beef hash and two eggs (over easy) with hash browns

Drew opted for what he called a Daddy Blackey special, after my Dad who for three years, before going into his Nursing Home, lived almost solely on Corned Beef Hash! Drew noted this version was less salty than the one my Dad prefered, but salt can always be added. Both breakfasts came with toast (not picture here, but which can be seen on Flickr) white for Drew, sourdough for me.

The start of the walk

The beginning of the Park

After breakfast we walked along Fisherman's Wharf to the National Maritime Park and began our walk, which would take up most of the rest of the day. 

People swimming

Even at this time (9:50am) the place was busy with walkers, runners, cyclists and swimmers. Yes, people swimming in the cold of the bay at this hour on a Sunday.

Bikers beware of Pedestrians

A group of bikers doing as they are told

The Route

The Route went like this:

Walking the Bay Trail and the Coastal Path

Our original plan had been to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Drew has been to the bridge on three (now four occasions) and has never been able to see downtown from the bridge or the bridge from downtown. True to form the fog made the bridge invisible for most of the route, though the closer views of yachts, birds and sea were worth the effort of the walk.

We had been informed by Frommers, who spoke of the eight best walks in San Francisco and followed their guide to the Shoreline and the Golden Gate Bridge. They were indeed excellent walks and our whole journey was echoed by the Fog horn wailing from the gate to any ships who might have been finding their way through.

There are about 100 photos of the walk on Flickr, so I'll direct you there, rather than copy them here, but here are a taster of just a few:

Yachts in close formation

There really is a bridge there somewhere

A large flock of marshland birds - Plovers and Gimlets 

Birds in flight - Hitchcock like

The best shot we could get of the bridge

Downtown emerges from the fog for about twenty minutes

Coffee

At 11:40am, two hours into our walk we stopped for coffee at  the Warming Hut Cafe, we were now in the fourth of Frommers walks as we had entered the Presidio. 

Coffee at the Warming Hut

Drew enjoys a view of the bridge - but not for long as it is soon eaten

After the coffee and Drew's shortcake bridge (as the server said "the only one we will see today"), we decided that our legs had some more go in them, so we would go on into the Presidio and beyond into the Coastal Path which runs on the Pacific side of the headland (see map above). This is walk 5 of Frommers' eight, and with us doing walk 6 yesterday we have now completed five of their eight and have walked two of the others (3&7) in previous visits. So only have one to do.

Walk on the Coastal Path

Ships in the Pacific approaching the Golden Gate

Large birds of prey circling above the beach

After leaving the Coffee Shop we walked down to Fort Point and from there across the headland and along beach paths which Google maps don't indicate, they meander a bit more than the roads, but are less steep. 

This brought us to Marshall's Beach and then Baker's Beach, the latter of which was full of people sitting and lying on the sand. 

Battery Chamberlin Gun

Battery Chamberlin Gun

Baker's Beach is also the location of one of the batteries built in the second world war to protect this coast. This battery is called Chamberlin with its 6 inch 'disappearing gun' still in position.

I wondered about going on to Land's End, which features prominently in the first Tales of the City book, but seeing the signs saying it was another two miles and that the gradient was very steep we decided our legs had done enough today. So after 7.75 miles and 19,046 steps (I checked Google Fit) we thought we had had enough for another day. The shorter distance than yesterday was a bit more effort given some steep climbs. Still I can remember times before I retired when 1/2 a mile in a day might have been too much for me.

Return to the Hotel

We left Baker's Brach at 1:45pm on the 29 bus from Bowley at Lobos Valley, changing buses at California. We then caught the no 1 bus from California to Van Ness, a very busy bus for a Sunday afternoon going 50 blocks (yes, we really were that far from downtown). 

California Cable Car

Looking down the steep streets from the Cable Car

At Van Ness we caught the California line Cable Car up California to Grant and walked back down the two blocks through Chinatown to our hotel. Arriving at 3:00pm, tired but really pleased with our fun day.