robbo and leeazaa’s travel adventures

No, not another post about getting grifted by a hobo (although there have been a few more) , this one’s about an old salty called The USS Jeremiah O’Brien.

After our visit to the decommissioned submarine a couple days before, we caught glimpses of the Jeremiah behind a locked gate and despite our efforts of finding an alternative entrance amongst a teamster filled car park we settled for the common sense approach and asked someone. He told us, “Tis’ closed, come back ‘tween nine ‘n four ta’morrow” – which we did, as tomorrow is now today.

Old' jezza

Old jez, up close

This ship was actually a Merchant Navy ship in WW2 and is 1 of 2 of this class that is still on top of the water, alot of them were targeted and destroyed during the war and others were salvaged post-war. Remarkably the Jeremiah is still in working order and regularly takes people out on cruises….. the bugger of it is, one of those days was tomorrow, which is the day we fly out! The plus side of it is that there were doing final engine checks which meant that during the tour we got to hear, feel and see the ship engine cranking.

First things first, lets check out the guns, unfortunately the really cool mounted machine guns which are dotted all over the ship are off limits so no cool Rambo photos folks… We do have some good 3 inches though!

these are awfully complicated bagpipes!

phallic symbol?

I’ve been on a few ship tours before, but this is the first that let you actually go into the engine room. One of the old engineers poking around in bowels suggested that it was probably an insurance thing, since the engine room is basically a tangled mess of greasy, low hanging pipes and potential concussion inducing steel girders. They don’t seem to care here though, in fact they even had the engines on at the time.

into the boiler room

The first thing you notice when you start making your way into a working engine room is that it is HOT, real sweaty hot.  The first thing I thought when I felt the heat and then saw full jumpsuit clad, engineers working 3 decks below us was, ‘Poor fellas probably pray for leaks in the hull so they can cool off’. Then as you descend deeper into the lowest levels, it becomes cool again. Thankfully.

some reflective, polished steel thing. Perhaps an entertaining circus mirror for the engineers

Two Big Tools

The final part of the self-guided tour is a diorama of the Normandy invasion, situated in the main cargo hold next to some army jeeps and trucks – ( DAD: you would love these jeeps, painstakingly restored and immaculate).

sample cargo stored in the hold

Normandy Invasion

Leeane, describing the length of the ship

Poster boy for the Navy

We head off to Vegas tomorrow. All in all, I think we covered everything we possibly could in San Fran, except maybe the Zoo and Coit Tower but we can see all these when we come back in October for the flight to Tokyo. San Fran is a great place, it has really grown on us these last ten days. Even the bums.

Tags: san francisco

This afternoon we headed over on the Alcatraz tour. There’s only one ferry company which is allowed to dock at Alcatraz so we were quite lucky to get tickets – most people book about a month in advance.

The ferry docked at Alcatraz and then a National Park Ranger gave us a talk on a bit of the history of the island – such as how the native Indians lived here for 2 years after Alcatraz shutdown – in a kind of “Mabo”-equivalent protest over native land-rights. Seeing as the island has no natural source of freshwater, it was a big task to survive there.

We then headed up a series of hills to get to the cell house. Along the way we visited some of the other buildings around. Most of them are pretty derelict now and there’s a lot of areas on the island where civilians aren’t allowed.

It was also interesting to see some apartment style building where the families of the prison guards used to live in – including many children. That would have been pretty crazy!

Alcatraz island is pretty much overrun by birds. There are massive seagulls and bird droppings everywhere!

Once at the top of the hill, we went inside the cell house where they hand out an audio tour thing (on an ipod-like thing). The whole prison is actually very small – it only house around 250 prisoners at any one time. The cells themselves are pretty tiny – doesn’t seem like a great place to have been as you can imagine.

The audio tour was great and explained all of the attempted escapes and major events that happened at the prison.

If you look at the photo above (click on it for larger view) you can see the hole in the back wall dug out by spoons and used to escape through.

The guards control room and view from the warden’s house area is below:

So overall it was something good to see. The only downsides are that there are so many other tourists there that you have to shuffle around the cell house cos of the crowds. Rob and I couldn’t even be bothered waiting in the line to get a photo of ourselves behind bars. Also, as you can imagine, the gift shops have a ridiculous amount of merchandise on offer. Alcatraz this and Alcatraz that – you name it, they’ve got it.

Earlier in the day we went on board the S.S. Jeremiah warship – which was an absolute highlight – Rob will post about that soon.

Leeane

Tags: alcatraz, san francisco

Leeane’s parents will be very happy to know that I took their daughter to somewhere romantic yesterday afternoon, a fine little establishment called ‘Hooters’. They should also be happy to know that even after the experience we are still together, in fact Cindy, Amber, Leeane and myself have never been happier. Not sure who that third girl is on the right of the picture but unfortunately I have to draw the line at three girlfriends….sorry honey.

From Left: Cindy, Stud, Amber & Soh-Lonely

In all seriousness the place is actually pretty wildly overpriced. They sell Fosters there but I think they had to dust off the taps when I ordered a pint. The kitchen is probably the most hilarious, it consists of half a dozen deep fryers and a table. Everything is super-fried by the looks of it, even the four cheeseburger ‘starter’ plate has some friend onion rings dumped on it. Mmmmm

A nice, local we propped up the bar next to, who assurred us that he only comes into this place once a year, advised us that the San Fran zoo is worth a visit if we have time. Unfortunately I don’t think we will have time, perhaps on the way back. He also put me onto this little number, a aluminium bottle of super-cold bud.

crazy, super cold aluminium bottle.

Lazed around a bit today, an injury I got to my foot just before we left Perth flared up again last night so we just took it easy so it wouldn’t be too painful for the big day we have planned tomorrow… the Rock!

Tags: beer, san francisco

After yet another big breakfast Diner meal (no more for the rest of our time in San Fran I promise) we headed up to Lombard Street. It is known as the “crookedest street in the world” because they had to zig-zag the road because the road was too steep for cars to travel safely down it.

It also has some great views of the city and the bay from up there:

After that we headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf again where we went on the submarine tour. It was similar to the one we have in Fremantle, but this sub was much bigger and we could go at our own pace through the sub (no guide) and no nauseating diesel smell.

There is also a warship (S.S. Jeremiah) which was closed by the time we finished the submarine tour, but we plan to go on that tomorrow.

We also stopped into Barnes and Noble (similar to Borders) and had a browse round there. And we found a shop called “Steve and Barrys” which sells clothes – nothing over $8.98 (including jeans). Rob got a Cobra shirt – something to do with G.I. Joe I am told.

After that we went to Hooters – but I will let Rob do his own post about that experience…. and yes there are photos.

Finally, we took the cable car home. It was great fun and sure beats trudging up the hills.

Leeane

Tags: san francisco

The title may sound like a campy childrens book but the Wallaby’s vs South Africa game was a strictly grown-up affair. Although not as many moments of brilliance like against the French B-side the other week there is definately a different edge to the Deans-Team. I really look forward to seeing them match up against the All Blacks next weekend, should be a corker of a game.

After watching the game in the morning we decided to take it easy after our 40+ kilometre bike and walk trek yesterday and what better way to rest and recoop but in an 50’s style diner with a traditional ‘country’ style breakfast. Techically it was brunch since we didn’t get make a move until about 11am hoowever the cook at Lori’s Diner must have known we had missed breakfast as he piled on enough food to fuel us for the entire day.

Two fried eggs ( cooked how you like them) on top of two massively and fluffy pancakes and surrounded by three small ‘links’ (sausage) , crispy bacon and freshly made hashbrown. Furthermore there is a piece of watermelon wedged onto the side of the plate which probably contains most of the nutrional value for the meal. Oh yeah, and they give you a tablespoon of whipped butter and a small jug of maple to use however you see fit. It was a coronary delight! It’s great to be able to sit and eat in an ACTUAL diner after seeing them so many times in the movies.

There are so many damn homeless people around this city, every street we go on we see at least one or two and more often than not they are ones we haven’t seen before. We’ve started to notice that some of them carry around a bundle of the same newspapers with them and try to flog them off to people for a buck, at first we thought it might be a scam and that what they are trying to ‘sell’ is actually a free paper (called ‘Street Sheet’) that they’ve picked up from somewhere. As we were sitting around in union square today,  a homeless guy quickly came up to us and explained that the paper they sell is actually designed for homeless guys like himself to sell and try and make some money. I think it’s a pretty good idea personally – not that I bought one!

Rob

Tags: san francisco

After all my years of searching, I’ve finally found a bottle-o that sells orgasmicly cheap beer and is conveniently located just 16,000 odd kilometers up the road. OK, so maybe it’s not ‘just around the corner’ but maybe it’s worth it considering the prices.

First up, to my astonishment in the first convenient store I waltzed into I found this little doozy ->

One Litre Can of Asahi Super Dry

That’s right a 1 litre can of Asahi! After I got over the shock of seeing one Litre, let alone a can of Asahi I decided that whatever the cost I would own this can and imbibe the contents. Turns out price is something to write home about too – $3.69 USD! I could maybe get a middy of local beer for that price back home.

It gets stranger, today we went past some dank hole (it might have been hooters actually) that advertised a pint of Fosters Lager for $3.50! To quote the old man, ‘the mind boggles!’. It is ridiculous that we’d pay twice as much for this in Australia, makes me glad that no one actually drinks it back home

Tags: beer, san francisco

We didn’t end up doing the bike tour today – both suffering from a bit of a cold/cough at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow.

Instead, today we walked down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We took the long (and hill-less) route today – twice the distance though. Not sure which made us feel less sore – we ended up doing over 12km’s in total!

This was some random water-feature along the way:

The Maritime Museum is undergoing renovations at the moment and wont re-open till 2009. But in the mean time there are some ships which you can go on (including a submarine USS Pampanito which we will go on later in the week). Here is a photo of a trade/cargo ship they had on display:

We also walked up to Fort Mason – which was just a big hill overlooking the bay – including Alcatraz.

That’s the Golden Gate bridge in the background. The has been a lot of low clouds since we got here which makes the bridge a bit hard to see from a distance. Mind you, even though the temperature is in the low 20’s, we still managed to get a bit burnt today.

We also had some Clam Chowder in a bread bun which seems to be a cult favourite down in Fisherman’s Wharf. It was delicious – will definitely get that again.

Hopefully more to report back on tomorrow.

Leeane.

Tags: san francisco

We started off today by having the free brekkie at the hostel. Bagels, croissants & toast. Ofcourse, Rob couldn’t help but bring down his little tube of vegemite. The europeans must have been intrigued by the smell.

We then headed up through ChinaTown. It is very long and goes on for about 8 blocks. Mostly made up of restaurants, souvenir-type shops and jewellary shops. There were also lots of older women mumbling “dim sum yum yum” to everyone that walks by – trying to get people to go into their restaurants. And one of the ladies said “100% off for you” – we were a bit bewildered by that.

After that we headed to the Embarcadero area – which is next to the Financial District (CBD-area). The Embarcadero is just next to the Bay Bridge (connects Oakland and San Fran) and is where most of the office workers seem to head for their lunch. The Bay Bridge seems to be huge and I am not sure why the Golden Gate bridge gets all the fame and glory- maybe I will find out tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be heading up to Fisherman’s Wharf again and we will hopefully do a bike ride along the Golden Gate bridge (tandem ofcourse!).

Tags: bridge, chinatown, san francisco

First up – thanks Ben for your comment about tipping. We never would have thought about tipping when we get a drink from a bar 🙁

We got up at the slightly more reasonable time of 11.30am today – so hopefully tomorrow we will be up early enough to catch the free brekkie at our hostel.

We headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf today. Far out! We are knackered. You ain’t seen hills till you seen these ones. We foolishly haven’t used any public transport yet – opting for the exercise of walking everywhere. Having serious doubts about how long that will last for in San Fran though….

Yes we had to walk up this hill (and at least 4 others like it mind you).. strangely enough, going down is just as hard – the gradient is that steep in some places that I had to inch forward as I was scared I would tumble to my death.

As you can imagine, the views from the top are quite good.

That’s Alcatraz in the photo above, we have booked a tour of that for next Tuesday (it’s very popular).

Fisherman’s Wharf is a great place – very tourist orientated but such a contrast to the are of the city we have been in the last couple days.

The main place to be seems to be Pier 39 which has a lot of restaurants and lolly shops and stuff. It also has the Aquarium By The Bay – which we went into and managed to get at least one good photo:

Here’s a photo of some folks turning around the trams at the end of the tram line.

And lastly, we had some good food today – dinner was at PineCrest Diner. And it was everything you would expect from watching movies with diners in them. 24 hour breakfasts and I was in heaven.

So tomorrow I think we will try to let our legs recover a bit and check out ChinaTown and see if we can get some transport pass for the buses and trams.

PS. The weather here isn’t that hot at all. It’s about 21-23 degrees each day, with sun and cloudy patches. Hopefully it gets a bit hotter once we get to Vegas and Texas.

See ya,

Leeazaa

Tags: san francisco

We had big plans for today. Unfortunately we didn’t wake up till 3pm though. Damn jet-lag!

So after getting over the shock of somehow sleeping for 17 hours, we went out for a bit of exploring around the shopping district.

The small part of the city that we explored is so crammed with shops and restaurants its unbelievable. And it just goes on and on forever. It’s like 100 Perth cities put together – and we haven’t even gone into the “main” part of San Fran yet.

We went through the Virgin Megastore, Borders and NikeTown – everything marginally cheaper that Oz – but not amazingly so. We also wanted to go into the Apple store but there was a huge queue spanning a whole city block just to get into the store. iPhone-mania I guess.

We went through Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Nostrada – all are a bit like David Jones – with designer clothes and all that. So as you can imagine, we didn’t stay long in there.

We also went into a place called RiteAid which is a big pharmacy-like store. The store also sells 1.75L of vodka for $8. Crazy stuff.

Oh and by the way, when they say a Starbucks is on every street corner – they reallllyyy do mean it. It’s amazing. I am not a coffee drinker but Rob reckons it’s good stuff.

So to end the short-day we went for some dinner at a place called Piraat Pizza which is just up the road from us. The pizza was great and the appetizer (2 slices of pizza and a salad) was enough to fill us up. I also got a huge glass of coke which I just couldn’t finish. This was our first experience with tipping so we left a bit of extra cash on the bill which the waitress then came and took. Two minutes later she put the change back on our table. We were a bit confused so we left the tip on the table – and hoped they would come and take it once we walked out. Is that how it normally works???

Tomorrow we plan to go into Fisherman’s Wharf which is a good 3.5km’s walk from here. It is the main touristy place here and I think the ferry to Alcatraz leaves from there too. But first, we have to make sure we get up at a reasonable time.

Some random photos below – including the most massive hill I have ever seen – which Rob made us walk up. The photo’s probably don’t do it justice – and I have a feeling I will see bigger hills tomorrow.

Tags: san francisco