Fisherman's Wharf and other delights...

This week was orientation week at SFAI. A whole week seemed a bit much, but fortunately a lot of it wasn't relevant to exchange students so I played hooky and went to do some touristy stuff. And what could be more touristy than Fisherman's Wharf... :-)

Started my walk from the Aquatic Park at North Point

Not too many swimmers in the water... Apparently the beaches in San Francisco aren't too popular and people generally drive an hour or two outside of town to find a good beach.

The Wharf is used for historical tourist attractions and ferries to the islands around San Francisco or the mainland, but I was also pleasantly surprised to see that it hadn't lost its use as a working fisherman's dock, where a lot of the Wharf's famous seafood gets brought in.

I was told that if I went to the Wharf, an absolute must would be to have the clam chowder in a bread bowl in one of the seaside restaurants and I have to say, I didn't regret it. It was delicious (though, on a side note, I have to say that all the food in SF is amazing! I haven't eaten out in a single restaurant yet where the food wasn't outstanding and that includes fast food, so there must something we're doing wrong back in the UK...)

These photos were taken at the Boudin demonstration bakery, where they have a glass front and make all these great animal breads in front of you with a running commentary. It's like making bread sculptures, I love it!

Bread python, anyone?

Walk along pier 41, where you can find some of the ferries to the islands around SF.

At pier 39, I was able to see the famous sea lions which elected residence there about 20 years ago and, as you can see in the picture above, even though there are plenty of wooden docks to go around, the sea lions are determined to only occupy 2, with a 3rd one reserved for loners, which of course leads them to spend their time fighting with each other over the best spot on the dock. It's quite a show!

Street artists at Pier 39

The Ferry Building, which is both very popular with tourists and also another great source for amazing food from all over (although at a less purse friendly price)

This is my latest favourite piece of artwork! It's called the Raygun Gothic Rocket, it's at Pier 14 and was made by the Five Ton Crane artists collective (check them out at http://www.raygungothicrocket.com/). I really love this piece, it's so Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow! It really captured my imagination!

There were also quite a few other interesting outdoor sculptures around the Ferry Building:

Finally, I really felt I ought to take a few photos of the old fashioned buses which still run in the city. They're so beautifully retro with great colours!

After this beautiful visit to Fisherman's Wharf, I figured the next day I'd go to walk the Golden Gate Bridge, only the closer I got to the bridge, the more fog started rising towards the city, until I eventually got there and all I could see of the bridge was this:

 That was a bit of a disappointment, but I am determined and I will be going back to see the Bridge properly in its full glory!

A few more things I've learnt in the last week:

- Getting a social security number is really easy, all you have to do is get a job offer, present yourself with your visa documents and fill in an application form. It took no more than 20 minutes... Once again, I think of the palaver I had to go through in England with a British passport!

- "For sure!" is my new favourite expression. Everyone uses it here and it can mean anything from "Absolutely", "I guarantee it", "you bet" to "I'd love to" or "I agree"...

- I'm little weary of what's in the tap water here, since I've started seeing so many ads for the number you should to report any water quality issues, "so we can keep our delicious water delicious...". I don't know if it's just me being cynical, but if there aren't any problems with the water, why are you working so hard on making sure we know where to call to report a problem? Hmmm...

- After our general health and safety talk on Friday, I'm really glad that I live in the EU, because the US is like the wild west when it comes to regulations about what chemicals they use in everything! There's absolutely no testing on chemicals and their method for deciding what's harmful to the population is to put it in circulation and then wait to see if anyone keels over! But because there's no regulations on the chemicals, they've put in place ludicrous health and safety rules for the workers to compensate, so if you want to wear a face mask for example, the law says that you have to get a medical certificate first to prove that a face mask won't impair your breathing! Of course, that's what health and safety says, then whether we choose to follow it or not is another thing...

- Finally, my hair style is extremely popular over here. I've had people stop me in the street and call out to me from cars just to say that they like my hair. I'm loving all these unsolicited compliments, does wonders for my self-esteem :-)