USA ’22 – Day 2 – I see the Drought’s Over California

DAY 2 – San Francicso (0 miles driven, 10.99 miles walked)

California has been struggling with the weather over the last few months suffering drought conditions and a number of fires. It was therefore somewhat ironic that today has been pretty wet. Not just a bit of drizzle but properly hammering it down. Some roads have been a nightmare to cross as in places there has been so much standing water. This being San Francisco though most roads are steep and the water simply runs down the hill and away.

Being plucky Brits we soldiered on and went out and got wet. We got the Hyde & Powell cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. Also riding the car were a couple of other plucky Brits who I heard tell another passenger that they were from “near London”. When we got talking to them a bit later it turned out that “near London” was actually Leicester! To be fair we do the same thing but in our case Reading is near London!

The cable cars are great and you get to see so much in what is a relatively short journey. Going up and down the streets is a bit like being on a fairground ride and reminded me of Steve McQueen in the film Bullitt only not as fast or as cool. On our trip back the “driver” whipped the passengers into a frenzy and getting us singing the name of one of the riders – “Dante!” and waving at passers by. I guess that it helps him pass the day.

Apart from an always welcome trip to Ghirardelli’s the morning was a bit of a wash out but we had more luck in the afternoon. One thing that we didn’t get round to doing last time was a trip to The Painted Ladies a series of six Victorian houses on Steiner Street. When we first arrived there it was lashing it down again so we sought refuge in a public toilet of all places but it quickly dried up allowing us to properly see them. I had actually been following the journey of the owner of one of the houses on Twitter as she rennovated it. However, there was a for sale sign outside and it is back on the market for $3.55M

It just so happened that just a few minutes down the road in the Haight Street Art Centre was an exhibition of paintings by Roger Dean and his daughter. I was familiar with Dean’s work through his covers for the bands Yes and Asia amongst others. It was great to be able to see the originals of some of these classic albums in a larger scale.

Tomorrow it is time to move on.