Plan A was that Laura, Pat and I would ride bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and take our bikes back on the ferry to Fisherman’s Wharf. However, because of the crush of cyclists and pedestrians on the bridge that day, and the limited time we had available, we turned back to Fisherman’s Wharf while still on the bridge.
So, another day, Pat and I took the ferry from the San Francisco Ferry Building on Embarcadero (I love these Spanish names) for three kilometres across San Francisco Bay to Sausalito and back again.
As our ferry travelled the short distance across the bay, different views unfolded which I found quite fascinating.
From the ferry, we could see the Bay Bridge leading to Oakland,
Here’s a moody b&w of the Bay Bridge.
Here’s the pointy Transamerica Pyramid just peeping over another building, with the San Francisco Ferry Building in the foreground. The pyramid doesn’t look like San Francisco’s tallest skyscraper from here.
The recently renovated (2003) San Francisco Ferry Building looks rather beautiful from the water.
Now you can see that the Transamerica Pyramid is indeed the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco. It has become one of the many symbols of the city.
We could see the Coit Tower, and the fog rolling in from the sea.
Here’s the Coit Tower a bit closer up.
On the other side of the ferry, we could see Alcatraz, with the fog rolling in behind it.
Back on the mainland, there are the Transamerica Pyramid and the Coit Tower in the same picture…..
….while the Bay Bridge recedes into the distance.
And now, here is our friend the Alien (the Sutro Tower) coming into the picture. The Coit Tower is just disappearing off to the left.
As we sail around the far side of Alcatraz, you can just make out the Alien through the ever-rolling fog. He’s still watching us!
The Golden Gate is well wrapped in fog.
As we approach Sausalito, you can see that the GG is still tightly wrapped in fog, but Sausalito is clear.
Protected by the rocky ridges of the Marin Headlands, Sausalito receives much less fog than San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, even though only a few kilometres away. This was certainly the case the day we were there - although the fog rolled around the bay all day, Sausalito was bright and sunny the whole time we were there.
We arrived.
The name of Sausalito comes from the Spanish sauzalito, meaning "small willow grove”.
From its early years, Sausalito has had a split personality. The waterfront has long been home to many boat builders and other marine service industries and craftsmen, and was a centre for rum running during the era of Prohibition (1920-33), while the hills were – and still are - filled with expensive houses.
After WW2, when the Sausalito shipyard closed, surplus boats, ferries, barges, and other floating equipment became a campground for Bohemians from San Francisco, followed by the hippies in the 60s. Residents camped out in boats, built houses on top of barges, and converted ferries into houses. In the 60s, battles with local authorities over the safety and legality of the houseboats began. In time, legal houseboat marinas were created, and the houseboat community became an established part of the community.
As the waterfront has become gentrified and Sausalito has become a major tourist destination, the split between the rich and poor has become less extreme. There certainly weren’t any poor in evidence when we were there.
The Inn Above Tide – only just.
Pat outside Scoma’s, on the waterfront.
Since the late 19th century, this gracious Victorian, listed in the national register of historic buildings, has graced the Sausalito waterfront. It was originally the office for a tugboat and ferry service, then in the 1940s became the raucous “Tin Angel”, then in 1951 became the “Glad Hand”, and is now Scoma’s.
We didn’t have lunch there.
Sausalito is quite flowery:
Pat liked this hotel.
You had the feeling that this cafe was as much a place to be seen at as to eat at. The tables were so far onto the footpath that pedestrians practically had to walk on the street to get past.
Boats and flowers – Sausalito has plenty of both.
Count the dollar signs.
We walked up and down the waterfront, which was pretty, looked at some shops, which were touristy, admired the packed marina, had lunch at a fish and chip shop and caught the ferry back to Embarcadero.
Hmm….. as I look at these pictures, I ask myself what impressed me most – Sausalito, or the journey there and back.
Sausalito sailing.
The Golden Gate was still gently cocooned in fog.
The Bay Bridge was not.
Under the bridge, you can see the cranes on which George Lucas is said to have based the Imperial Walkers in the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back. It’s one of those stories which is not supposed to be true, but which won’t go away.
From Embarcadero (I just love using that word) we were able to catch a tram directly back to the Castro. A few stops from the end, on hopped a glamorous lady in an elegant yellow dress and a large black hat, with an enormous dog the size of a small horse.
The glamorous lady said it was Black Russian Terrier. I consulted my good friend Wikipedia, and found that the breed had been developed to serve as guard dogs or for police work, and that the dogs can weigh up to 70kg. This dog was very well-behaved and lay down for the journey, although it did take up rather a lot of room.
I couldn’t imagine a dog travelling on public transport in Brisbane, especially one that was bigger than most of the passengers.
Another fascinating day.
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