Week 2 ~ Aug 27th 2006
One of our client's business partner once mentioned to me that there 2 areas in San Francisco that are a must see. One is Golden gate and the other Sausalito. I already knew about Golden gate but what about Sausalito. "Oh" he said "It has great restaurants and a wonderful neighbourhood". Now I don't care about restaurants as I eat very little outside restricting myself to chinese (for the noodles) or Indian restaurants. What is this stuff about a great neighbourhood? I decided to take a Sausalito tour. I checked the bay area guide to find a Muir wood/Sausalito tour. Muir wood was touted as the best redwood forest in the bay area. Iam no nature lover but decided to check the redwoods for the heck of it. There were 2 tour timings available. I opted for the afternoon tour. The afternoon tour starts at 2:00 PM from Ghiradelli square and takes 3.30 hours including tea at Sausalito.
This time we had a smaller bus and I was crammed into the last seat. I fell asleep immediately even as our driver was explaining our itineary. Our first stop was at Muir woods. This area lies in the marin county and is an area covered with redwood trees. The road to Muir woods is a winding hill with many bends. Since our tour package included the ticket to the park, we were allowed straight in. (It surprised me to note that there were absolutely no rangers in sight to check the tickets). Once inside there were plenty of trails to hike. I decided to take a trail that most people were walking. This trail has landmarks covered with small bridges. Muir woods as we learnt from a guide was founded by a philanthropist/businessman/conservationist William Kent and named after his friend John Muir. John Muir was one of the well known conservationist of 1900s and was instrumental in laying the foundation for many national parks/state parks notably Yosemite and Muir woods. There was a plaque inside the woods which was laid in honour of a UN gathering in 1945 when world leaders met in San Francisco to announce the formation of the League of Nations as it was then called. The leaders had travelled to Muir woods for a relaxing trip and photo op. hmm.. relaxing under the cool woods would have done lot of goos to these leaders considering the turmoil that the world had just witnessed. The redwoods appeared to be like coniferous forests. Later I learnt that redwoods and conifers are not the same. There were giant trees all along. But surprisingly there was little noise that usually abound a forest. No chirping sounds either. As I started walking further along, I noticed that the number of hikers had thinned and beyond a point there was no one in sight. I hiked till bridge 4 and tried a steeper climb. We were given only 1 hour and 2o minutes and I was already falling well short. I decided to return walking faster so that I would not be late. Surprisingly I arrived much earlier than most others. The return journey was fantastic with clear views of the Muir beach appearing over the horizon.There were a group of tourists from Canada which included an eldelrly lady who had a croaking voice. She was surprised that Muir woods did not sound like a forest being completely tranquil. I was surprised to learn that they had been touring all along the US for nearly 3 weeks visting the coast end to end.
Our next stop was Sausalito. We were dropped off at the sea front and given 2 hours for shopping and dining. I walked to the ferry center to watch the ferries. There was a huge crowd waiting to catch the next ferry to San Francisco. (The next ferry was to arrive 1 hour later). The canadians wanted to take the ferry to San Fr and ancisco and so we bade goodbye to each other. I walked along the sea front to watch people fishing and surfing. With a scoop of chocolate ice cream on one hand, I found a great spot to watch the calm sea, the surfers, couples enjoying a nice stroll and children playing along the paved path all along the sea front. By the time I finished my ice cream, it was already late and I had to hurry back. The canadians wer back. Apparently the ferry service could not accept them as they did not have a reservation. They showed me some great photographs of Alcatraz islands that they had purchased from a souveneir shop. I was interested when they told me that the same book cost atleast 10$ more in San Francisco. We took a round trip around the Sausalito neighbourhood to watch houses facing the sea front (most houses here have windows facing the sea). We also had a glimpse of the house boats which was a fad those days. The sea front houses we were told cost anything between 10 to 15 million dollars. Robbin Williams has a house here so do other hollywood stars but we didn't get to see them.
We returned via Golden gate bridge and the crookedest street. I didnt quite hit it off with this driver. Once in Sausalito he was taking down the spots where we wanted to get off. I told him I wanted to get off near a BART station to which he retorted "Excuse me Sir! I don't run a taxi service". It was so brusque to a poor tourist. But I was pleasantly surprised when he dropped me near a BART station. Now why did he make that remark and why did he renege? I don't have a clue
This time we had a smaller bus and I was crammed into the last seat. I fell asleep immediately even as our driver was explaining our itineary. Our first stop was at Muir woods. This area lies in the marin county and is an area covered with redwood trees. The road to Muir woods is a winding hill with many bends. Since our tour package included the ticket to the park, we were allowed straight in. (It surprised me to note that there were absolutely no rangers in sight to check the tickets). Once inside there were plenty of trails to hike. I decided to take a trail that most people were walking. This trail has landmarks covered with small bridges. Muir woods as we learnt from a guide was founded by a philanthropist/businessman/conservationist William Kent and named after his friend John Muir. John Muir was one of the well known conservationist of 1900s and was instrumental in laying the foundation for many national parks/state parks notably Yosemite and Muir woods. There was a plaque inside the woods which was laid in honour of a UN gathering in 1945 when world leaders met in San Francisco to announce the formation of the League of Nations as it was then called. The leaders had travelled to Muir woods for a relaxing trip and photo op. hmm.. relaxing under the cool woods would have done lot of goos to these leaders considering the turmoil that the world had just witnessed. The redwoods appeared to be like coniferous forests. Later I learnt that redwoods and conifers are not the same. There were giant trees all along. But surprisingly there was little noise that usually abound a forest. No chirping sounds either. As I started walking further along, I noticed that the number of hikers had thinned and beyond a point there was no one in sight. I hiked till bridge 4 and tried a steeper climb. We were given only 1 hour and 2o minutes and I was already falling well short. I decided to return walking faster so that I would not be late. Surprisingly I arrived much earlier than most others. The return journey was fantastic with clear views of the Muir beach appearing over the horizon.There were a group of tourists from Canada which included an eldelrly lady who had a croaking voice. She was surprised that Muir woods did not sound like a forest being completely tranquil. I was surprised to learn that they had been touring all along the US for nearly 3 weeks visting the coast end to end.
Our next stop was Sausalito. We were dropped off at the sea front and given 2 hours for shopping and dining. I walked to the ferry center to watch the ferries. There was a huge crowd waiting to catch the next ferry to San Francisco. (The next ferry was to arrive 1 hour later). The canadians wanted to take the ferry to San Fr and ancisco and so we bade goodbye to each other. I walked along the sea front to watch people fishing and surfing. With a scoop of chocolate ice cream on one hand, I found a great spot to watch the calm sea, the surfers, couples enjoying a nice stroll and children playing along the paved path all along the sea front. By the time I finished my ice cream, it was already late and I had to hurry back. The canadians wer back. Apparently the ferry service could not accept them as they did not have a reservation. They showed me some great photographs of Alcatraz islands that they had purchased from a souveneir shop. I was interested when they told me that the same book cost atleast 10$ more in San Francisco. We took a round trip around the Sausalito neighbourhood to watch houses facing the sea front (most houses here have windows facing the sea). We also had a glimpse of the house boats which was a fad those days. The sea front houses we were told cost anything between 10 to 15 million dollars. Robbin Williams has a house here so do other hollywood stars but we didn't get to see them.
We returned via Golden gate bridge and the crookedest street. I didnt quite hit it off with this driver. Once in Sausalito he was taking down the spots where we wanted to get off. I told him I wanted to get off near a BART station to which he retorted "Excuse me Sir! I don't run a taxi service". It was so brusque to a poor tourist. But I was pleasantly surprised when he dropped me near a BART station. Now why did he make that remark and why did he renege? I don't have a clue
posted by Prakash at
9:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home