Streets Of San Francisco
It was an early start this morning as we wanted to avoid the queues on the famous San Francisco cable cars! We had a bit of excitement before we hit the streets…the winner from Australia’s Biggest Loser – Lisa – is staying at our hotel and she was in the breakfast queue in front of us! We were all a bit star struck! She still looks fabulous and we excused her for choosing a cinnamon pastry for breakfast because after all, she is on holidays!
We had another picture perfect day as we boarded the iconic cable car! Our driver was a big African American guy with a wicked sense of humour! One lady asked him which stop was closest to China Town and he looked at her blankly and said “I dunno!”. After a couple of seconds of her looking very confused and embarrassed he told her he was just kidding and gave her the info! Toby, Molly, Em and Sophie all hung off the side of the cable car and the rest of us prayed they didn’t fall off! It was such a great experience though. The streets of San Francisco are so steep! We were heading down some pretty hairy hills and Toby asked the driver if he could go faster! He said “hell no!”. When some passengers refused to walk to the cable car to get on, the driver said “come to me! I ‘aint got no steering wheel on this thing. Do you see one?”. He was very entertaining!
We rode the cable car all the way to Union Square, which is the heart of the city’s shopping district. The Somervilles were keen to do some last-minute shopping and take advantage of the bargains. Toby had been saving up his money too so he bought himself a new iPod , of which he is rather enamoured!
Maisy and I got a cab back to the hotel for a bit of r&r. I had a really bad headache and Maisy needed a bit of a catch-up sleep. The cab driver was fascinated with Vegemite and how on earth we could find it palatable! I just told him it was an acquired taste! (I’m actually craving some Vegemite at the moment!)
Ross and the kids met up with Ben and Jules for some lunch and a tad more retail therapy. We’ll definitely have to buy another bag so we can transport all our purchases back to Australia! (We’ve still got two weeks to go too!)
We then made the trek up Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world! It was so steep and like a zig-zag! The bus driver told us a story about a school bus driver who attempted to get his bus up Lombard St when, after ambitiously trying to take on the hairpin bends, got so irreversibly stuck that they had to call in the fire service, who cut his bus into three pieces and then helicoptered it out! Not sure whether or not that’s a tall tale, but it’s a good one! Molly is proud to say that she actually bypassed the stairs and walked down the entire street on the road (not many cars were coming). It was a great view from the top! There were tons of tourists there because of Fleet Week and also because it was Saturday. The town is jumping!
Now, just another quick cultural note on tipping. Americans really do need to write a rule book on tipping because it’s SO confusing! Not only are we not sure of WHO to tip but we don’t have a clue of HOW MUCH to tip! I’ve always thought our system of tipping was fair. If you get great service, give the waiter or waitress a tip out of gratitude because they’ve earnt it. Here, the “gratuity” is sometimes included already, giving the service provider absolutely no incentive to give you good service! When you go on a bus tour for example, there is always a sign in the bus about how the driver relies on our tips to bolster up his wages. Bob, who gave us the Hollywood tour, actually had a sign in the bus saying: “if you had a good tour, tip me $5 per person, if you had a great tour, tip me $10 per person and if you want to go again, tip me $15 per person”! When you’ve already paid a fair bit for your tour already, that adds a fair whack on top! It’s very confusing!! In regards to who we should tip, Ross has taken to asking the people themselves, “do we tip you?”! At least that’s one way to find out!
Tonight we had a night in and the kids watched a movie. Tomorrow is our last day with my beautiful brother and his gorgeous family so we’ll have to get up early and make the most of it!
