Lost in San Francisco

All I wanted was to get under the bridge and it took me close to 2 hours of driving through SFO. Well I got greedy or rather wanted to re-discover primitive ways of navigation. I found out that there good only when you have a lot of time and no cars.

To cut the cheese out, I tried to be adventurous. Did not follow google maps, the whole way. Went to half moon bay, drove along the scenic highway with some really stunning landscapes. I regret that I was holding the wheel, instead of the camera. Somehow managed to entered SFO from the South West corner instead of taking the 101 as suggested by Google, which would have got me into SFO South east .

After entering the chaos and getting over the inital shock, the first thing I was looking for my coordinates in the map. We thought that we found something close to where we were. But actaully we were quite far off. This dawned on me, just after calling up the tour guys to postpone my tour by a couple of hours and some friendly honks. Luckily for me, I stuck to my instincts and followed Highway 1, for I knew I would get to Golden Gate and I can surely find my bearings thereon. But on the way, we discovered my location and from then onwards I had to cut across SFO from left to right, with Jyothi guiding me. Reached the Fishermans Warf.

Finding the tour operator was another nightmare, criss crossed most of the water front streets, felt like back home with no traffic lights and cars moving at snail's pace, the only difference was that the traffic, was in one direction "only". Luckily, the newer inventions of modern technology, the cell phone came in handy. By the time we actually reached the tour operator office 1.30 hrs late, a couple of tours had already left. Who cares, there is tour evey hour.

Goofed around till we got on the bus. It was fun going around on the open top, double decker. Took a zillion snaps of the arhitecture on the buildings. The sun was hot but the wind was cold. The trip lasted about 1.30 hrs, leaving us plenty of time to walk around. Stumbled on the 10$ boat ride that was well worth the money. It covers the Golden Gate and the Alcatras, with some witty commentry.

Finally made one last ditch attempt to get to Golden Gate, by road, I mean. Getting lost seems to be the norm of the day. We have to get lost to get somewhere. I was destined to know the layout and the street names of SFO before I reached Lombard Street. With my navigator, helping me to reach every intersection and not telling me whether to go left or right, I was at liberty to use my sense of direction and the setting sun as tools. We finally reached Lombard and then again we were literally "back on track". I now understand that phrase better. I have deep respect for it now.

Some stunning views of Golden Gate Bridge in the setting sun. Then again after some driving around to find 101 South, we finally managed to get some Cab driver, to reveal us the secrect passage to get onto 101S from Fort Point. We stuck to 101 South, through the maze of streets it lead us through. 101 disguises itself as Lombard and then as Van ness, in trying to shake us of. But I was too tired and too old at the game, now that I have my coordinates and my map. The only tell tale signs that 101 leaves is the sign posts that carry the number. The sign posts are actually more of riddles because the direction of the sign kind of made us, to think of a right turn, dont ever do that! We managed to wade through the traffic and reach the freeway. I now, also have deeper respect for the meaning of Freeway. Still the trip was well worth the effort, not only for what SFO offers to tourist, but also for the challenge it offers to the motorist.

This is the Bay Bridge that is a rival to the Golden Gate. This connects SFO to Oakland.










Some of the other photos of Golden Gate.