Massy's walking around SF (homework)

I like to walk around the city I visit. Even if there are convenient transportation system like bus or subway in the city, I always try to walk from one end to another. There are some reasons. The first reason is that I can save money if I choose to walk. Second reason is that, by using my feet, I can be more careful about some trivial characteristics of that city. If I use buses or trains, I’ll miss those things because I’m moving fast. It is true that walking is slow and hard means of transportation, it enable us not to miss the trivial but important aspects of the city we visit.

This post may look mere "diary" rather than "some interesting things", but please let me tell you about my trip to San Francisco in Friday. Of course I used AC Transit and BART when I crossed the channel, I used no public transportation in San Francisco. 

First I visited Ferry building. It was 10:00. This building had been used as the ferry terminal for a long time, and now it is used as a market place. I bought some foods here. After that, I walked along the coastline, until I reached Fisherman’s Wharf. In Fisherman’s Wharf, I ate the dishes of shrimps (they were very good), and after the lunch I bought some souvenirs of San Francisco. I continued to walk, and I reached Maritime National Historical Park. I visited USS Pampanito here. Pampanito is a submarine fought in pacific during WW2. I could imagine the life in submarine through this visit.

 Then I left the coast, and started to climb the hill. As you know, there are many hills and slopes in San Francisco. This is the reason why cable cars have been used in this city. Frankly speaking, I thought that the hills and slopes in this city are not so hard to climb. In fact, the angle of the slope was beyond description (the picture on the right). There were few people walking on the slope. But I had decided not to use buses, trams, and cable cars during this trip. So I continued to walk, seeing the cable cars by my side climbing the hills easily. This let me be curious to cable cars, then I came up with visiting Cable Car Museum.

  I arrived at the museum, and the exhibition of the museum was so interesting. I could study the history of cable cars, and how they work. I could see the machines which rotate the cables for cable cars (the picture below). Moreover, the entrance fee was free. I strongly recommend this museum to everyone!

  

 After that I further climbed the hill, and arrived at Coit Tower. This is the tower standing on Telegraph Hill, and the height is 60m. Unfortunately the elevators were full of people, so I gave up climbing.

 I was on the top of the hill, so all I had to do was to walk down the street. I went on walking, eventually returned to Maritime National Historical Park. At first I was planning to walk to Golden Gate Bridge, but it was too far from the park. It was 17:30, so I decided to go back to my hotel. I walked about 11.2km (horizontal distance) in that day. 

Through this trip, I recognized the importance of cable car. If I used cable car in that day, I must have taken the existence of cable cars for granted, and I would not be able to notice their values. The hills and the slopes of San Francisco are not easy to climb. Be careful if you are planning to walk around the city!

Massy