San Francisco

the angle of the photo is the angle of the street

You could lose yourself here for several days. The streets look like every American TV show I have ever watched.

 

Let me start by saying that the better parts of San Francisco are away from the wharves simply because the waterfront and surrounds is losing it’s quirky attractiveness and becoming a cheap tourist mecca where the food is less than good and everything is way overpriced. That said, you must see Fisherman’s Wharf once and try the crab, not clam, chowder and then leave quickly. Crab over clam because the clams are all imported and the crab is local and fresh!

There are so many things to do and places to see that a plan of attack will serve you well. The high-end stores in Union Square are a distraction and the 50% off Macy’s sale was too tempting. After some retail therapy catch the big red bus in Union Square and a quick circumnavigation of San Francisco puts you back on track.

An important piece of tourist advice is to pre-book your Alacatraz visit on the internet as it is regularly booked out several days ahead.

Crab Chowder, not clam!

San Francisco’s 850,000 locals live across steep 43 hills in the second most densely populated city in the USA (New York is first).  The larger San Francisco metropolis houses 7.4 million people. You are either walking or riding up or down a steep incline for most of your time here and you certainly get a good workout.

In 1776 colonists from Spain, who were just sailing past, liked the place so they made friends with the Ohlone Tribes, who appear to have inhabited the area since 3000BC, built a fort in honour of St. Francis of Assisi and moved in. In the mid 1800’s the town of 1000 people grew as the Great Gold Rush attracted over 50,000 mainly Chinese immigrants seeking their fortune. San Francisco holds claim to the oldest Chinatown in North America.

Up top is great but cold, Macy's behind

IN 1873 the famous cable cars were introduced allowing easy access to the hilltops of San Francisco. These cable cars are one of the worlds most well known moving historic attractions. In 1906, three quarters of the city was destroyed in an earthquake and subsequent fires, similar in devastation, but on a larger scale, to what we have seen in Christchurch New Zealand recently. The rebuild took 10 years.

Today, San Francisco ranks 35th out of the 100 most visited cities worldwide, and is renowned for its fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture, and landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Alcatraz Island, and Chinatown. Sydney is 42^nd as at 2011.

San Francisco is spread over 120 square kilometres so the best way to explore, as mentioned, is the get on-get off red buses and the trams. For $US35 we got to see all the tourist must-do’s and drove across the fog bound Golden Gate Bridge, upstairs in an open top bus. We froze, got wet, and saw nothing due to a dense fog but it was great fun. When we got to the other side, the bus turned around to re-cross the bridge. 

Golden Gate Bridge and the famous San Francisco fog

As everyone realised we were going straight back over the bridge, all the upstairs Japanese tourists got up and rushed downstairs and all the downstairs English and Australian tourists rushed upstairs; who were the crazy ones?

Can you imagine the travel to work injury claims in Australia??

Riding a Tram up a steep street is an experience not for the feint-hearted. When you jump on, if there are no seats, you grab a “hang on” pole and stand on the running boards. The tram tracks are not so smooth and “holding on” is a focal point let alone trying to take photos with one hand whilst holding the tourist map in the other.  This was an attained skill over time but the trams are efficient ways to move quickly up and down the 43 hills.



Did you know?

·      The “fortune cookie” was invented by a Chinese cook in the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden, in the 1800’s.

·      Denim jeans were invented during the San Francisco gold rush for miners wanting strong comfortable pants. 

·      The era and phrase “Flower Power” came from San Francisco which was originally Spanish named as “Yearba Buena” meaning “good grass”.  The Hippie generation was very strong in San Francisco and they took on the descriptive phrase.

·      Over the 30 years that Alcatraz was operational as a jail, 36 prisoners made 14 attempts to escape the island, unsuccessfully.

In summary, San Francisco looks a little tired and has a large and visible homeless population who are unpleasantly verbose about their views of passing tour coaches. Fishermans Wharf has also fallen away in the last few years and is a garish collection of tourist shops that are outlets for low quality chinese made tourist trinkets. 

Still a great time was had. Some say Sydney's Darling Harbour needs a makeover............

Victoria, Canada

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The Empress Hotel in the centre of town

Victoria is voted by “Conde Nast“ Traveler magazine, a very influential tome for the well heeled, as one of the best cities in the world and it will get another vote from me. It is a stunning must see, and linger longer, seaport. Every building, flowerpot and garden was in blossom in a spray of colours that warmed the soul in the chilly air.

Victoria, the oldest city and seaport in western Canada, started life as Fort Victoria in 1843 working as a Hudson Bay Trading Post. 360,000 people live here. This beautiful little city oozes British influence in its grand architecture and village feel. The Parliament buildings were built in 1893 to honour Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.   In the 1900’s this was the busiest seaport north of San Francisco. Today, the port is home to the Canada Naval Pacific Fleet. You can see both ships bobbing in the harbour as you take high tea at the famous Fairmont Empress Hotel.

This is a side street, you should see the main street!

After the austere and cold cityscape of Vancouver, Victoria was contrastingly welcoming and relaxing. There is quite a lot to see and do with a broad spectrum of shopping including the best Christmas Tree decoration shop I have seen outside of Germany. There are examples of Christmas accessories from all over the world. You could lose an hour just browsing this store. Also, the obligatory tourist focused shops are tastefully mixed in with the general and boutique stores of the local community.

Visiting the Castle in period style :)

There are several English style pubs that boast some excellent ales scattered down the High Street. Soon after landing I had James bring round the Daimler for a quick tour of the town. A quick stop for some cold champagne and we headed to Craigdarroch Castle which was the home of the richest man in British Columbia, Robert Dunsmuir. The castle was simultaneously breathtaking in its artisan work and saddening in its back-story. The Scotsman, Robert, came to Victoria to find his fortune and began working for $5 a week in the loal coal mines. Roberts’ determination eventually led to him being granted rights to independently mine and he soon found the richest vein of coal on Vancouver Island.

The Castle

Robert built the castle on hundreds of acres and lived a luxurious life with his family. After his death, one of his sons who had a bad run with alcohol began to sell off assets and invest heavily in the stockmarket, unsuccessfully. The land around the castle was slowly sold to satisfy debt and now a new estate of project homes sits all around the castle right at its front door. The interior though has been retained and is the grandest collection of Victorian period antiques, glass and woodwork in North America.

If flowers are your thing then the Butchart Gardens are a National Historic Site and when you stand at the railing and look into the Sunken Garden, imagine Jennie Butchart standing there in the early 1900s looking out into a wasteland. She wondered what she could do to turn an old limestone quarry into something nicer to look at. With determination she and following generations have built a privately owned floral show garden now visited by close to a million people each year.

The privately family owned gardens are open year round.

 Most things in Victoria are walking distance and University students operate pushbike taxi's and tours to subsidise their living costs. 

One of the cycle taxi students told me a joke: 

What is the difference between Australians and canoes?

Answer: Canoes tip! ( I think there was a hint in the joke but I didn't get it, deliberately)

Victoria is worth finding your way to……..  

Vancouver

The Disney ship was in port as we arrived. Mickey Mouse is on the bow.

  It’s a big city!

Moving south from Alaska we dropped anchor at Vancouver, a city of 642,000 but with an overall metropolitan population of 2.3 million. Vancouver is a modern and large coastal city that hosted the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games. The 10 metre high Olympic cauldron is now mounted at the front of the Vancouver Convention centre and was “turned on” for the night as the ship was in port.

Olympic Cauldron circa 2010

The lure of gold is what drew European settlement to this area. The Hudson Bay Company set up shop in 1858 and began buying gold from prospectors in a settlement called Gastown.

Gastown has the look and feel of “The Rocks” on the foreshores of Sydney with cobblestone streets and a pavement mounted steam driven clock that whistles every fifteen minutes. In the 1890’s streams of Chinese immigrated to this area to supply the labour backbone of the rail and road construction. This is reflected today in a large Chinatown area, the largest in Canada.

As a tourist destination you land in a large city that is bustling with its own sense of busyness so don’t expect warm and friendly hugs from the Armani, and lesser Hugo Boss, clad locals as they zip between skyscrapers. To do the tourist thing in a big city is daunting and you have to walk long distances between key landmarks so grabbing the hop on hop off red bus is a must but you won’t find anything like the Statue of David or the Colosseum in Vancouver, the Totems get close.

A lot of fun is had by going to the Granville Island Market which is a Sydney “Darling Harbour” or San Francisco “Fisherman’s Wharf” type of place with lots to eat and trinkets everywhere to be bought. It is named as “One of the Worlds Greatest Places” to visit.

Cute little mini-ferries. I don't think they would survive on Sydney Harbour.

The cute thing to do from here is to take tiny little toy ferries up and down the harbour to the various landmark places. These ferries are largely driven by teenage University students or dropouts who have not yet mastered the English or French language.  Any parent will recognize the unique odor and grunting language of these boys making communication on directions and venues easier.

There is also a 1000-acre park in the centre of town called Stanly Park that includes a large Aquarium and a Totem Pole Garden which can consume some of your time. Big cities do not effuse the culture uniqueness that many international travellers are chasing so you are left a bit cold, culturally speaking and climate wise. I have heard that Victoria is the place to find the Canadian village-like culture so that is the next stop.

         

Sorry

It's my only photo in my ipad, bugger not having USB ports! Ayers Rock at Dawn, it is RED, but that was another adventure

I left the ship to hitch down the west coast of the USA. I will be rejoining the ship tomorrow and will catch up with my blog. Sorry for going offline for so long. I have answered all the emails asking about my well-being and safety, thank you......... I now have a greater understanding, empathy and respect for the American culture, but more of that later..............

Juneau

High St Juneau

 

Anchorage may be the largest town in Alaska but down the road a few hundred kilometres is the capital city of Juneau, a larger coastal town of 31000 people. This is the centre of black bear country and they can be found regularly wandering through town. What is strange for a capital city is that Juneau is only accessible by air or water.

Many of the local people in this area fly floatplane aircraft the way others might drive the family car to and from the shops. The town has some interesting architectural features if you can see past all the “Big Sale” signs. Behind the main street are many Government buildings as Juneau is the Alaskan Capital The main Juneau shopping district is flagrantly pitched at the cruise ship market with three or so streets full of t-shirts, winter jackets and diamonds. Yes, diamonds are the specialty of this town allegedly cheaper than elsewhere in the world but they are not (shhh! Don’t tell the tourists).

There were three ships in port as we docked so there was plenty of eager tourist dollars up for grabs. Everything in town was lauded as being 50% off or more which was a little suspicious as the signs looked several seasons old.

As an example, a friend wanted to buy a diamond bracelet that was tagged at $US88000. Over the course of the day, and four visits, we got the price down through $50000, then $30000 and at the end of the day a last offer of $13000 + 5% sales tax. We settled on $US11000 flat and got an appraisal for $US24000.  Can you figure that out?

Enough talk of shopping, we took to the air in a Sea Otter floatplane to go salmon fishing up river. In the air we passed over several active glaciers and landed upriver at Taku Lodge. This lodge is famous for the story of one of its owners, Mary Joyce.

In the early 1920’s, Mary was the private nurse for the owner of the lodge, Hack Smith, the son of a wealthy lumber baron. Similar to the way Rose Porteous inherited a good part of Australian mining baron Lang Hancocks wealth, for services rendered, so did Mary. Mary became owner of the mountain lodge after Hack unsuspiciously died of a heart attack whilst hunting.

One day Mary decided that she needed bread and milk so decided to run her dogs down the road to Fairbanks and while there attend the Ice Carnival and maybe sell a dog or two. Some planning was needed for this, as Fairbanks was one thousand miles away so Mary allowed three months for the snow trek. The wooden sled was dusted off, the huskies all tethered up; a few Mars bars in the backpack and off she went. Mary averaged 20 miles a day in temperatures of -20 degrees celcius, quite a feat for anyone but quite a feat for a woman in the 1930’s.

Mary is a rightfully a bit of a heroine in these parts and the Spartan Taku Lodge is a humble shrine to her strength of character and resilience in an unforgiving climate and a male dominated time in history.

The fishing was great and the eating was better, washed down with Alaskan brew. Ten salmon gave their lives to the cause barbequed over Alder pinewood with brown sugar and bush lime.  

For those of you, who have read this far, firstly thank you, and secondly, allow me to share a fleeting personal experience some might measure as being one of those important moments in life. Satiated from a hearty lunch, I went outside to sit on the verandah and take in the Taku Glacier creeping slowly towards me in front of the lodge.

I immersed myself in the sounds of the cracking glacier opposite the lodge and the sight of majestic fir and snow covered mountains that towered above when a feeling welled up that I was unable to identify or control. Surprisingly, unchecked tears ran down my cheek in a silent conversation with nature that words cannot define or explain. I share this as I think I was meant to. It was fleeting, it was from somewhere deep inside and I have never felt it before. Nature was speaking to me and I could hear it. One of my friends then called to me and the moment was lost but the conversation will be with me forever.  

You might not need to come to Alaska to converse with nature but it sure has all the necessary elements and is beautiful beyond words. Add this to your bucket list, at the top.  

So, enough of that metrosexual malarkey, and back on the float plane to Juneau. We headed straight for one of the seven places on earth that you must eat at in your life, “Tracy’s King Crab Shack” on the waterfront. It is a shabby little caravan with a less than clean and semi water repellant tent erected beside it but the food is first rate and the ambience a unique experience. We ordered a plate of King Crab and a few beers and toasted life.

I am now reflecting on a very new and humbling experience that I do not yet understand.

Seward

Seward Harbour

The sight of land that is Seward, Alaska brought rousing, raspy, cheers and careless waving of mobility aids skyward as passengers realised that their torturous six-day passage from Japan, that included a life threatening plague and cabin lockdowns, was ending.

As the gangways slid up to the ship, passengers launched themselves ashore as if they had just survived a long voyage in a leaky Indonesian fishing boat. The Captain, on the bridge, rubbed his hands together and curled his corporate moustache as Seward is a Carnival Cruises subsidised town. Princess owns the dock, the coaches and most of the tourism outlets in the small town.

Passengers thought they were outsmarting the cruise line by buying their alcohol, cigarettes and sweets ashore and secreting them in their hand luggage to return to the ship but a high percentage of all purchases comes back to the Carnival coffers.

Seward is a pictureseque little town of 2800 people on the Southern tip of Alaska set between stunning snow covered mountains behind and plentiful Bering Sea waters in front. It is only a few hours away from the Capital of Anchorage.

High St Seward

Seward was named after William Seward, who in 1867, had the foresight to buy Alaska for $US7.2 million (19 cents per acre) from the Russians who were struggling to maintain the icy outpost.  Russia had just taken over Vladivostok (1860) from China so were not initially unhappy at selling Alaska.

Seward was ridiculed for many years afterwards over the purchase, tagged as “Sewards Folly”.

Interestingly, in 1927, thirteen-year old Seward resident and Native Alaskan, Benny Benson won a contest to design the Alaskan Flag. His design became the territorial flag and eventually the state flag so there are many memorials and references to Benny in Seward.

Walking through Seward takes all of 20 minutes where many of the stores are trinket shops. There is a modest Sealife Centre at the end of town, full of stuffed wildlife, if that is your thing. The surrounding tree and snow-covered mountains overwhelm the modest evidence of human habitation on the peninsular stealing your attention at every glance.

Anchorage City

Up the road is Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, easily reached by good quality roads.  Driving between Seward and Anchorage provides an excellent panorama of the Alaskan country and is a “must do” if you are in the area as wildlife abounds. Anchorage has several large department stores including JC Penny’s. These were fun to walk through but not cheap. Anchorage is also home to yet another Captain Cook statue.

Trivial pursuit question: Who has the most statues of themselves around the world after Queen Victoria who has the most?

Answer: Captain Cook

Captain Cook took three major cruises in his life before being killed in Hawaii in 1779. On his first cruise, as Kings Surveyor, Cook came to the Pacific Ocean and Surveyed Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. On his second cruise Cook surveyed the Antarctic and New Caledonia. On his third and final cruise Cook mapped Northwest America and Alaska.

Dutch Harbour King Crab and Wheat beer

Back to Anchorage; Walk the town, visit the department stores, with free wifi, and then go for lunch at Phyllis’s Café that serves the largest, sweetest and cheapest King Crab in town at $US40 per lb. Wash it down with some Alaskan Wheat Beer and life doesn’t get much better……..

Sitka - Alaska

High Street Sitka

There is no doubt that this quirky little seaside town situated on Baranoff Island is the prettiest of the Alaskan inside passage ports of call and historically significant to the United States.

The main shopping area is essentially one street bulging with strong Russian and Tingit focused tourist paraphernalia, all on 50% discount as the snow season is one month away so the town shuts down for three months. We are the last cruise ship before Winter shutdown and it is VERY cold.

There is free wifi all through the town provided by Sitka City Council. As the word went around, imagine 2000 passengers perched on rocks, chairs and sitting in gutters with their Iphones and Ipads out syncing and sending emails. The scene looked like a homeless peoples convention as hunched over shivering people tapped out messages to loved ones, then wives, husbands and children.

Alaskan seaside living

Historically, Russian fur trading companies were hunting for valuable Sea Otter pelts in the 1700’s. As the numbers of Sea Otters depleted the Russians moved east to Alaska to capture the market and steal it away from the Americans. They decided to set up a local Alaskan fortress to control the area and in 1799 the Russian Fur Traders, under the leadership of Alexander Baranoff, invaded. The original land owners, the Tingit Tribe, were not happy with these rude visitors so burned down the Russian Fort hoping they would go home. The Russians fought back and eventually in 1821 both sides, hungry and depleted, decided to call a truce and have lived happily thereafter.

Modern Sitka is a 3000 strong mix of Russian and Tingit influence

What makes Sitka more sgnificant in USA history is that it is also the site of the 1867 land transfer ceremony of Alaska from colonial Russia to the United States for $7.2 million. The town centre is centred around the imposing St Michaels Russian Orthodox Cathedral, built in 1848, that holds artifacts back to the 15^th century so is worth having a look inside.

No, it is not a bad Star Trek episode, these are dry suits for cold water diving.

So, we shopped for a few more Patrushka dolls, looked inside the church, visited the site of the Alaska handover and then went scuba diving around the island. The diving was challenging as we had to use dry suits to protect from the freezing water but it is no Great Barrier Reef!