Day Five: Getting Out of Town

We missed out on Alcatraz bleh. Oh well. Bought a cap for Ant as a consolation prize. Decided to take a bus out of town and went to Muir Woods and then a quick trip through Sausalito. I've heard tour busses suck actually and I know why now - you just don't get much time anywhere. We've learned heaps about the best way to travel just from the first five days of our trip. We have to get a grip of the public transport system ASAP and we have to plan what we want to do and book early and we need to keep Charlie stocked up on snacks and sticker diversions :)

It's a gorgeous day! Blue skies and it's WARM for a change. The weather has apparently been uncharacteristicly 8 deg. colder than usual. After breakfast downstairs we start the day with a free cable car ride downtown to Fisherman's Wharf ...

Cable cars have a calming effect on Charlie...

... then a look-see in a submarine (for Antony), a quick bite to eat (Clam Chowder and Fish & Chips), peeked through the crowds at some sea lions lazing around near where we ate and then we rush off to catch the bus.

Submarine ... makes me feel a little anxious being in cramped quarters ...



Sea lions and tourists on the bay and Charlie and me a ride a carousel (her first time) that she cried and clung to and refused to get off hehe.

We were the first in line for the 'Woods but a lady pushes in front of us when the bus arrives and grabs the front seat we were aiming for. Bugger. For some reason I feel no need to stop Charlie from kicking the back of her seat at the beginning of the journey :)

It's a great ride across the bridge and through some real country on the other side of the bay. San Francisco looks like a big pile of concrete rubble cloaked in a slight haze. I know I'm not making it sound that pretty but that is truly how it looks to me.

Muir Woods smells good and it's nice to be somewhere quiet and natural. There are a lot of people here though so photo ops are tricky. We get an hour to walk one of the shorter tracks. We see red deer quite close by and then some fawns. So cool! The trees are massive and really really old. Some of them close to a thousand years old. Charlie has fun running barefoot through all the tourists saying 'hi' to as many people as possible.

Sausalito is very pretty. Yachts everywhere and some nice hilltop houses. Some very swanky looking restaurants that we'd love to try but we only have 45 mins so we eat more fish and chips - the only thing that will arrive in time. We wish we had figured out how to get over here on our own - it would be great to spend all day. It's hard without a car!! There's no way I'd feel confident driving though - even being a pedestrian I can't figure out the system! A lot of the crossings at major intersections in town have no lights for pedestrians.... you cross with the lights and I *think* the cars just have to stop.

The bus driver drops us back at the hotel after a hilltop stop on the other side of the bridge. Nice view but again the place was packed with tourists. He takes a route through a much nicer part of the city than those we've seen and I wonder if we could have stayed in one of the nicer locations we may have had quite a different experience. Maybe it's worth paying more in the end. I was actually thinking SF was quite run down until I saw this side of town.

We really embarassed ourselves at the end of the journey. I was wondering about the familiar way everyone said goodbye like they knew the bus driver really well - holding his hand before departing ... we realised this was actually surrepticious tipping when we got off and the driver said "Hey what about me?" whilst holding a wad of bills with a $20 prominantly displayed. My eyes widened ... "Oh! We're suposed to tip?" Eek.. we're not prepared. My money is in my coat which is in my bag ... Antony rummages and digs out $4 which he seems happy enough with. We later check the internet and find conflicting advice about tipping tour drivers - some say 10-15% of the ticket price and others say $3 for a half day tour and more for a full day. Well I hope the guy didn't think we were cheapskates. He was worth way more but that would have entailed dragging everything out of our bags and delaying the bus... an even worse situation. Tipping is a really tough thing to work out. Always keep a bunch of dollar bills handy in a pocket!

I didn't fancy walking back thru the ghetto to the train station at 4.30am tomorrow so we've arranged for a shuttle pickup this time. Off to New York City. Wohoooo! Can't wait!!