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city was destroyed by a historic fire
which rampaged fiercely over a
period of three days. In those days,
most of the houses were made
of wood and therefore there was
total devastation throughout the
city. However, within 10 years the
Americans braced themselves for
reconstruction, and the city was
rebuilt during an international
exhibition one decade later.
The city is a major shipping
centre - its busy port handling huge
volumes of cargo from around the
world - and today San Francisco
is also a major finance and trade
centre, producing clothes and food
products, many of them grown in
farm lands within close proximity to
California.
We arrived at a very large
modern Japanese-owned hotel
which graces the skyline in the
city centre. We were allocated a
room some 15 floors high which
gave us wonderful panoramic
views across the city, which were
particularly spectacular at night.
One of the major attractions is the
famous San Francisco cable car,
designed to go up and down the
very steep city slopes. By 1890
there was a network of over 150
kilometres of them, and all cable
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cars were connected by overhead
power lines.
That original network has
now been reduced to some 20
kilometres, but still remains one of
the city’s major tourist attractions.
We almost missed our opportunity
to ride a cable car, but thanks to a
well-informed porter at the hotel,
we were advised to rise early in the
morning (around 6.00am!), walk to
the major cable car station in the
city centre and queue for the cable
cars which started up at 7.00am.
I could not believe the queues as
we waited over an hour, but it was
well worth the wait once we had
boarded and made our way down
to the famous harbour overlooking
the Golden Gate Bridge and the
small island opposite the harbour
with the site of the Alcatraz prison
clearly visible.
We missed our chance to take
the boat trip excursion and visit
the prison though, as we had not
reckoned with the fact that such
trips are booked many months in
advance and no spaces were left.
Undaunted, I was determined to
get a close look at Alcatraz because
of its fascinating history and
reputation, and after undertaking
some research and making local
enquiries, I was able to book two
places on a private catamaran
yacht for some 40 people on
an early evening departure,
taking in a tour of the harbour,
circumnavigation of the island and
a close view of the prison itself,
without the opportunity to land,
but concluding with sailing under
the Golden Gate Bridge. The trip
was made more special by the fact
that we were followed by a school
of young whales on our return
under the bridge. This was indeed
a wonderful experience and in a
way was almost the best way to
see the area and take in the best of
everything.
There is clearly very much to do
when visiting San Francisco and
the city is full of life. We were able
to book tickets for a local jazz show
in a small club environment and
were given the special opportunity
of stage-side seats for dining with
exceptional hospitality once they
discovered we were English! The
music was sensational and made
extra special by the fact that the
pianist, now getting on in years,
had been the original accompanist
for Tony Bennett’s infamous song
“I left my heart in San Francisco”!
Whilst the experience was
undoubtedly enjoyable,
there were parts of
the city which were
clearly to be avoided,
with much poverty
and a great deal of
street begging - which
in my view needs to
be addressed. The
Americans were
quick to tell me that
California remains a
liberal and welcoming
State for everyone and
therefore it would be
wrong to dwell on that.
However, whilst I would
certainly recommend a
visit, it is for this reason
that my heart was not
quite left there!