[usa21] san francisco

A Bay Cruise has been recommended to me via email by more than one friend in the past week and so I've elected to make that the focus of the day. While the crowds surround the Blue and Gold Ferries ticket booths I stumble across the Red and White Fleet (must be the Rovers in me) at Fisherman's Wharf and am on a boat within a matter of minutes. Once aboard headsets are provided to give the tourist spiel and even sound effects should the actual seaguls not be seagully enough, while a strong wind satisfies my slapstick comedy craving, blowing off the hat of one young lad and regulatly lifting the skirt of one embarrassed female passenger.

The boat travels out into the choppy waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and back around Alcatraz. As the boat rounds the rock I realise just how frustrating it must have been for the inmates, being so close to such a vibrant city and yet so far away; the isolation amplified by its proximity to humanity. Back on dry land I decide to try Clam Chowder, which is available the length of the waterfront and comes served in an edible bread bowl. I had heard of Clam Chowder via American cartoons and so forth, but can confess to having no idea of what exactly it was; however now I have sampled it first hand... and still I have no idea what it is. Still, it filled a hole, as my grandparents would say... as did the veritible vat of iced tea that I was served with it.

Late in the afternoon I take a walk across town to the Embarcadero Center in order to pick up souveniers for the parents and keep me in the good books. I take a break in the Justin Herman Plaza outside the Ferry Building and its elaborate hourly chime before heading back up Market Street and a bit of window shopping that introduces me to the most helpful shopping assistant I've ever encountered in the Puma store. I call in at Cafe.com on the way back to the hotel for my daily session of confusing the staff with my accent befor emailing home my latets updates. Back at the hotel I'm greeted by notices informing me of a visit from Pest Control and I retire to my room glad to be in such a classy joint and half expecting the assistant from the Puma shop her to appear from the cupboard with yet more trainers that I won't find in the UK.