The Embarcadero, San Francisco
At 6 we hit the road. It is light already but also cloudy and the rising sun is not visible. I don’t
know what makes this time of the morning so magical. The flowers look bright and fresh; the trees green and even the grass looks golden and not brown. Then we hit Highway 101 and nothing can make that freeway beautiful. Rank weeds and litter decorate the edges; numerous pylons tower within view; power lines are draped everywhere and idiot drivers abound. The state of the pavement is pretty good now, especially between Sunnyvale and San Mateo. There is always something interesting to catch the eye, like a new construction or the solar panels near Palo Alto. At Moffet Field the police stop the traffic for five minutes. When we eventually pass there was no sign of a wreck, just two vehicles pulled over and several police cars. At Millbrae there were flares laid down as they were cleaning the left shoulder.
As we approach the city, it is shrouded in fog. Parking in San Francisco is always a problem. With the bikes we could not park in a multi story and there are parking meters along all the main streets. In the end we found some street parking without parking meters at Brannan and Delancey. It is cold and there is a slight drizzle and here Tom is with his cycle shorts on. After our last cycle ride I took the precaution of wearing leggings on top of my cycle shorts. Ah well, here we go again!
Our ride starts on the The Embarcadero just to the south of the Bay Bridge. I asked Tom whether we could ride over the bridge but there is no bike lane on the section between the city and Yerba Buena Island although there will be one on the new section between the island and Oakland.
The Embarcadero sidewalk is wide and we are able to ride on it. Along the way there is much to be seen. We meander along, stopping frequently to gaze at something different - the fire boats moored at the end of a short peer; a small rowing boat tied up but barely afloat; the Bow and Arrow sculpture which is half shrouded while maintenance work is carried out and the Crouching Spider sculpture which replaced the two enormous females made out of scrap metal (we much prefered the latter).
We are both in need of a hot drink but the Java Coffee House is closed and padlocked. I hope it is because it is too early and not permanent. Two women and a boy walk towards us holding cups of coffee so we stop and ask where they’d got it from (the Ferry Building) and had an interesting chat. They were interested to know where we came from when they heard my accent.
Soon we hit the Ferry Building where it is a hive of activity with storeholders setting up for the farmers market which is held in the Ferry Plaza from 8 am to 2 pm every Saturday. Even though is it only 7.30 a lot of people are already busy buying the fresh produce. I guard the bikes while Tom goes into Peets and spent my time people watching.
We sat on a bench looking out over the bay and the ferry terminal while we drank our coffee. Then we were on our way again, exploring each pier along the way.
Not so long ago the Ferry Building and the buildings on the piers were abandoned and dilapidated but a lot of work has been done to restore them. As we cycled past, we peered into windows. In one we spotted a series of color photos hung on a wall showing views of the old buildings.
A lot of fishermen were about and it appears to be a good day for fishing. We saw a recently caught, good sized, striped bass panting on the ground. The angler told us it would make a decent meal but I’m not so sure I would want to eat anything caught in the Bay, especially so soon after the recent oil spill.
Pier 3 is where the Hornblower Cruise ships are moored -the California Hornblower, the San Francisco Belle (a paddle boat) and the Santa Rosa - all huge but very different. The Santa Rose was sporting a big advert advertising three Dinner Wine Cruises, which look exciting.
We noticed there were about a dozen swimmers out on the water. My, that must be cold.
On one promenade between piers were brass plaques with sayings about San Francisco by a variety pf people - Walter Cronkite, President Pompidou of France, Benjamin Taylor, Oscar Wilde, Herb Caen, John Steinbeck and Tom’s favorite by Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, ‘San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality’. We almost missed them completely but they were all well worth reading.
Pier 7 is an older pier with the original wooden planking. It is long and, boy, was it cold at the end. I left Tom taking pictures and rode back to find a bench to sit on out of the wind.
Pier 17 is a huge car park where it cost $14 during the week and $10 at the weekend to park. Today it was almost deserted but once upon a time it was a busy place where ships were unloaded and the cargo loaded straight onto trains.
One disturbing observation is the number of homeless camping out in the nooks and crannies, which are mostly out of sight of the road. They have amazing and creative ways of packing their worldly goods. Some are mountainous and perched on top of bikes or trolleys. Obviously traveling light is not an option these days.
It is now 9 am. We are never going to reach Crissy Field at this rate. The sidewalk is much busier now with joggers, tourists and locals returning from the farmers market with bulging bags holding fruits and vegetables. Tom stops again to take photos and I sit and write, sometimes in the biting westerly wind, which makes my hands shake with cold, but I’m happy. I sit on an old railway sleeper by Pier 17 looking up at the Transamerica Pyramid to my left and the Coit Tower to my right and watch the old trams pass by. Hey, there was even an open topped, red London sightseeing bus.
On our way again at 9.25 with Tom’s kickstand in my pack. It has just fallen off. Tom wanted to toss it but it is not broken. All he needs is an allen key to fix it back on again.
The closer to the tourist trap which is Fishermans Wharf (Pier 39), the more people there are. The sidewalk is getting too crowded to ride our bikes. It is time to turn around and head back. Besides we are hungry and decide to return to the Ferry Building to find something to eat.
We cross the Embarcadero and, for a while, ride along in the bike lane but were diverted by the sight of a garden off to our right. It turns out to be a real oasis, tucked away and almost hidden. From there we ride along Battery to Vallejo, where we turn right onto Davis, then left on Jackson. This is so different from the piers along the waterfront. Here there are almost deserted streets and hidden gardens and it all seems a world away from the Embarcadero but in reality it is only a block away. We turn right onto Drumm and ride to Market, where we turn left. Ahead of us we can see the Ferry Building. The farmers market is in full swing and heaving so we press on back to the car. We’ll go home to eat.
We have had a fun morning exploring the piers and back streets along the Embarcadero. For a real slice of San Francisco life we can recommend this little bike ride but try and pick a warmer day!
June 05 2008 08:06 pm | Neighborhoods and Special Places
