“San Francisco, open your golden gate…” (If you’re old enough, you’ll get the reference!!!!)
I must have been a VERY good boy lately because the good Lord delivered an incredible day to visit San Francisco, one of the world’s great cities. Temperature in the low 70’s, clear blue skies, and only a light breeze down on the docks. No pretense here of trying to do/see everything – today’s visit focused on the mission district and the Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 neighborhood. Lots left for other times!
The Mission San Francisco de Asis gave its’ name to the town which grew up around it and is sometimes known as Mission Dolores, the name of a stream that originally existed by the site and now the name of the street in front of the mission. This is not the original location of 1776 but a second site up the hill that offered better conditions where the mission moved in 1782. The current mission building was constructed in 1791 and is not particularly large, but is in close to original condition. The adobe walls are 4 feet thick and the original redwood logs still support the roof. The building was so well constructed that it withstood the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 and is the oldest intact building in San Francisco. Daily mass is no longer held here but rather in the larger basilica right next door, which was built after the 1906 earthquake and is impressive in its’ own right.
The interior of the mission church is virtually in original condition, though painted surfaces have obviously been maintained over the nearly 223 years that the mission has existed. The decorative altar came from Mexico in 1796 and the two side altars came in 1810. The columns on the side altars are faux stone (painted) but the gold leaf is original. The choir loft above the front entrance is not available to the public.
Through a side door of the mission church is the newer basilica that is now the active parish church. Constructed in grand style during the rebuilding of San Francisco after the earthquake and fire of 1906, the basilica dominates the surrounding Mission District. The interior is truly awe-inspiring. (A side editorial note – I think that churches used to be built to give one the feeling of being in the presence of God; modern churches are built to give one the sense of community with people – just one man’s opinion!)
Really amazing, especially when the calm inside is contrasted with the teeming mass of humanity out the door! San Francisco is renowned for horrific traffic, narrow streets and complicated directions. How then, you might ask, did the Lunch Box make it? Well, it didn’t because it never had to. For the second time on this trip I drew upon advice from friends Gary and Joan Ragan, who several years ago gave the helpful hint about finding a good place to park and then using mass transit to get around big cities. That’s what we did so successfully in San Diego and even more successfully in San Francisco (which is a much more difficult city to get around in than San Diego.
The first challenge was finding a reasonable RV park in which to stay for a couple of days. Not easy, given the relative lack of RV parks close to San Francisco and the extremely high prices that goes along with proximity to the city. Add in the need for reasonably close access to mass transit and the challenge grows. However, again the internet came to the rescue. Our home base for the bay area visit was the distant suburb of Pleasanton (home to headquarters of Safeway, which is in the process of being sold to Albertson’s, big news in Pleasanton these days!). About 40 miles east of the city, Pleasanton also happens to be the eastern terminus of BART (Bay Area Regional Transit), i.e. the light rail/subway system that serves the bay area. I was able to get a space at the Alameda County Fairgrounds (another little known fact, most fairgrounds have RV parks available year round – not “RV resorts” but basic campgrounds with utilities – all Augie and I need) AND it was only $30 a night… What a deal! AND the BART station was at a large mall 2 miles away! WHAT an even better deal! So I parked the Lunch Box and took BART into the city. It cost $6 each way and took about 50 minutes. Another cool bit of minutiae: as BART crosses from Oakland on the east to San Francisco on the west, it goes deep under San Francisco Bay, which, of course, means that you are actually travelling UNDER sea level. I don’t know why that thought didn’t occur to me, but it did when my ears “popped” as we came up from under the bay into the station…, just a tad bit weird for the boy from Montana! And it just keeps on getting better – there is a BART station just three blocks from the mission!
The Mission District is the area around the San Francisco Mission (duh) and sits on the side of a hill. A very eclectic neighborhood, it was crawling with people. The BART station is underground, of course, but the entrance is in a small plaza in the center of the district. Here’s a shot of the area and the entrance to the BART (great people watching!):
Going from the Mission District to the Fisherman’s Wharf area requires a ride on BART back down to the waterfront and then taking a street car to the tourist dock area. Again really convenient and easy to do. While I was waiting for the street car, I took another of my “look both ways” series of pictures. To the west is the central city area; to the east are the bay and the historic Ferry Building.
The Fisherman’s Wharf area and Pier 39 are my “tourist trap” experience of the day. Located more on the north and northeast part of the peninsula that is San Francisco, massive piers jut out into the bay and are lined with every type of tourist trap imaginable (for a high price). I was thirsty but too cheap to pay $4.75 for a bottle of water that would cost me about a dime at WalMart but my blood sugar was a bit low so I did have to buy some salt water taffy at about a quarter each (maple/bacon, if you’re curious). The view from the end of the pier is spectacular, especially on a sunny day like today, with the Golden Gate bridge to the left and the prison of Alcatraz on the island to the right. And so ended the day in San Francisco…
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