THE CITY DOES HAVE MY HEART

And my very favorite way to get to the city is on Amtrak. It is a stress free ride and the trains are always very clean, fast and efficient. I love the sights from the train. It is like a "birds-eye" view of things that you normally would not see driving. Here are some of my favorite sights:

I think the graffiti is so interesting (is it wrong to like graffiti?) I wonder how long it takes these artists to do the many walls you see covered along the rail lines? It is almost like a "free" zone for graffiti artists because they do not paint over the tagging. This one outside of Richmond has been there for several years.

My kids roll their eyes each time they hear me say that I really want to go work at the port of Oakland (seriously, I do). I would love to go learn all about the shipping industry. To me it is fascinating and you get a great view from Amtrak into the port. I think that the coolest job would be the crane operator that loads and unloads the barges (it doesn't hurt that they make over 150K/year). Did you know they can unload, inspect and reload one of these barges in 24 hours? Call me a geek, but I want to go job shadow at the port!

The mothball fleet

I want to know the history of each ship

To me, the "mothball fleet" looks haunted. All of these huge discarded ships, just sitting in the bay wasting away.  They will soon be slowly dismantled and sold for scrap because they are polluting the bay. So many tons of steel sitting there, all with a story. Before they get rid of them I want someone to take me on a personal tour of their graveyard here in the water and tell me their history. (No doubt you won't be surprised to hear that I love watching the Discovery Channel).

The charming home on the left belongs to romance novelist Danielle Steele's ex-husband. Her home (the former Spreckel's Mansion) is just around the corner.  I did not get a picture of it. It happens to be made of Utah Limestone (not a good choice for the SF climate) and as expensive as the massive home must be, her very luxury fleet of cars parked outside were pretty darn impressive. Sadly, she did not invite us in for tea because she spends most of her time in Paris.

My purpose for venturing to the city for Memorial Day was to do a walking tour that I always wanted to do but never could interest anyone else in the family to do it with me, so I jumped at the chance! The San Francisco Library does several different walking tours of the city. Check them out here. This one was the Victorian Mansions of San Francisco. A very pleasant walk (once I reached the top of the hill) It was a beautiful cool but sunny day and away from the tourist crowds of the city. It gave a charming history of the different homes and styles. Several fascinating tidbits about Victorian life were included.  Did you know that in the homes of the era there were always plenty of chairs in the parlor? If the men were in the parlor and the women entered, the men would stand but it would have been totally SCANDALOUS for them to offer a chair to  a woman....because it would be improper for a woman to sit on a chair that a man's bottom had warmed! Times have changed a bit!