Monday, 7 February 2011

San Francisco day 2

We started the day with breakfast in an American Diner 50s style, unfortunately it wasn't 1950 prices.



Afterwards we took a cable car to Fishermans Wharf again.  The cars are billed as living museums and they are great to ride on and you can hear the cable creaking underneath.



Fishermans Wharf is a real tourist trap but we did find the free museum with the old 25 cent machines from amusement arcades.  Some very intersting machines - slide shows of the earthquake and fire in the 1880s (shake and bake as they have called it).  One of the most unusual was "The opium den" which showed the perils of smoking opium.



There was also more signs with Rita the Riveter and I had a go as posing as her.  Apparently this poster was only used for a couple of weeks during the war and then rediscovered recently by the women's movement and it is everywhere now  (refer to blog in Hawaii)



We then took a trolley bus and wandered around various areas of the city.  We did end up in Castro the Gay centre of town and saw some very strange sights.  The weirdest was a man who was completely naked (apart from a hat) walking down thee road at 3 in the afternoon.  No photos of that thankfully.



Dog walking seems to be big business here and you can aparently make a good living from it.  Would you want to poop scoop this lot?







We have had to get used to American English after the Australian version. 

Thongs are no longer something you wear on your feet but you do wear your pants on top of your pants here

An entree is your main meal here

A Mimosa is a Bucks Fizz


My favourite signs today have been

"A site for sore eyes"  An opticians
"The Odditorium" - entry to Ripley museum

We also found out that the term "Buffalo Soldiers"  as in Bob Marley song etc comes from what the Red Indians called the black soldiers when they first saw them as they thought their hair looked like buffalo skins



We are off to Los Angeles tomorrow, thankfully a short flight and the same time zone.  Last warm place before we hit Boston

1 comment:

  1. You should have asked me for a translation lesson before embarking on your trip!
    Good luck in Boston where it's cold I gather.

    Carolyn

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