An afternoon in San Francisco, by the Bay

As I mentioned in my previous post "Books, food and airplanes in Alameda" my eldest daughter who was in the area for business meetings visited my two grandsons - her nephews - and me during the week-end we were on Alameda Island.  On Friday evening we went to a Lithuanian restaurant in Alameda.  On Saturday my daughter and her fiance decided to take my two grandsons to the Exploratorium Museum near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.  The museum site indicates that "The Exploratorium is a museum of science, art, and human perception ... We create tools and experiences that help you to become an active explorer: hundreds of explore-for-yourself exhibits; a website with over 50,000 pages of content ... etc."  Their stated mission is to change the way the world learns.  The Exploratorium is the brainchild of Frank Oppenheimer (1912-1985,) an experimental physicist and university professor.  It is a huge museum.  Wikipedia has detailed information on this museum - click here to access it.   (Two photos of Exploratorium below courtesy Bruce Damonte.)

The Exploratorium is located at Pier 15 on the Embarcadero, along the San Francisco Bay (see map above.)  The distance from our lodging in Alameda to Pier 15 in San Francisco is only 14.4 miles (23 km.)  We did not think it would be a long trip.  Wrong!  We left around 11:20 am and arrived at the Embarcadero at 1:30 pm!  It took over two hours ... The reason being that vehicles have to pay a toll to cross over the Oakland-Bay Bridge to go into San Francisco.  During the week-ends the lines to get to the toll booths are very crowded.  Once on the bridge, it was bumper to bumper traffic all the way.  (Click on collage to enlarge.)

I did not remember the Oakland-Bay Bridge being that crowded when we drove on it back when I lived in San Francisco in the 1960s.  My husband's sister and her family lived in Oakland for a while.  Before we were married we would drive across the bridge to visit them.  My husband, a boy-friend then, had a 1955 MG TF-1500 green convertible and it was fun crossing the bridge with the top down - it was quite windy.  We wore WWI aviator leather helmets and I also tied a long white silk scarf around my neck - I wish I had taken pictures then.  Below is an MG TF-1500.

The construction of the Bay Bridge started in 1933.  The bridge opened in November 1936 (6 months before the Golden Gate Bridge.)  It was the longest bridge at the time.  The final cost came to approximately $77 million.  San Francisco celebrated for five days when the bridge opened with more than one million people taking part in parades, Navy air show, air parades, football games, etc.  Automobile traffic used the upper deck and the lower deck carried trucks and trains until this deck was converted in 1958.  The bridge was closed for a month in 1989 after an earthquake caused a section of the upper deck to crash into the lower deck.  Below are period photos of the Oakland-Bay Bridge, courtesy San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.  In 2002 the eastern section of the bridge was rebuilt as a self-anchored suspension bridge.  It opened in September 2013.  The cost for this reconstruction was about $6.5 billion.

Below are some vintage postcards of the Oakland-Bay Bridge.

I opted out of visiting the museum and asked to be dropped off on the Embarcadero near Fisherman's Wharf.  I knew it is a very touristy sight but the view of the Bay is beautiful from there.  I also longed to eat some good San Francisco sourdough bread and knew the Boudin Bakery and Restaurant was near Pier 41.  San Francisco sourdough bread is very popular.  For many years Parisian Bakery in the Bay area, established in 1856, sold their fresh sourdough bread at the airport as well.  Many travelers bought bread to take home.  Unfortunately Parisian Bakery was sold to Interstate Brands Corporation of Kansas City.  They changed the recipe and accelerated the way the bread was made for added profit.  But the bread did not taste the same.  The corporation went bankrupt and shut down Parisian Bakery in 2005.

Fortunately the Boudin Bakery is still making their wonderful crusty bread with the chewy and sour taste inside.  In 1849, Isidore Boudin, son of French master bakers, had emigrated from Burgundy in France to San Francisco and established a bakery to serve the Gold Rush population.  The bread was delivered by horse-drawn wagons.  Isidore established his bakery in North Beach and baked bread the way he had done in France - a fermented technique.  He captured natural yeast found in the air for his "mother dough" (the leavening base.)  But, in San Francisco, the air was different because of the fog and the sea.  Isidore's wild yeast made his bread into a "sourdough" bread.  The Boudin Bakery declares that they continue to use the original 19th century sourdough starter till now.  There are several sourdough bakeries in the Bay area and all together they bake more than 3.5 million loaves of sourdough bread every week - bought by customers and delivered to local restaurants.  Photos below courtesy Boudin Bakery.

The Boudin Bakery near Fisherman's Wharf is a two-story building with a 30-foot observation window where one can see the baking process, from the original dough to finished loaves of bread.  On the ground floor is Baker's Hall - a market with an assortment of breads and baked goods as well as regional gourmet food and gifts.  There is also an espresso bar.  Upstairs is a full-service restaurant and a Bistro bar.

As I went to a small table in the Bistro, I passed by a wall full of vintage postcards of San Francisco - I took a quick photo of the wall but did not have time to stop longer.  There is also a bakery museum upstairs, but I did not take the tour.

I ordered the "Ceviche Trio,"  an appetizer, which is a sample of Alaskan Halibut, Gulf Shrimp and Calamari Ceviche with thin-cut fries and sourdough bread and butter - plus a cold local India Pale Ale beer.  The Ceviche was well presented and interesting.  The bread was delicious.

Then I walked back towards Fisherman's Wharf by Pier 39.  It was a lovely sunny day, warm and windy.  Many people were about.  Some were watching men playing and singing.

I remember Fisherman's Wharf from decades ago.  It was mostly popular for the seafood restaurants there.  I liked to go close by to the Buena Vista Cafe to drink one of their famous Irish coffees.  They claim to have invented it.  They also declare serving up to 2000 Irish coffees per day.

Nowadays there are more tourists, more fast food places and souvenir shops.  But now, also, the sidewalks are larger, benches are plentiful and the area is decorated with many lovely flowers as well - some professionally planted and some, like this small yellow flower below, just trying to find a spot to grow.

I spent most of my time people watching, or strolling along the railing near the water to take a look at the Bay, or the boats, or the seals.

I liked to stop and read the information panels,

then go back and watch the activity on the Bay.

I came by a gate standing above weathered wood and rails.  It looked like the gate shown on the top of the information panel above.  The area was empty of people.  As I walked around it, I could see some shiny items under the railing.  As I approached I realized they were the infamous "love locks" that vandalize public property now everywhere.  I am pleased to report that the City of Paris, in early June this year, removed all the love locks from the Pont des Arts - 45 tons of locks (although the 700,000 or more love lock keys are still rusting at the bottom of the Seine River.)  Now they will start removing the love locks from other Paris bridges.  See my post on Paris Love Locks here.

As I was watching a small boat full of people going on a bay trip, a large cruise ship slowly passed in front of me.  It was the Golden Princess on its voyage to Alaska.

Now it was time to take a last look at the Bay and Alcatraz Island in the distance before meeting my daughter, her fiance and the grandsons.

After another look at Coit Tower I entered the car.  We drove by all the new tall buildings in the area and re-entered the Oakland-Bay Bridge - no toll in that direction.  Traffic going the other direction though, towards San Francisco, was still bumper to bumper.  The trip back to Alameda Island was much faster.

The grandsons loved their afternoon at the Exploratorium museum - they said they could have stayed there much longer as there were so many fun interactive computer displays to play with - but it closed at 5:00 pm.  I, also, enjoyed my lunch and had a very pleasant afternoon by the San Francisco Bay.  I played with three of my photos - and could not decide which one to show.  Which one do you prefer?  (Click to enlarge.)