Friday, December 14, 2007

San Francisco again....

Last Sunday December 9th, we went again to San Francisco but this time with Salbiah, Faizal, Yazmin and 2 ladies from my husband's office back home. Daiana & Oni completed their meetings & whatever business they were here for on Friday, sent their boss off to return home on Saturday and then spent a few more days here with us for some sight seeing and shopping. I on the other hand rasa seronok ...dapat bercerita-ceriti with both of them. Rindu pulak kat Rusminah and her family. Since they left, the house seemed even quieter - sunyi!. Anyway, we brought Daiana & Oni shopping the whole of Saturday afternoon and evening at Gilroy. There are many shopping centers here but if you want factory outlets then Gilroy is of course the spot to go to. With Christmas and the holidays around the corner, banyak la 'sale' going on. 'Langkah kanan' betul Daiana & Oni. :) Seronok tengok the 2 ladies doing their shopping. Me? I was just being a good chaperone! he..he.. tapi geram juga tengok baju budak2 yang comel2 in stores such as OshKosh & Carters - the kind of places that these feet have not stepped into in a long, loong time now.... San Francisco seperti melambai-lambai 'chirpy' Pn Daiana and 'cool' Pn Oni - jangan maarah ya .... Seperti biasa first stop in San Francisco is Pier 39. We parked our cars at the Pier 39 Parking Center across the street. It costs 7 dollars per hour but by showing AAA (Triple A) card...parking is free! We found using the overhead pedestrian bridge, which we did not notice in earlier visits, much easier than crossing the street to Pier 39. It's connected to the Parking Center at Level 3. If you are staying in a hotel in San Francisco, you can also take a trolley or cable car and it stops right at the entrance. All your souveniers and gifts buying gets done at one place! The rest is just seeing the sights and taking in the sounds....so to speak. If you have time, go on up the cable car. You see one in the picture on the left below, where the driver stops just in time for his passengers to take snaps of Lombard Street from the top of the hill. Our trips to San Francisco were always a one-day affair so we don't get to see more than what I am writing about it here. ANyway..my children love Lombard Street... and it's still as crooked as ever! Notice the car parking at an angle in front of the houses. Imagine living in an area where it is most photographed! And we got our fair share of 'glamer' too, when we were met by a group of 'paparazzis' at the bottom of the hill. Actually, they were tourists taking pictures of cars coming down the hill of Lombard Street. Hmmm...maybe I'll join them in our next trip. Funny... even a crooked street can be one of tourists attractions. I think we must start learning how to make 'something' good, out of a bad situation. I bet orang tak nak tinggal pun kat tempat tu dulu...dah la nak masuk rumah pun susah! Kena parking kereta senget pulak tu....he..he.. Do you know why San Francisco streets become the way they are? Earthquakes of course! The other day it was shown on one of the programs on TV, ( dah tak der kerja..asyik tengok TV jer laa...LoL ), how the old city of San Francisco was mostly destroyed and the earth shifted after the massive earthquake about 100 over years ago. Thus, creating this undulating land. The city, houses & roads are built along the slopes.. memang cantik! People say driving in this city guna banyak minyak...Well, what do you expect! .. Naik turun, naik turun bukit. It is forecasted that a major earthquake will occur in year 2008. They say it's not a matter of 'IF' it happens. Definitely, it will happen but only they don't know 'WHEN'. Walaubagaimanapun, Allah lebeh mengetahui dan menghendaki. Yang kita mampu buat hanya berdo'a supaya dijauhkan sebarang musibah. That is one of the risk that we have to take living overseas....Kalau nak di fikirkan, quakes are now beginning to occur in Malaysia too! Kita berdo'a supaya no harm is in our way....insyaAllah. Another fact that I am getting to know is that this city is the 'gay' capital of the West. Like I have story-ed in one of my previous postings, the 'gay' capital of the East Coast is ProvinceTown, Massachusetts. Note the picture of the 'gay' center on the right which we happened to pass. Them... in their own world! Mereka, dengan dunia mereka sendiri...
Picnic-ing at Chrissy Fields last Sunday was a bit better than the previous time we went with Rusminah & family. It was not that windy but it was still cold. Each picnic table comes with a barbeque grill and there were quite a number of other picnic-ers as well in the area. Tak sanggup pulak nak guna the common barbeque grill. Don't know what was grilled before.. Orang yang jalan kaki & jogging pun ramai. There were also those with their dogs... Dia orang ingat kita bekenan sangat dengan anjing dia orang tuu. Imagine picking up after their dogs.. sanggup tu! Ramai kat sini yang lebeh suka binatang dari anak. It's funny at times seeing them with their dogs... dia orang layan betul2 macam budak.. We were on Twin Peaks around dusk. Sejuuk ya amat la kat atas bukit tuu and everyone was too tired to get out of the car....



Yazmin feeding the pigeons out of her hand at Pier 39. Ooo..she is really something. Seronok betul tengok anak comel ni...



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

cantiknya San Francisco

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Betul...Landscape & architecture-nya betul2 cantik... :)

Anonymous said...

7 yrs in Santa Clara, we didn't know AAA entitles to free parking kat Pier 39 garage, we're still paying $20 @ Pier 41. Guess lepas ni tak merasalah Chikano @ Pier 41 tu duit kami. We learn from each other everyday, thanks! Our last trip to S.Francisco was almost 1 yr ago ... he he he. Half Moon Bay anyone???

U-know-me!

zidnee 'ilmaa said...

Just go to the California Welcome Center, Visitor Information there to get your ticket validated. In fact, Faizal could use Pak Aji's card to get his validated too! Ooo..Half Moon Bay? After completing process 'golek-golek'..,ok? :)

Anonymous said...

Yes, after completing the golek-golek process, insyaAllah. We'll get Mr.Crab for BBQ ...

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