Barbary Coast Trail (3) -- Powell Street

The Cable car starting point is located at Powell and Market Street. I didn't really take Cable Car for visiting before; just like that I have stayed in Shanghai for so many years, I've never really been to the famous Yu Garden. 真是越近在眼前的东西越不怎么在意啊!

Until the day I walked the Barbary Coast trail, I just realized that I have been stupid for such a long time. I always thought that the cable car is just like the tram -- it is powered by the engine in the tram but runs along the rail. H was teasing me quite a lot on that. :P Now I learned that it runs by the cable underground. Of course, Cable car has to be run by Cable, literally, how stupid I was! The cable kept running underground all the time, the cable car just grabs the cable when it needs to run, and looses the grip and brakes when it needs to stop. It doesn't have a power inside at all! If you look closely between the gap of the rail, you can see the cable running underground. We did that a few times, staring at the ground to see how cable works, then people stopped next to us, trying to find out what we were looking at, they may wonder whether we found a gold mine there! :P A new gold rush age!

Cable car @ Powell street


It is also interesting to see how Cable car makes a U-Turn at the station. Since the rails (back and forth) are pretty close to each other, and cable car size is not small, it's kind of hard for Cable car to make a U-turn after it comes back to the station. So a big turning wheel with rail is built on the ground. The wheel's diameter is about the Cable car's size. And the rail is connected to the one side of rail first, when Cable car gets on the big wheel, the whole wheel will be turned certain degrees by human force, so that the rail will connect to the other side of rail and cable car can keep on going. It is pretty amazing to see how it works.

Walking along Powell street, there are very nice antique shops along the street. I love the window design there. Maybe I shall study to be a window designer.


The antique shop has lots of interesting stuff, like those very delicate carved elephant trunks, it looked to me like the very precious Chinese antiques. I wondered how they get those. By robbering or stealing from China during the Qing Dynasty?

In front of an antique shop.

Monkey A: Hear no evil
Monkey B: See no evil
Grace: Think no evil
Monkey C: Speak no evil

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Barbary Coast Trail (2) -- Hallidie Plaza

Hallidie Plaza

Hallidie Plaza is located at Powell and Market Street. I always pass that area, but have never known it has a name before. The cable car station is right next to the plaza. Therefore there are lots of street vendors who are selling souvenirs to the tourists around the plaza.


Some street performers dancing around Hillidie plaza. Behind it, it's my favorite store -- Forever 21. (有装嫩之嫌 :P)

Bronze medallion

We walked around Hallidie plaza, watched the street performance, and browsed the souvenirs. Right while we were enjoying our moment, we suddenly remembered that we haven't seen one bronze medallion yet. So we started our search. We looked at the street corner, and went to check under each street vender's cart. We had no idea how it should look like and how big it should be. In my imagination, it's a small round yellow thing, kind of rusted and dusted, lying in some corner unnoticeable. We went to ask the street vender, hoping that they may have ever seen such a thing. Sadly no one has ever heard of it. We were about to give up, then I noticed there is this huge shiny thing lying in the middle of the walkway. I didn't even think that will be it because it's so big and shiny, and nicely engraved. It just looked too good to be true. But it has "Barbary Coast Trail" boldly and clearly carved on it, THAT'S IT -- our "Barbary Coast Trail" bronze medallion! 踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费功夫！


The first bronze medallion we found，one arrow pointing to the way we come from, the other pointing to the way we need to go. Very clear instruction, excellent road guide, not like the rocks piled up by the rangers in the national park, this road sign will always give you a correct direction!

Andrew Hallidie

Andrew Hallidie is the father of the cable car. He promoted the first cable line in the world, the Clay Street Hill Railroad.

Andrew was born in London. His father held several patents for the manufacture of metal wire ropes. Hallidie had hurt his health through overwork, so he and his father visited California in 1852. Later his father returned to Britain but Hillidie remained in California. Andrew Hallidie mined, surveyed, blacksmithed, and built bridges. He became the first person to make wire rope in California. He built many suspension bridges in northern California. His cables were critical elements of suspension bridges, mine hauling systems, and an endless cable ropeway for industrial purposes which Hallidie patented in 1867. An important feature of the ropeway was a "grip wheel", a driving sheave with clips around its perimeter to keep the cable from slipping. Hallidie later used the grip wheel on the Clay Street Hill Railroad.



Various stories claim that Hallidie conceived of the idea of the cable railway while watching horses struggle to haul cars up Jackson Street, from Kearny to Stockton Street. The horses had to be whipped cruelly. They would sometimes slip and be dragged back down the hill. This may be true, but Hallidie took over an existing proposal for a cable railway from Benjamin H Brooks, who had not been able to find financing for his plan. In any event, Hallidie built a model cable railway and obtained financing from three partners. He received his first cable car-related patent on 17-Jan-1871. He had surveyed California Street for his line, but decided that it would be less expensive to build on Clay Street, and that Clay Street came closer to the peak of Nob Hill and so would offer a better demonstration of the system. Hallidie and his partners worked hard to sell stock in the line and did not have much success. The line and the grip which bears Hallidie's name were designed by engineer William E Eppelsheimer. The franchise demanded that a test run take place no later than 01-Aug-1873. The first test run actually took place early in the morning on 02-Aug-1873, but the city did not void the franchise. Most accounts say that the first gripman hired by Hallidie looked down the steep hill from Jones and refused to operate the car, so Hallidie took the grip himself and ran the car down the hill and up again without any problems. The line started regular service on 01-Sep-1873 and was a financial success. Hallidie's patents, managed by a Cable Railway Trust, made him rich.

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Barbary Coast Trail (1) -- US Mint

The U.S. Mint is the starting point of the Barbary Coast Trail. It locates at Mission and 5th ave. When I first heard about U.S. Mint, I was wondering why mint is so important in American history, because I don't think many people like to eat mint except for mint flavored gum. :P 后来才得知，此mint非彼mint啊！Mint has another meaning which I've never known before -- mint can also be a verb, to make coins out of metals.



The United States Mint at San Francisco plays an important role in US's coinage. Although it does not currently produce circulating coins, it is the exclusive manufacturer of regular proof and silver proof coin sets that set the standard for numismatic excellence with their brilliant artistry, fine craftsmanship and enduring quality. With the California Gold Rush underway in 1849, the United States Mint was overwhelmed with the task of turning all that gold into coins. Also, transporting it all to Philadelphia for coining was both time-consuming and hazardous. So in 1850, President Millard Fillmore recommended that a branch of the United States Mint be established in California. Congress approved the plan in 1852, and the San Francisco Mint was born. In 1854, the San Francisco Mint opened its doors and began converting miners' gold into coins, producing $4,084,207 in gold pieces by December of that first year alone. The new mint soon outgrew the small brick building in which it was housed. In 1874 it moved to an imposing new facility, with walls of stone, resembling an ancient Greek temple. The Mint's production of coins was uninterrupted for 32 years, until the disastrous earthquake of 1906. Because the gas works were partially destroyed, operations stopped temporarily. But the beautiful, solidly constructed Mint building survived both the earthquake and the ensuing firestorm. In fact, the Mint was the only financial institution capable of operating immediately after the disaster and became the treasury for disaster relief funds, performing other emergency banking services as well. Coining operations resumed soon afterward and continued in this building until 1937, when Mint workers moved to a larger, more modern facility, the present United States Mint at San Francisco. Today, the United States Mint at San Francisco does not accommodate visitors, as all space is needed for personnel and machinery.

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Barbary Coast Trail -- Preface

Before the trail starts, let’s review some history of San Francisco.

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth-largest city in California and the fourteenth-largest in the United States. It is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and has traditionally been the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area.

October 9, 1776, the Spanish became the first Europeans to settle in San Francisco, establishing a mission named for Francis of Assisi. With the advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848, the city entered a period of rapid growth. After being devastated by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt and is today one of the most recognizable cities in the world.

Golden Gate Bridge


October 2000, Grace stepped on the land of San Francisco and started her career as a software engineer.

September 2006, Grace is still living in this area as a software engineer, but she discovered the Barbary Coast Trail and took a self guided tour. From that trail, she learned more things about San Francisco than what she has learned in the past 6 years! She starts to love this city more and more now!

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Barbary Coast Trail

Have you ever known that there is a marked trail in the city of San Francisco? Well, I have never heard of that until about two weeks ago, even though I have been in the Bay Area for about 6 years now. And yes, it is called "Barbary Coast Trail"!

What is "Barbary Coast Trail"? And why is it so special to be mentioned here? If you are a curious person as I am, you may already have googled it! But here, I will tell you my own expierence of this "Barbary Coast Trail", first handed! ;)

The Barbary Coast Trail is a 3.8 mile walk through the heart of historic San Francisco. As a pathway to San Francisco's past, a series of bronze medallions and arrows embedded in the sidewalk connect the trail’s 20 historic sites, which are shown in the following map (click on the map to see the whole map).



You may wonder now how I got to know about this trail, since I'm one of those kind who need to read "History for Dummies". :P But I have resources other than reading about it myself. My dearest friend H was surfing online and happened to see an introduction of this trail. He told me about it, I'm not particularly interested in history, but one thing really interests me is that you have to follow the bronze medallions to guide through all 20 historic sites. Since all medallions are embedded in the sidewalk, there is a good chance that they can be blocked by the street vender's cart. So you have to really look for them when you walk along the trail. Since neither of us knows how this medallion looks like, plus I just finished "Angle and Demon", the whole thing sounds an adventure to me. So we decided to explore the trail.

Journey starts ...

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Cruise -- Day 2 (07/01/2006) （2）

回到船上已经差不多快三点半了，听说三点钟船上有乒乓比赛，偶兴致勃勃地回舱里换好衣服，拿上拍子准备去参加比赛。不是自夸，偶的乒乓球水平，在女生业余水平里，算是不错的，也经常可以和男生较量一番的呢！偶来之前就听说船上有乒乓桌，一直摩拳擦掌的想要找人练一练！虽说偶是业余的，可是装备还是要向正规选手学习，偶的拍子可是板归板，胶归胶找人帮偶用speed glue粘的，而且偶只习惯用自己的拍子打球。所以尽管偶箱子已被衣服塞得满满当当的，偶还是把偶的专用球拍和几个比赛专用乒乓球挤了进去。到了球场，发现比赛已经结束了，见一老美正和J开打呢。看那老美挺自以为是的，会左右抽球，估计在一般业余没怎么打过球的老美里打得还凑或，也不知他是不是那天船上比赛的冠军。他们下后，偶也上去打了两盘，可惜乒乓球桌质量极差，是室外用的铝合金得不说，还短了条腿，十分不稳，害的偶抽球连连失误，不过还是连赢两盘。那老美在一旁看得又心痒痒了，向偶发了挑战书，要和偶单挑独斗。没问题啊，偶刚才在下边看他打时就已充分掌握了他的弱点，此人只会乱抽，吃削吃转，而且发球时带上旋。这正合偶的球路，偶属于进攻型，最喜欢快攻和抽球了。于是乎，那老美每发一球，偶就一板大力抽回，直抽得他没脾气，而偶每发一转球，他就接出外。偶一局打下来，老美只得了2分，输得他直翻白眼瞪天花板，哈哈，偶赢得可真爽！不过乒乓球可真是中国人的天下，只要是中国人，或多或少都会打两下，小明，大卫和J都是乒乓高手，可惜在船上没能好好讨教，偶门约好回湾区后一定要相互切磋切磋技艺，不过此乃后话了。

Pingpong


船上共有两个游泳池和三个jaccuzi，都小得可怜，游泳池怎么看怎么也就是一个kids swimming pool，而jaccuzi任何时候都像下饺子一般挤得满满的。就这点上，Cruise可真是同偶想象中的差了十万八千里，在偶的想象里，cruise的游泳池旁都排满了俊男靓女，一个个身材诱人，排排的躺在池子边晒太阳，可以让偶好好养养眼的那种。可是偶门的cruise，游泳池里都挤满了小孩，池边的躺椅上躺满了浑身冒油晒得通红的肥公肥婆们。有一对couple，估计那男的有300磅，女的有400来磅的样子。男的虽说胖也就算了，可是他就穿着个游泳裤站在泳池旁，远远看过去，跟史前人一般，浑身上下全长满了毛，黑黑一片，看着真是让人不舒服。而那女的，颤颤悠悠的从游泳池里爬出来去泡jacuuzi，偶门眼珠子都要瞪掉了，她一下去还不是把jacuuzi都挤满了，水估计都要瀑出来了，用恐怖形容一点也不为过啊！说句大实话，这一船的人，估计还就数偶门这一group的人身材最好了，就这点讲还是做亚洲人好啊！

晚上是formal dinner night，必须要dress up。男生要穿suit，女生要穿dress或evening gown。换好衣服出门一看，嗬嗬，个个都是人摸狗样的，偶的那帮男性狐朋们个个都是深色西装打着领带，从没见过他们穿得那么正式，看着还挺不习惯的。:P 女生当然个个都是花枝招展的，不过偶似乎有些over dress了，临出发前F交待fomal dinner night最好都要穿gown的，所以偶就穿了偶的blue gown，结果一到餐厅发现几乎没有人穿gown，最多也就是cocktail dress了，穿过了。:( 不过偶的gown还是得到大家一致好评，让偶的虚荣心也小小满足了一下。:P 吃过饭偶们去看了船上的叫什么hollywood的show，show十分boring，何况偶前两天也都没有睡好加上又累了一天，所以偶没有等show结束就早早回舱里睡觉去了。

Formal Dinner Night

Cruise -- Day 2 (07/01/2006) （1）

前一天晚上dinner过后，偶门看了goofy magician的show，还去船上clubbing了一把，一直折腾到半夜一点多才睡得觉。想船舱里那么黑，一定能睡一个大懒觉，结果清晨6点多就被船抛锚的声音震醒了。原来偶门已经到了Ensenada,Mexico。偶被吵得睡不着了，只能悻悻爬起来，和女id一同到11层甲板上buffet吃早点。刚上甲板，就远远望见小明和大卫穿戴整齐的坐在游泳池旁边的躺椅上晒太阳，还时不时地交头接耳一下，很有Broken Back的架势。:P 原来还有人比偶们起的还早啊！吃罢早点，偶们盼星星，盼月亮，终于在11点多差不多把人都等齐了，于是大家一起上岸去逛Ensenada。没想到一到岸上，大队人马就把偶们给丢了，偶和女id直faint，想想偶们早上六点多就爬起来，一直等到11点多才把人等齐上的岸，结果一上岸就被丢了，早不如不等他们了呢！

Ensenada并不大，只有一条main street，被偶门来来回回走了N次。整个town给偶有美国和中国小城的混合体的感觉，说像美国，是因为街上的商店，饭馆感觉就和在美国是一样，有英文店名和目录表，街角的plaza里也矗立着绿色圆盘的starbucks标记；说像中国，是因为讨饭的小孩和兜售小手工艺饰品的商贩们满大街都是。偶们路过一小摊贩，偶看了看摊上卖的手镯，顺便问了声价钱，被告知美金十块，DD在边上嘟哝一句这么贵啊，偶们转身就准备走，摊主立马就把价钱降到了六块，感觉真有些像上海的襄阳路市场！路边乞讨的墨西哥小孩子，虽说穿得有些脏兮兮的，但个个都是浓眉大眼，长得颇为可爱。有一个小孩在偶们路过时冲着偶直喊：“You want money! You want money!”叫得偶一愣，想这么个小屁孩怎么一眼就把偶看透了，知道偶整天就想着要钱？老墨出人才啊！后来才反应过来，估计还是小老墨英文底子不够好，把我和你搞混了，该说“I want money!”的，见着偶们一着急，就成了“You want money!”了！

Downtown Ensenada


偶们就这么在街上闲逛着，突然又碰上了小明和PQ，才得知原来大队人马都去看一个十几个mile远海边的自然喷泉了，这两是逃兵，也和偶们一样在街上闲逛呢。于是偶们5个人决定找一个餐馆好好坐下，享受一下正宗的墨西哥菜。偶在来墨西哥之前可是作了很多功课的，凭偶那两句洋泾浜墨西哥话，点菜应该是没有什么大问题了，在这儿臭显一把，偶会说，Amego（朋友），Señorita（小姐），Magarita/Corona/Tequila（酒），Fajita/Taco/Quesadillas（墨西哥食物），Bumanos（快点儿），Gracias（谢谢），小学生造句：“Senorita, Fajita, Magarita, Bumanos, Gracias!”不赖吧！:P

Street Vender -- Super Mario


街上卖墨西哥大草帽和小手工艺品的商贩 -- 感觉很像超级玛力

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Cruise -- Day 1 (06/30/2006) （2）

光头一路将偶门开到了LA的port，偶门准备过关登船了。女id是公民，光头也有绿卡，偶因为刚回国一次，因此还有一次有效的回美签证，只有DD什么也没有，看他有些担心，唠唠叨叨深怕上不了船，偶门都在一旁安慰他，说“没事，上船去墨西哥肯定没问题，最多也就是回不来了么！”，说得DD直faint。出关，按指纹，偶门顺利登上了cruise，放好行李后大家直奔buffet，自打一大早出发时在starbucks垫了点热巧克力和banana nut bread，以及车上吃了些女id从公司偷的snacks，到将近四点上船，偶门几乎没吃什么东西，光头和DD都饿疯了，到了buffet就直冲那大块的肉奔去，两大块下去后才舒缓了一下饥饿的感觉。偶和女id还是比较淑女的，想想晚上6点15就是dinner了，何况还要穿dress，总不能吃的肚子鼓鼓的穿吧，只能强忍着饥饿，吃了点水果和鱼。觉得buffet食物一般，并没有像偶朋友描述得那么美好！吃完偶门在船上转了一圈，已经有不少人已经登船了，游泳池旁也已堆满了半裸的男男女女惬意的享受着日光浴，真是满眼肉色，可惜没几个身材好的，令人失望！

船上的舱位是按单双号排的，单号一边双号一边，偶门的舱房都是没有玄窗的，关了门闭了灯就是伸手不见五指了。偶门同行20多人里，只有女id和偶的舱房是单号，其余的人都住在船的另一侧，女id说，一旦要发生海难，就只能偶门两人相依为命了，所以偶门一定要统一口供，说偶门是一家的，这样偶门至少在逃生时还能上同一条救生船。:P

五时半偶和女id回舱房轮流洗澡更衣，偶正在镜前梳妆打扮呢，船起锚了，不一伙儿船身就开始左右上下晃动，偶是腹中空空，脑袋发晕，有些晕船了。等偶门赶到餐厅，朋友们都差不多到齐了。偶门和海帮主（上海帮帮主），小明，大卫，大帅哥和PPMM，以及另外两位PPMM同桌。海帮主坐在偶旁边，也是偶的老朋友了，平时生龙活虎，气势非凡，可那天却是蔫儿吧叽的像只病猫，原来一世英雄的海帮主最终让晕船给打倒了。偶倒是还挺争气，食物一下肚，立马也就不晕了。于是饭桌上活跃气氛的工作就转交到了女id和偶的手里，一顿饭下来，用DD的话形容，偶门那一桌最热闹了，从头到尾就听见两个人的声音--偶和女id的，谢谢DD夸偶门工作卖力！


First Night on Cruise


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Cruise -- Day 1 (06/30/2006) （1）

Cruise对女生来讲不亚于一时装秀。因为在船上每天都要换好几身，有白天休闲穿的，船上运动时穿的，游泳时的比基尼，晚上正式晚餐的礼服，以及clubbing的衣服，一天至少要洗上两三回澡，换上好几身衣服。尽管在船上一共只呆三天，可衣服还是足足塞满了一整箱。偶这次整理行李，准备工作做得比任何一次旅行都长，花了差不多两三个晚上，只是为了决定该带什么合适的衣服。要知道偶回国一个月整理行李也只是花了一个晚上啊！虽然偶拥有整整一个walk-in closet的衣服，可还是犹豫不决不知该带什么样的，唉，女人的衣柜里总是少一件衣服啊。不知道男生是怎么收拾箱子的，反正偶是越收拾时间花得越多，每件衣服都需要上身试过才能决定带还不带。:P不过相对来说，偶只是在整理箱子时花了点时间，不像DD和女id，还专门为了cruise去shopping N次，偶还是省了不少银子的，偷乐中。经过无数次臭美之后，偶终于将偶的行李在cruise前一天晚上收拾完，由dress，night gown，bikinis，以及平时穿得casual clothes，自然还带了sandal和dress shoes及洗漱用品啦，满满当当的一个小箱子，自己也觉得有些不太好意思，衣服好象带多了。

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Cruise是从6月30日下午5点从LA出发的。因此一大清早，光头就开车来接偶，DD和女id。（偶，大帅哥，DD，女id都住同一个apartment complex里，而且又是同一栋楼同一层，即是朋友又是邻居，真是亲上加亲了。只是大帅哥这次重色轻友，要单独带PPMM前往，故没能与偶门同行。不过这也是人之常情，大帅哥轻咱，咱可不能轻大帅哥啊，为大帅哥未来的幸福加油！！！）光头也是偶门的狐朋狗友之一，因为他有SUV，所以偶门都沾他的光开车前往LA。（在此也要万分感谢光头不辞辛苦，带着偶门长途跋涉的开到LA又安全将偶门开回。中途偶门还有幸见识了光头的极高开车技巧--强行换lane以应偶如厕之需。）车到装货，除了要装偶门四个大活人之外，还要装偶们那一箱箱的衣服。真是不比不知道，偶还一直以为自己衣服带多了，往车上一看，就数偶的箱子最小了。The winner of who has the most clothes is （锣鼓声鸣） --- DD。原来男生臭美起来比女生还厉害啊！

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Cruise -- 前言

7月4日independence day长周末，偶同一大帮朋友坐cruise去了墨西哥的Ensenada。这是偶第一次坐游轮，可能是因为去之前把cruise想得太好，去了之后发现感觉并没有像想象中的那样exciting。主要的原因大概是因为船上吃得没有像偶朋友告诉偶得那么好吧。偶有一朋友告诉偶说，船上食物味道奇好，而且一天24小时供应，她第一天上船就吃了8顿，听得偶是充分做好心理准备--预计3天cruise增重5磅的，结果回来一称，最多只重了0.5磅，比期望值差了很远啊！

cruise的组委会由F，J，T和大帅哥组成。既然有大帅哥，理所当然的也就拉了偶，女id和DD加入。为了可以拿到group discount并在cruise上组织private party，除了偶门这帮狐朋狗友外，组委会还拉了20多口人，结果偶门一行有浩浩荡荡30多号人参加，有一半的人偶之前都不认识。为了cruise的成功，并让大家相互熟悉一下，偶门在cruise之前就借机开了两次pre-cruise party，腐败种种，在此就不多提了。不过到也通过这一次又一次的party，让偶的朋友圈又扩大很多，也没少认识湾区的帅哥美女们。

只是这次的cruise，偶没有怎么拍照片，连偶的半专业相机偶都没有拿出来用，真是惭愧，只能从一摄影爱好者降级为被摄影爱好者了。




非专业麻豆，pose不来，只能以大笑掩饰尴尬。

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