Walking the Russian Hill

First a close-up photo of the sea lions - I just had to go back when I was in the area to watch them again.


Then I embarked upon the walk through the famous hills of San Fran. The first attraction was the windiest street in the world. Lombard Street used to go straight up the hill. But with the advent of automobiles, which where at that time lacking to horse power to conquer the slope, the switchbacks where put in. Today it is apparently the most photographed spot in San Fran and a large proportion of tourists visit by car....


Two streets away - not much noticed by the majority of visitors is the steepest street in the world. The photo shows Alcatraz in the background.


Another attraction of my walk was a little terraced park at the top of Russian hill.

The views were breathtaking (due to the steep climb, breathtaking in more than one way), but my favourite where the humming birds. It was so exciting - I had never seen one before and I didn't know they occur in this area.


My route then joined with the Mason Street Cable car line and I hopped onto one to go to the cable car museum.


It is actually the central hub of the system where the big motors turn to keep the cables under the streets in constant motion.

The design and the effort that goes into running four cable car lines is staggering. The cables run in a continuous loop under the street and at every turn or change of slope have to be kept in place by an intricate pulley system. The cable cars grab on to the moving cable and according to the strength of the grip move with a portion of the speed of the cable. Putting all this into place would be a tremendous effort. However, keeping it running requires even more effort. Not surprisingly the cables wear quickly and have to be replaced in intervals of a couple of days. The cars are fitted with wooden brake shoes that press on the rails to slow the car downhill. On the really steep bit you can actually smell the hot / burning wood. I was in a cable car which had a near accident with a pedestrian - it took quite a while to get the car to a stop and then the burnt wood smell was extreme. Talking to the conductor I found out that there is a minimum weight of 110 pounds for people who want to work as conductors. Operating these things is apparently an art and requires a lot of strength.



At night I went out with a couple of people from the hostel and we found this amazing bar. The band was sitting behind a small bar and we sat facing them. The music was a mixture of classic songs and comedy. The boys could play any song people asked for and in most cases had their own bit of lyrics mixed with the original song. The place was packed with friendly locals and regulars which made for interesting conversations.