What I did on my holidays (part 3)

This is my mate Gio with San Francisco and the Bay Bridge in the background. Believe it or not we were both standing on Treasure Island which is a naval base about halfway across the bay.

And here's my mate Gio in bike heaven (or Bike Central) He thinks it's perfectly normal for a person to own a bicycle for every occasion. Gio is also active in the bike activist group Critical Mass and is therefore prone to long mass bike rides. He hopes to see in Australia by bike.
I'm told that Australian gum trees (eucalyptus) are really common around the world but it was a real blast for this Aussie boy to find this one in Golden Gate Park. Of course there are vast forests of eucalyptus in the East Bay area which regularly catch fire and burn down all the rich folks houses. When I arrived in the center of the city and found that the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) was exhibiting my favorite surrealist I knew the Goddess was in favour of this visit. That SKY sign was my first introduction to this city's public art.( Click on the image above for a larger view.)

New house being built in the traditional bay window style on a street in the Mission district. I must say it doesn't look awfully solid. I missed the Gay Pride Parade by one day (this is one of the floats parked in a side street). I did get lost in the Castro one day though - it's a very overtly wealthy district.

Down on Fisherman's Wharf this dude was charging the tourists $1 to take his photo (which he said he was going to spend on dope). It seems he was a newcomer to this beat and was stealing a lot of trade from a pair of very surly bikers. It was so inspiring to see the American free enterprise system at work.

(Click on the image for a larger view)

It seems there is quite a lot of real poverty in the Land of the Free and quite a large population living on the streets, although possibly no more evident than Australia's major cities. Begging is tightly controlled and police maintain a fairly close eye on the street people (moving them on). Apparently there was some legislative attempt to ban the use of shopping trolleys by street people.

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