Adam Turtle, Freelance Web Design in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Since1986
My Day Off
- 20th June, 2007
- filed under: San Francisco
- 5 comments
Yesterday I was fortunate to have my first day off with absolutely nothing planned. It was awesome, I slept in until 11 then got woken up by the hostel receptionist. I forgot to tell her I wasn’t checking out.
So in the morning I did some necessary maintenance – I set up a bank account and applied for Social Security. Took about 3 hours altogether, a lot of waiting around.
I reckoned I would take a look around the city, the bits I haven’t seen before so I did what all tourists do and went to Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s like the SF equivalent of Portrush – lots of souvenir shops and tourists. I almost got caught out by the World Famous Bushman. You gotta admire this guy, he’s been doing the same trick for years, but it’s very funny. I found a video online: http://www.vimeo.com/clip:7931
From Pier 39 I decided to walk to the Golden Gate bridge. I hadn’t walked over it yet and thought this would be a good opportunity. I didn’t realise it’s like 5 miles away! I made it there after about an hour and a half of walking, but it was definitely worth it. You get a great view from the hill to the side of it:
It’s really windy out at this part of the city, you get the breeze off the pacific and it’s really quite strong. You see a lot of windsurfers out that direction.
Onto the bridge and I have to admit it’s a little scary. I couldn’t help but think of all the people that have jumped from it to their deaths. It’s really easy to get over the railing, it’s only like four feet high. You get a little nervous even leaning over the railing, just in case a strong wind would push your over the edge. I think the GG bridge is the worlds leading suicide location. Statistically speaking, someone jumps off the bridge every 15 days. They have these signs on the bridge that are supposed to help:
A few posts ago I mentioned a movie called The Bridge which filmed the bridge over a year and tries to explain why people jump off it. I found the trailer for it on YouTube. It looks both amazing and disturbing:
In spite of all that, the view you get from the bridge is amazing. The whole bridge is an amazing constuction – it was painted International Orange so it would be visible in the thick fog that often surrounds it, and it is continuously being painted all year round. The two main cables that suspend from the bridge are crammed with thousands of smaller cables, which laid end to end comes to around 70,000 miles of cable – enough to circle the world three times. The bridge also is capable of swaying up to 27ft and can sag up to 60ft, capable of surviving winds of over 100 mph.Over at the Marin side of the bridge the view is just awesome. It makes it all worth it that you walked two miles to the other side, just to have to walk back again!
i love the last shot of the bridge… really good!
so how r u enjoying the life over there? iv spent this wk at inductions for bei…its pretty cool…im really excieted! i miss u aswell…its was jus me n rob the other day n it felt weird…but smelled better…but felt weird lol…so hows life as a tour guide? also y dont u answer my questions! lol email me!! … im going to france on tues…woop woop lol ..
It’s cool here. It kinda sucks if you’re under 21 here, very few bars and clubs will let you in so I don’t do much in the evenings. But only a month to go! But the meatballs subs are excellent! I miss you too. We’ll have to meet up for Christmas!
Pretty sweet, I saw a bridge once. nice to see you are getting plenty of exercise anyway lol.
Getting ready for the 12th around here, bonfires being built up etc.
Pain in the ass trying t get home from work and being redirected because of parades.
Missing us yet?
Hey Adam, great pictures. The Bridge looks amazing and makes the Forth Road Bridge look pity!! We’re all just back from Majorca and had a great time. We’re all home in a couple of weeks so will get to catch up with Sarah.