Golden Gate Bridge & Fisherman's Wharf

Hi everyone!

 

We have had another awesome day. This morning we walked to Cityride Bike Hire and picked up the bikes we had hired. We set off fairly early so as to beat the worst crowds of the day. We rode past the Fisherman's Wharf area and through Crissy Field, before climbing a hill and arriving at the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

The Golden Gate Bridge was opened on the 27th of May 1937, and construction began in 1933. At the time it was built, it was the world's longest single span suspension bridge (today it's a bridge in Japan). It's 1280m long, built in the art deco style and painted the famous "international orange" colour so that it would stand out in contrast to its surrounding hills and the ocean.

Just as when I visited as a kid, I was taken aback by its size and its striking colour. Even more so today, as again we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather and clear blue skies. It was a magnificent day to be out bike riding, particularly over this beautiful bridge!!

We rode across on the eastern side and enjoyed great views of the city and Alcatraz once again. While riding underneath I took in the size of the two columns, each standing 227m above the water. The cables were very thick too, and we later read that they are 92.4cm in diameter and each made up of a whopping 27,572 wires. The bridge in its entirety has enough cables to wrap around the equator three times (129 000 km worth)! So we had no qualms riding over, as we knew the structure was obviously very strong.

Once we reached the other side, we checked out the northern vista platform. By this early stage, it was already packed full of people and cars, so we kept riding to the town of Sausalito. Sausalito is a small seaside town to the north of San Francisco. If I had to liken it to anywhere I have ever been before, I would say Staten Island. Like in New York, we were north of the city here and enjoyed great views. We ate some yummy fish and chips at a cafe before taking a walk around and then riding back towards the bridge (uphill - it was hard!). On the way back, unfortunately we saw what looked like a pretty bad car accident near the bridge.

We kept riding and crossed back over the bridge again. It was really heaving with people by this stage, and many of them apparently couldn't understand picture instructions. I have never used a bell on a bike so much! It was clearly labelled where pedestrians should walk and where cyclists should ride, but some tourists are so clueless. After a couple of near misses, we made it to the other side OK.

Here we visited the viewing platform on the southern side, which was also packed with people. Nevertheless, we took in the views and got some beautiful photos. It was so sunny and gorgeous! Then we went to the welcome centre where I bought a couple of souvenirs and we read up about the bridge. Aside from the information I've listed above, we also learned that the chief engineer of the bridge was Joseph B Strauss. Apparently his involvement with the bridge (from planning in 1921 up to its opening in 1937) took its toll on his health. He died just a year after the completion of the bridge.

On a more positive note, during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, the most stringent of safety measures were put in place to ensure worker safety. Workers were lining up to offer their services during the construction of the bridge, as it was built during the Great Depression. At this time, it was common for one worker to die for every million dollars that was spent building a bridge. Thirty five million dollars was spent constructing the Golden Gate Bridge, but 35 workers didn't die. Unfortunately, 11 still did. However, this was a very good result for this kind of construction at the time. It was a pretty dangerous project to work on, with factors like strong winds, lead paint fumes and heavy machinery all being major risk factors.

Finally, I read up on a few interesting stats as well. You know me, I'm a Maths teacher. I like numbers!
1) Nearly 300 000 cubic metres of concrete were used during the construction of the bridge

2) The total weight of all the bridge structures used was 811 500 000 kg

3) The bridge took 1605 days to build
4) There are 600 000 rivets in each of the two towers
5) The bridge has a clearance of 67m above the water (this is why that huge ship could fit underneath yesterday!)

6) The lights on the bridge were added in 1987 to celebrate the bridge's 50th anniversary

After watching video footage of some of the construction stages of the bridge, we got back on our bikes again and rode to a much quieter viewing platform. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the same one we took our photo on in 2005 as it appears they have redeveloped the viewing area. But we did enjoy some more views, this time in a much quieter place.

We then rode through the Presidio park area where we saw some beautiful trees, as well as the National Cemetery. Near the cemetery, we saw a war memorial for the Korean War so stopped and had a look. I always find it fascinating when my trips "collide". Not even three months ago, Dad and I were in South Korea learning all about the Korean War and the casualties during it. Now here I was in San Francisco next to a cemetery containing the graves of 2200 US soldiers who lost their lives in the Korean War. Interestingly, San Fransisco's coordinate of latitude is 38 degrees north, the same as the DMZ line that was created in 1945, separating the two Koreas.

Next, we saw some housing that was built for families of soldiers. Much of the Presidio area contains forts and other military structures that were built for the civil war, but never used as California was never attacked. We then passed the Palace of Fine Arts before checking out the Wave Organ sculpture. You know when you were little, your Mum handed you a shell and you could "hear the ocean" when you held it up to your ear? This was like a giant sculpture version of that. Lots of different pipes that were part submerged in the ocean and produced interesting sounds. We enjoyed it! We also saw some crazy people swimming in the bay here! Today was sunny, but it was still cold! No thanks.

Then we returned our bikes and walked to Fisherman's Wharf. I enjoyed a hot bread bowl of clam chowder in Adam's honour. It was yummy! Here I received the first comment about my Collingwood cap, when a family from Melbourne were behind me in the queue. We then walked to Pier 39 which was absolutely crawling with people before heading back.

Later tonight we are seeing the movie '1917'. It's not out in Australia for a couple more weeks!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox