LoveItaly -- send some of that heat to the east coast, please! I enjoyed sunny California and came home with a tan. Today, at home, I had to turn on the heat -- it's nearly the end of May for goodness sakes!

I'm glad I didn't run into the Bushman during our visit to SF...I probably would have slugged him, lol!

Great report AR

Not truly hot yet. Like around 90. Enough to have the ceiling fan on at night. But I'm afraid it will get hotter. I like the wharf now and then. I haven't been to the Ferry Bldg. yet so want to try to do that next trip if I can. I have read some good things about it so would like to check it out for myself. I like to wander around the Cannery etc. for a couple of hours...that kind of thing. The Balclutha is an interesting visit along with the Maritime Museum. My girl friend, who picks me up at the Oakland Airport, has this thing for Bubba Gumps, so if the timing is right we always stop at Pier 39 before heading up to Petaluma. I'm personally not so enamoured of Bubba's but it doesn't really matter, and in the summer if we get the right table, the view is wonderful. Alcatraz, the sea lions and the GG Bridge all at once. So there you have it.

Oh seetheworld, dear one I wish I could send you some warm weather! It is so hot and sticky and miserable. I was complaining a few weeks ago about the storms and mentioned I would be complaining about the heat. Little did I know. Marilyn and I roasted in SF Tuseday. Such unusual weather.

And Creloors, anywhere in SF that one can enjoy the SF Bay view is beautiful for sure. But dear one do walk down the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, drag that dear friend of yours, LOL.

You will not believe what the Ferry Building is like now. And behind the Ferry Building is a big piazza, with lots of outdoors cafes. Also there are a lot of public benches. You will enjoy it. And the shops inside the Ferry Building is rather like being in Europe. And there are Farmers Markets also. I know you would love it.

Now, if I can only figure out how to send this heat wave to the EastCoast, we would all be happy.

I just returned from a trip to SF as well, and was a victim of the Bushman. The funny thing is that we had just finished a cable car tour in which the driver had pointed him out and explained his history. An hour later, I was screaming at the pitch of some exotic bird on the street. Not until the other passersby started applauding (weird, right) did I know I had been bushmaned. You would think that since he's on the city tour, and he written about it would make some sense. But when I try to explain the gag to people, they either react to my being in a dangerous situation or they are just like huh? What's next, tourists taking pictures of indigent people fighting? Oh wait, that's already happening... Losing my faith in humanity, one person at a time.

Last summer I was enjoying walking along Fisherman's Wharf absorbed in sightseeing when I was "bushed". My family apparently had seen this on the Travel Channel and knew what was going on, not me. At least it make a good snippet to add to my album.

Loved SF. Actually felt more safe touring througout the city than I have in any other city. The audio tour of Alcatraz really made that tour good. My son got the greatest sweatshirt: The Alcatraz triathalon - dig, sprint, swim. Its the only souvenir shirt that he will wear.

I just wish that visitors to SF would really get to know SF. Fisherman's Wharf is - well - the touristy section.

Please, if you are going to spend your money and your time to visit SF then please get to know SF.

I have a neighbor. Her family just came out from St. Louis. They went to see SF. I asked them "how wonderful, where will you be going?" The answer was "oh, we are showing them the REAL SF, Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39!"

How sad!

That's what I tried to do. Just wander around the streets.
By the way, can anybody tell me the history of Lombard Street? Was the crookedness created as a novelty or has it really a purpose?

I'm guessing that the crookedness of Lombard has a lot to do with the steepness of the hill. It's safer to have the switchbacks than a street just going straight down that steep hill. Also, less likely to have runaway cars I think.

>>Lombard has a lot to do with the steepness of the hill. It's safer to have the switchbacks than a street just going straight down that steep hill. Also, less likely to have runaway cars I think.<<

Funny - front page of today's SF Chronicle is a picture of an overturned "runaway" SUV on the crooked section of Lombard. A tourist had just rented the SUV & was unaware that the emergency break was on. When he finally released the bread, the SUV took off & overturned.

Stu Dudley

Interesting Stu. That's sort of my point I think. A runaway car or SUV will more than likely turn over when it hits the first curve or will end up in somebody's bushes rather than hurtling straight down the hill. Hope everyone was OK.

Many drivers have learned to handle a manual transmission the old-school way on S.F.'s lovely hills. A proposal was put forth some time ago to make the curvy stretch of Lombard off-limits to all autos except those of residents along that stretch. Personally, I thought it was a terrific idea.

Re: Lombard

It was actually built that way so horses and carts didn't run away. But only locals know that it's not "really" the crookedest streat in the city. That honor actually belongs to Vermont Street (between 20th and 22nd in Potrero Hill).

Check out cool San Francisco tidbits at http://www.mistersf.com Love that site for local history and flair.

SFImporter: of course, that makes perfect sense. Forgot about the horse and buggy days..so now it's cars.

>>>Many drivers have learned to handle a manual transmission the old-school way on S.F.'s lovely hills.<<

We sold our manual transmission VW Bug the month after we moved to San Francisco.

Stu Dudley

SFImporter,
I had an instructor in driver's ed who liked to take his students to Vermont Street for curve practice. It was a gas, pardon my pun. Graduation day from this teacher's course was a trip down Devil's Slide to Half Moon Bay. Seriously, I learned a lot from this guy in terms of facing any road situation and not being intimidated.
Cheers,
dovima

The bushman has a permit to operate in the location he does. The city was concerned about liabilty because the Port of San Francisco issued the permit.

The bushman is not homeless nor is he mentally off. I like the bushman.

Well, I just have to comment, LOL. As much as I love SF, and my ancestors arrived in SF in 1868, saying that the Bushman is not mentally off says a lot about SF! Any idiot that spends all day looking like a "bush", hmmmm is that a play on words, and jumps out and scares the heck out of people, usually tourist of course, in my opinion does not have all his marbles.

But ah SF., it has always had its characters. Don't forget Major Norton.

Was it "Major" Norton? Somehow that doesn't sound right..anyone? My brain is old and fuzzy and it's time to lie down. I'll take two asprin and check for the answer in the morning. Maybe Norton Buffalo? Now, there's a name.

LOL Crefloors. His "official" name was Emperor Norton. For some reason my family always referred to him as Major Norton. I don't know why (a bit of humor I would assume).

I didn't mean to give you a headache! I hope you are alright.

He was another SF character to put it gently. Evidently even the Czar of Russia fell for his foolishness. But at least (to my knowledge) he did not scare the you know what out of the tourist as that Bushman does.

I just have to laugh out loud when I read about both the "Bushman" and "Emperor Norton". If I had known about Fodors prior to my trip to SF and told my family about the potential of running into these two "characters", they would have nodded their heads in collective disbelief

These two fellows I guess are the equivalent to NYC's naked cowboy although people actuallly want to have their photo taken with him. That guy also has made his own commercial - or so I have heard.

It just goes to show, there is "something" for everyone in this life!