A trip to see Golden Gate Park on a fine and sunny day, where we hired bicycles to ride along the cycleway. Truly a city of marvellous sights and experiences but depressing because of the beggars under-class and the ever-present threat of earthquakes.
Breakfast at "Oh la La!" and then off by public transport to Golden Gate Park where we hired bicycles from "Lincoln Cyclery", a shop on the corner of Lincoln and Stanyon which was run by a Scandinavian or Eastern European family. The main machines we hired were "mountain bikes" these days - all knobbly tyres and thick frames - but Della was given an old small "Raleigh three-speed" fixed wheel bicycle with only a fixed wheel brake. The old man kindly took her out to get used to it before we all set off along the Golden Gate Cycleway. We passed the San Franciscans enjoying the recreation of jogging, cycling, roller-skating, walking and sailing their radio-controlled boats in the lake.
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The city shuts off the traffic from a section of the park roads and this gives them a better chance. We went back via the paddocks housing a buffalo herd and this involved riding over the bumpy bridle paths. We got back quite exhausted and little affected by the sheer volume of beggars and tramps that we saw today. Whether it was the weekend or not, there was a virtual "colony" of them at the edge of the park besides the one thrown off the Muni and another two ejected after harassing the tourists at the cable car turnround. It seems that they are tolerated up to the point where they become an embarrassment and upset the tourist trade upon which San Francisco depends.
This is truly a city of marvellous sights and experiences but the other side is the depression of the under-class and the ever-present threat of earthquakes. Di went window-shopping later as the girls occupied themselves swimming and I went to listen to the Andes musicians again and then also some Caribbeans playing steel band music. I was also entertained by a white-faced miming artist doing "Marcel Marceaux-type" impressions and parodies of passers-by to the amusement of a watching audience opposite. I watched him for ages and then went back and did the same act for the family; refusing to speak and acting dumb.
This came to a head when I kept it up for a trip to the Pizza place; the waitress thinking that I was either dumb or an idiot and communicating with Diana instead. I have always been quite good at making faces and could probably make a living out of it if I had to. To bed a little later, kept up by the noise of a hotel full of male and female youths calling and whistling at each other from balconies across the hotel courtyard. It was fine and sunny today.