Day 6 - Saturday 10 June
We went to Haight-Ashby but realised we were a day early for the 50th celebration of the Summer of Love. From the proposed traffic arrangements etc we decided not to go back tomorrow because there will be huge crowds. We had a wander around but struggled to even find a decent cafe. There are lots of shops selling "vintage" clothing and other hippie memorabilia, but again a disturbing number of homeless people.
Just one street back from Haight there are beautifully restored houses. We walked to a train stop and discovered far more interesting shops and restaurants in the renovated area known as the Cole Valley.
For lunch we went to the Ferry Building and saw that the Golden Gate Bridge is no longer the famous "international orange" colour, but is now grey like the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It seems the orange was considered to be "dated" and was not prortraying a modern city. But now it is just another bridge when before it was unique.
Our bus ride home should have been straightforward but there was an issue as the empty bus was sitting at the stop and the driver would not let us on. After about 15-20 minutes another bus came and the first driver waved us onto the second bus. This quickly became extremely crowded, and even more so as it passed through Chinatown picking up shoppers with their bags and trolleys. Getting off at our stop was a challenge!
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