page 11 of 15 of Travel to San Francisco – Amateur Traveler Episode 159 Transcript

Richard: Ah, you know, there is something in this neighborhood that’s absolutely worth a visit. Ghirardelli Square does have it’s points and it’s a fantastic structure, and it’s an excellent example of what public private partnership can do to a giant moldering building in the middle of a city. It’s a total success story. But the building that I really like in this area is the Maritime Museum. This is a fabulous building. It looks as though, if you gave it a shot, you could send it out to sea and it could sail across the water to Japan. It looks like a giant 20’s era, streamlined ship. It’s gorgeous, this building. And it turns out, it used to be a bath house, but now it is – well, I guess I gave away what’s inside by calling it the Maritime Museum – all things relating to navigation on the water. There are several levels, and they cover every era of water craft in California, and San Francisco in particular. You’ll see it’s got everything from the native American canoes that were here before any of the white folks got here, all the way up through wind powered stuff, steam powered craft. There are models of engines, models of ships, if you’re at all into anything that has to do with the sea, this is a must visit location. It’s a beautiful building as well, with deco style entrance and tiles, and big murals, and so on and so forth. Another fabulous place.

Chris: And if that weren’t enough, there are some real, full size ships anchored quite close by there, including what was fun for me: a World War 11 submarine. So, if you are not a big fan of claustrophobia, something I enjoyed.

Richard: Right! That’s out at the Hyde Street Pier there.

Chris: The Hyde Street Pier.

Richard: The Balclutha is anchored out there as well, the tall massive wooden ship.

Chris: Right.

Richard: Did you ever have a chance to visit that one, Chris?

Chris: I haven’t, my kids have actually spent the night on it as part of a opportunity, through their schools.

Richard: Ah, great!

Chris: They didn’t enjoy it quite as much, because I guess they treated them as if they were actual sailors in the 18th century which really just…

Richard: Swabbing the deck.

Chris: Swabbing the deck, getting up for watches in the middle of the night and eating more or less what they ate at the time, so.

Richard: Well, I hope some character was built. My favorite thing about that particular ship then, if you are visiting San Francisco and you can time it right, once a month they do a chantey sing.

Chris: Oh, wow, interesting.

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