Today, Juju and I headed into the City for a maritime excursion. It was beautiful and sunny, clear out to the Golden Gate. North Beach was gorgeous, the piers were warm, and best of all, many of the cold summer tourists have cleared out, leaving us with parking, empty buses, sweater free weather and line-free attractions. I love fall in San Francisco! I lured Julian to the waterfront with promises of a Pirate Ship tour. We walked over to the Hyde St. Pier for dock side sail on the tall sail ship, Balclutha. Many people aren't familiar with this huge vessel that is a great place to visit near fisherman's warf, Ghirardelli Square and the wonderful under-explored Maritime Museum. The Balclutha was a real working sailing ship from the time before steamers. With 3 tall masts in full rigging it traveled the world transporting goods, and sailed many times in and out of the port where it floats today. It is run by the City of San Francisco Parks and is not just a floating museum. Children take school tours where they spend the day and night onboard working, and learning about ship life circa 1906. They will sing sea shanties, learn to tie knots, lower and row a boat, make dinner in the galley and explore the boat as many many sailors have done above and below the wooden decks right there before them. As you walk the ship, you can see the what life was like aboard over a hundred years ago for all the people who sailed her- from the captains' quarters to the galley, to the workmans' bunks, to the tiny undership quarters where the Chinese worked in nearly slave-like conditions. You can see all of the items that Balclutha carried across the sea stacked up under the deck- from boxes of salmon to wood boards, to French furniture, Belgian Glass (that filled the buildings of downtown SF), and everything needed to build a tiny worktown in Alaska.
Not really a pirate ship, that didn't matter to Captain Juju, who took the helm and imagined himself sailing out to sea, through the fog that began to roll under the bridge, through the Golden Gate.
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