チョコレートを買って路上駐車
Chocolates make street parking possible in SF
50ドルの罰金
$50 parking ticket
チョコ食べて、元気をだそう
All we bought was chocolate, so we could get change for parking :(
『大統領の日』の三連休、まだ慣れないサンフランシスコへいざ出発。私達が住んでいるSan Rafaelは、Golden Gate Bridgeの反対側にあります。San Rafael側から橋をわたる際は、6ドル（片道のみ）を現金で払うのが規則。おつりはでないので、サンフランシスコに行く時は、6ドル持ち合わせていることを要チェック。いろいろと行ってみたいお店をリストして、GPS（カーナビ）を唯一の頼りにサンフランシスコへ向かいます。まだ駐車場がどこにあるかよくわからないので、路上駐車。ただし路上駐車には、クレジットカードが使えず、硬貨のみという場合が多いので困ります。アメリカには、1ドル硬貨がありません。1ドル札は、持ち合わせていてもそれほど沢山の25セント硬貨は普通持ち合わせていないもの。結局、25セント硬貨が足りないということに。25セントを集めるために買ったチョコレートは数知れず。今回は、スイスのチョコレート屋さんとスコットランドのお店からチョコレートを買って、25セントを調達。こうして苦労して集めた25セントも最長30分しか駐車できないという規則。どの場所に移動しても30分の時間制限（笑）。二人でサンフランシスコの町を走りました。
最後に寄ったのが、サンフランシスコのPacific Heightsという坂のあるお洒落なエリア。ここでも路上駐車は、30分だけ。ゆっくりとみてまわりたかったですが、ここでも最後は駆け足で。ところが車にもどったら、なんと駐車違反チケットが。実は、急な坂の多いサンフランシスコでは、登り坂はタイヤを外側に、 下り坂ではタイヤを内側に向けて駐車することが、駐車違反の対象になるんです。結局、この日サンフランシスコでの収穫は、25セント硬貨の調達のために買ったチョコレートと50ドルの駐車違反チケット。でも、それなりに楽しい1日となりました。サンフランシスコで運転される場合、坂道駐車にはくれぐれも注意し、いろんなお店で世界のチョコレートを探し、楽しく25セント硬貨を調達しましょう。
On the President's Day long weekend, we made another trip to San Francisco to get more familiar with this famous city. When you drive over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Rafael, you need to pay a $6 bridge toll (one way only). Since they only accept cash and give you no change, you must have $6 exactly in cash every time. It is a bit of nuisance that they don't take credit card, but this is something you just have to get used to. It is only a half hour drive to San Francisco from San Rafael but it is always a big adventure for us. We usually make a list of places we want to check out before we venture into the city. We rely heavily on our trusty GPS (that we named "Jack") to go anywhere. As we don't know where all the good places to park are yet, we usually park on the street. However, you are only allowed to park 30 mins max on the street. This is the time you really wish the US had a one dollar coin. A dollar bill is useless in this case. We then need to look for a store so we can get some quarters. On that day, we ended up getting chocolate bars from Swiss and Scottish confectionary stores. Not a bad way to get a couple of 25 cent coins. Buy a bar of chocolate, get some coins, park, and you now get 30 minutes to shop. With this strategy, we hit almost everything on our list VERY quickly. The last place we ended up was called Pacific Heights. We had to park a bit far from where we wanted, but we got a parking spot on the street and yes, we got 30 minutes. It was on a hill so we had to run down and climb back up to get to our car in before the meter ran out. Mission accomplished. We found a really cool store, and a nice clerk even gave us a list of more cool places to check out in San Francisco.
We were feeling very good about how our day was going... until we saw a $50 parking ticket on our car. How could that be? It turns out that when parking uphill, you MUST turn your wheels towards the street and on a downhill street, you MUST turn your wheels towards the sidewalk. If you don't do this, you will get a parking ticket as we found out the hard way. People in San Francisco take their hills very seriously, and they should because some of the hills are frighteningly steep. We learned our lesson. All we got on this day in San Francisco were a couple of chocolate bars and a $50 parking ticket. We are going to add locations of good parking lots to our next list.
最後に寄ったのが、サンフランシスコのPacific Heightsという坂のあるお洒落なエリア。ここでも路上駐車は、30分だけ。ゆっくりとみてまわりたかったですが、ここでも最後は駆け足で。ところが車にもどったら、なんと駐車違反チケットが。実は、急な坂の多いサンフランシスコでは、登り坂はタイヤを外側に、 下り坂ではタイヤを内側に向けて駐車することが、駐車違反の対象になるんです。結局、この日サンフランシスコでの収穫は、25セント硬貨の調達のために買ったチョコレートと50ドルの駐車違反チケット。でも、それなりに楽しい1日となりました。サンフランシスコで運転される場合、坂道駐車にはくれぐれも注意し、いろんなお店で世界のチョコレートを探し、楽しく25セント硬貨を調達しましょう。
On the President's Day long weekend, we made another trip to San Francisco to get more familiar with this famous city. When you drive over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Rafael, you need to pay a $6 bridge toll (one way only). Since they only accept cash and give you no change, you must have $6 exactly in cash every time. It is a bit of nuisance that they don't take credit card, but this is something you just have to get used to. It is only a half hour drive to San Francisco from San Rafael but it is always a big adventure for us. We usually make a list of places we want to check out before we venture into the city. We rely heavily on our trusty GPS (that we named "Jack") to go anywhere. As we don't know where all the good places to park are yet, we usually park on the street. However, you are only allowed to park 30 mins max on the street. This is the time you really wish the US had a one dollar coin. A dollar bill is useless in this case. We then need to look for a store so we can get some quarters. On that day, we ended up getting chocolate bars from Swiss and Scottish confectionary stores. Not a bad way to get a couple of 25 cent coins. Buy a bar of chocolate, get some coins, park, and you now get 30 minutes to shop. With this strategy, we hit almost everything on our list VERY quickly. The last place we ended up was called Pacific Heights. We had to park a bit far from where we wanted, but we got a parking spot on the street and yes, we got 30 minutes. It was on a hill so we had to run down and climb back up to get to our car in before the meter ran out. Mission accomplished. We found a really cool store, and a nice clerk even gave us a list of more cool places to check out in San Francisco.
We were feeling very good about how our day was going... until we saw a $50 parking ticket on our car. How could that be? It turns out that when parking uphill, you MUST turn your wheels towards the street and on a downhill street, you MUST turn your wheels towards the sidewalk. If you don't do this, you will get a parking ticket as we found out the hard way. People in San Francisco take their hills very seriously, and they should because some of the hills are frighteningly steep. We learned our lesson. All we got on this day in San Francisco were a couple of chocolate bars and a $50 parking ticket. We are going to add locations of good parking lots to our next list.
ブログランキングに参加しています。いいな❤と思ったら下記のバーナーをクッリクしてもらえると励みになります。
My blog is being ranked. If you enjoyed my post today, please click the banner below. Your click will inspire me to write more ❤
Tell Colin that the wheels in/wheels out was part of his driving test. I remember that and I have had my licence longer than him. :) $50 is a tough way to be reminded of that though.
ReplyDeleteI will tell him. tee hee hee :)
ReplyDelete