San Francisco: USA stop #2

---

Our journey home took us to San Francisco last Thursday, 19 May. We continued to have sunny weather, but here it was consistently windy, especially of an afternoon. With temperatures in the mid teens it was probably our chilliest city so far. The panorama above has been shortened to 90 degrees from the 'Gate' & Jan to San Francisco waterfront on the right.

We stayed at the Raddison at Fisherman's Wharf - a very comfortable room with some water views from the balcony. But the big plus was being there at 'The Wharf' - so many good places to eat - great walks in both directions - entertainment in the streets - starting point for Red Bus tours - perfect.

Hope you like this selection of photos (from many). It's been great reading comments about the blogs - only one more to go!! 😞

Cheers from Jan & Garry

---

Photos

Fisherman's Wharf
Our front yard - always a performer or busker to watch - most of the tours started here - full of tourists but a great atmosphere.

Boudin Bakery
The oldest bakery in San Francisco featured 'chefs' creating novelty loaves in a window front - there was also an alligator nearly 2m long - must have cost a lot of dough.

Union Square
The Red Bus route took us to the city centre and Union Square - a big, open place littered with people enjoying the good weather - surrounded by shops with big names.

Hippy District
West of the city was the 'Hippy District' - a left over from the sixties - very colourful and full of surprises - that big woman was having trouble getting in or out of her window.

Lombard Street
On our day 2 walk from Union Square back to the waterfront we found the famous Lombard Street - the line up of cars waiting to come down it was surprising - more fun to walk.

Golden Gate
The Red Bus also dropped us off for the Golden Gate walk - along with a 'few' other people - a great experience. Fine weather gave us some panoramic views.

Half Hour Crossing
We managed to cross the span in about 30 min - dodging speeding cyclists, winding between slow walkers & stopping for the odd photo.

Anchor Steam
Brother Ian sent a message: "Have an Anchor Steam for me in SF" - finally found out it was a beer - found some on tap - tasted pretty good after all the walking!

Alcatraz
Day 3 - Alcatraz Tour: A very educational experience - excellent audio tour - you could pause it to do your own thing then hit play to get on with it.

Standard Cell
Tiny cells - and uninteresting if you didn't have privileges. The better your behaviour the more you could do & have in your cell - see next.

Escape from Alcatraz
More accessories in this cell, however the good behaviour was a cover - the prisoner was one of 3 who spent nearly a year to create a hole in the wall to escape - see next.

The 'Way Out'
Diagram shows the method of the only successful escape - though the men were never heard of again - debate over whether or not they survived.

Recreation Ground
An eerie place - imagining the many people who spent time here - though, only good behaviour allowed you to use the recreation yard.

Walkers
Heading to 'Telegraph Hill' we found it hard going trying to get to the top of this street - even the parked cars looked like a little push would send them rolling down the hill. A good workout for our final afternoon in San Francisco.

Comments

[Ian]

Frisco
Looks like you missed the fog - it was cool every day we have been there - what a very photogenic city - glad you found an Anchor Steam. Any cracked crab on Fisherman's Wharf?

[Debbie]

San Francisco
Beautiful city!!!