Advertisement
Published: October 29th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We packed so much into the week that I have split it into two blogs. Firstly our time in the wonderful city of San Francisco, then a separate blog about our magical trip to Yosemite National Park.
The flight from Hawaii was straight forward and only took about 5 hours. We had booked our first 5 nights in San Francisco in an area called Japantown as it was easy to get to most parts of the city from there. The hotel was nice and the rooms were suitably themed and had nice deep bath tubs. We figured out the local buses to get to and from Union Square and also bought a 2 day pass on the hop on/off tourist bus, that the guy extended for us for a couple of extra days so we were all set to explore the city.
The weather was lovely and sunny for the majority of the time with just one day where we had cold winds and rain, but the dreaded San Francisco fog stayed away. On Friday, our first day, we headed down to Fishermans Wharf where we had a great dinner in a posh restaurant overlooking the Bay. Each
table or booth had a set of binoculars (chained to the table) to use to view the wide array of pleasure boats and big cargo container ships passing by the massive floor-to-ceiling picture windows. Their food was delicious and the clam chowder really scored a hit with both of us. The waterfront area was busy getting ready for Fleet Week that began the following day with a whole list of Navy and Air displays scheduled We were lucky enough to catch almost the entire practice run-through of the air displays, seeing loads of different kinds of aircraft doing fly-pasts or aerobatics, including the Blue Angels display team. We decided to return on Saturday when the official display was scheduled with a huge flotilla of Navy craft out in the Bay, but the crowds were crazy on the weekend and we actually saw a lot more on this practice day. It was funny trying to get photos of the Blue Angels as they were so fast the sound was distorted and although you could hear them coming you couldn’t see them until they sped over your head. Both Joy and I had hundreds of shots of empty sky or of the
heads of random people.
As the crowds were so bad we decided to take the extra route on the (open-topped) tourist bus that went over the Golden Gate Bridge. However the traffic leaving after the main air display clogged the streets and the trip that normally takes an hour lasted almost four. We didn’t mind as we got a nice slow drive past some great areas of the city, but by the time we got to cross the bridge it was late afternoon and the weather turned very cold. It was windy and freezing but it was still good fun. A couple of days later we took a boat trip that went under the Bridge, so got to see it from all angles. The boat also went around Alcatraz as we were told the story of the more famous inmates and the few unsuccessful attempts to escape The Rock by sea in the treacherous currents.
We went shopping in and around Union Square and Joy managed to buy some great stuff. I was persuaded to get a free facial at one of the counters in the cosmetics department at Macy’s and Joy took great delight in getting candid
shots of me in a face mask and eye pads. It didn’t take us long to find the Cheesecake Factory on their top floor either and indulged in a couple of huge slices of yummy creamy calorie-laden goodness while convincing ourselves we were there just to take great shots of the Square from their balcony. We went to Union Square every day to either catch the tour bus, to shop or eat and a couple of times we had drinks in the sunshine in the middle of the Square. There are restaurants of all types all over the city and the food was brilliant with huge portions, so we often split dishes or ordered several appetisers between us.
We visited Chinatown and Little Italy, where I had a lovely leisurely morning sitting in a street-side cafe while Joy climbed a very steep hill and then up a load of steps to get to the top of the Coit Tower. I gave her my camera, so you can see how amazing the views over the whole city and Bay were. We also browsed the uber-touristy Pier 39 and stopped to watch the smelly sealions huddle together on the floating pontoons.
We went to a brilliant kite shop that was packed with fun and inventive colourful kites in all shapes and sizes then watched hundreds of people collecting their hire bikes to cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge and return by ferry from Sausalito.
We managed to pack quite a lot into the city visit but we were ready for some mountains and trees, so booked a 2 day tour to Yosemite National Park with Incredible Adventures, which turned out to be amazing, as you can read in the next blog coming shortly.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.022s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0616s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kim
non-member comment
Yummy!!
I bet your cake was the chocolate one!! They look so yummy you made my mouth water. Love SF it look amazing great pictures by the way but not as good as the last lot in Hawaii they were fab!! Glad to see your still having great fun and that you have some company along the way. Looking forward to seeing you soon :) xx