Coit Tower

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After taking the Anchor Brewery Tour earlier in the day and the BART back to the Powell station, I continued my walk past the Transamerica building on the way to Coit Tower, and found a locals route of stairs from the East side of Telegraph Hill up to the tower.

So, I took some photos on my walk there, as well as from the observation deck at the top of the Coit Tower. During my walk, I saw a small flock (maybe a dozen individuals) of the Parrots of Telegraph Hill fly by. They are big talkers, making quite a racket in flight.

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Photos

Not too far away
That is the top of Telegraph Hill.

Another nice view
These people have a pretty good view of the Bay looking East at Treasure Island and East beyond that into Berkeley or Oakland.

On site now
Still a few stairs to climb to get to the same level where the cars can be parked.

Observation Deck from Below
The observation deck is the row of windows just below the openings you see at the top of the tower. I think the windows are plexiglass.

Footpath
Just below the base of the tower now.

View from the Parking Lot
Looking South

Pier 39 from the Observation Deck
Pier 39 has all those sailboats to its right, and a large number of Seals that hangout on the left side of it near the far end. Alcatraz is the next thing you see beyond it, and you can see the tip of the Tiburon peninsula to the left of Alcatraz, and Angel Island beyond to the right of Alcatraz.

Piers ??? and ???
Maybe Piers 35 and 33 or thereabouts.

Looking toward Marin and Sausalito
On the right side of the picture in the foreground you see two ships in the water. They both can be toured for a nominal fee. The closer of the two is actually a submarine, the [url=http://www.maritime.org/pamphome.htm]USS Pampanito[/url], whereas the further one is the [url=http://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/]S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien[/url], one of the remaining and still operational World War II Liberty Ships.
In the distance is Marin, and the right side of it shows part of Sausalito.

Its a climb from Columbus Ave.
The diagonal street you see just above the middle of the photo is Columbus Ave. A little bit of a climb from there to get up to the top of Telegraph Hill.

Looking South along the Embarcadero
The Ferry Building is to the far right, and you see the Oakland Bay Bridge beyond it.

Transamerica Building and Financial District
Looking mostly South.

Yerba Buena Island and Bay Bridge
To the left of Yerba Buena Island is then Treasure Island.

Treasure Island
With Pier 31 I believe, in the foreground

Nob Hill?
With Twin Peaks clearly visible in the distance, looking SouthWest now.

The tower is only 210' tall though
Seems higher up than that from this perspective.

Lombard Street in the distance
Towards the top center of the photo is the winding part of Lombard Street that is Eastbound only, and we are looking West. Its a bit of a huff and a puff to get to the top of it by foot. Beyond it to the right you see the top of the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts, with Columbus Avenue running diagonally across the bottom of the photo.

Toilet
Why show you this? Well, just another embarrassing moment for me happened here the first time I visited the tower. I was driving some folks from Redwood Shores (Oracle HQ) to visit the tower and then have dinner, during rush hour. By the time we got to the tower I needed to use the facilities pretty badly. This is a coin operated deal. The door gives you plenty of time to get in there before it automatically closes. I was feeling a bit urgent, so wasn't interested in waiting for the door to close. Kind of felt like urinating in public there for a few seconds. Good times!

Last Look Back
On my way to Lombard street now, looking East back at the tower.