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Published: August 17th 2009
Whilst in San Francisco we knew we had to go over the Golden Gate bridge so we figured the best way to do this would be to hire bikes for the day. We hired bicycles from 'Blazing Saddles' and we now know why they are called that! After a day of riding, you will have a 'blazing saddle!......
We got up nice and early and headed down to Fisherman's Wharf where the bike hire company is located. We collected our bikes at around 9am and headed off towards Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was perfect, cool first thing and then lovely and sunny in the afternoon. The ride to Golden Gate Bridge took around an hour and once we got there we stopped to get a couple of pictures as the view was incredible. You could see the bay of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge and what with the weather it was perfect. We then cycled over the bridge and into Sausalito which is a little picturesque town on the other side of the bridge. The ride into Sausalito was brilliant - all downhill. Dianna thoroughly enjoyed this downhill ride and thought at this point she could ride
all day, until she realised that to get back to the bridge, it would all be uphill! Most people who hire bikes cycle over the bridge, spend some time in Sausalito and then ride the ferry back but Matt decided that it would be fun (and good exercise) to cycle all the way back as well. We spent the afternoon riding through Sausalito and all the way to Old Mill Park which is a forest retreat up in the mountains with some stunning houses tucked away just off the dirt track. We stopped for lunch in a little park we found up in the hills as by this point it was boiling hot and had gone midday. Once we had finished lunch we were both quite tired so we decided to head back (in the back of our minds dreading the steep hills that had to be climbed)! As we were cycling back through the mountain hills we were stopped in our tracks; standing on the side of the road eating lunch was a family of deer (5 in total). We stopped and sat there for 5 minutes watching them as they carried on eating totally oblivious to our presence
which was very cool. We then headed home. I think the less said about getting back up the steep hills the better as needless to say we were both very tired when we finally got back home. In total we cycled just over 28 miles (according to the map we were given at the beginning of the day). We arrived back at Fisherman's Wharf around 4:30pm with very sore backsides!!! But a very good day was had.
One great thing about San Francisco is that they have many 'free days' where at certain times throughout the month admission to certain museums, zoos, attractions etc are completely free. We had already planned to visit the 'Exploratorium' while we were here as we had heard a lot about it (it is similar to the science museum with loads of buttons to press and lots of exhibits to interact with which is always good fun). We were delighted to find out that on the first Wednesday of every month this museum would be free so we booked it into our schedule of things to do whilst we were here. What we didn't realise until we got there on the day (and thinking
Golden Gate Bridge
Taken during our bike tripabout it now is obvious) was that the August free day was their busiest day of the year and when we got there we were surprised JUST how busy it was. The queue was about 500m long stretching right round the building but it didn't take too long, it moved quickly and when we got inside, it wasn't too busy. We spent a couple of hours checking out the Exploratorium and when we had finished in there we walked next door into the 'Palace of Fine Arts' which is a famous landmark in San Francisco and has been featured in many films including 'the Rock' (the part where Sean Connery meets his daughter and Nicolas Cage finally catches up with Sean). After spending 15 minutes looking round here we decided to walk to Golden Gate Park again as it was a particularly fine day. This time we we went via Haight-Ashbury, a very picturesque part of town. We had intended doing the San Francisco science museum in the park and the Conservatory of Flowers as these were on the list of free things for the day but when we got there we found out they had both changed their schedules
Golden Gate Bridge
This is the view from the bridge overlooking San Francisco Bay - as you can see, we were very lucky with the weather so we called it a day and headed home. We must have walked around 7 miles in total so by the end of the afternoon we were pretty exhausted.
Lombard Street is officially the crookedest street in the world so we knew it was worth a quick look and we weren't disappointed. Again another fantastic day with the weather so we took a stroll as it was only a 15 minute walk from the hostel and by this point we considered ourselves veteran walkers and 15 minutes is nothing (Dianna doesn't agree with Matt on this point and wasn't best pleased with more walking especially as there was some steep hills to be climbed). Not too much more to say about the place apart from it is VERY crooked. After our next destination (San Diego) we are planning on hiring a car for 4-5 days and heading back up to San Francisco and then driving the Route 1 'Pacific Coast Highway' back to LA where we depart the USA so we will have to have a quick go on this crazy road when we come back.
A visit to to the US would not be complete without
Sausalito
The picturesque town on the far side of the Golden Gate Bridge taking in at least one national park and Yoesmite National Park was our choice and we weren't disappointed. We booked a day tour through a company called 'Extranomical Adventures' (would recommend the company to anyone planning a trip out here) and had to set our alarm clocks nice and early as the pick up time was 6.00am from outside the hostel. We were greeted by a really nice guy called Mike (our tour guide) in a 13 seater minibus and after collecting all the other passengers we headed off to Yosemite. In total (including stops), the journey to get to Yosemite took just over 5 hours but it was well worth it as the views going through the Sierra Nevada range and into Yosemite were amazing and AGAIN we were lucky with the weather as it was clear blue skies as far as the eye could see. We got to the park and were blown away with the views that met us. The first of many stops in the park was called 'inspirational point' and it really was inspiring. It was a canvas painters dream as the landscape could not have been any more amazing if it tried (see pictures).
Golden Gate Bridge
Just about to head back over to San Francisco after a hard days cycling In total we spent around 5 hours in the lower valley of the park stopping off at many places to go hiking, we saw Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Village (lunch) and El Capitan (when you see the pictures of El Capitan try and imagine people climbing up it as this is meant to be one of the best rock climbing places in the world, nutters!!!!!). In the afternoon we drove up 6000 ft (2000 m) to the Evergreen Forest of Tuolmne and hiked to a grove of Giant Sequoia trees. A few of the trees in this forest are considered to be the largest of all living things on the planet, some of the trees reaching over 300ft in height and 40ft in diameter (see the pictures to try and comprehend just how big they are). We arrived back in San Francisco around 10pm absolutely knackered - a very long day but well worth it - we are just not sure if the pictures really do the park justice.
San Francisco is famous for many things but none more so than Alcatraz. This was evident when we went to book the tickets and found that they
Golden Gate Bridge
Back on the San Francisco side of the bridge were fully booked for a week in advance. When we looked at the available tours we saw they did a 18:45 evening/night tour with less people and extras not included in the day tour and we thought that would be better as the atmosphere would be amazing so we went to book that only to find out that the evening/night tour ticket availability was over a month waiting time. Thankfully it was our first full day in San Francisco when we went to book the tickets so we figured we were happy to hang in San Francisco for a month as there as plenty to see and do. One month later and the day finally arrived. We hopped on the ferry over to the island and after about 2 minutes into the voyage we knew the month wait was worth it as it the sun was just starting to go down and we caught a beautiful sunset just beside the Golden Gate Bridge. We got to the island and were greeted by a tour guide who walked us up to the prison telling us a couple of stories on the way. When we got inside they provided us with a
The Palace of Fine Arts
As seen in the film 'The Rock' headset and sent us on our way into the cells. The headset provided an audio tour of Alcatraz by some of the former guards and inmates who stayed at the prison during its time. They told us the route to take around the prison and provided an insight of daily life and stories of escape attempts and riots that had happened. This audio tour lasted for about an hour and then you could explore parts of the island for yourself. Later in the evening there were several talks going on by guides about different subjects like famous prisoners, history of the rock etc which were all part of the tour and were optional to listen to. The evening was rounded off by the 'Lock Down' demonstration which i'm sure you can guess is when they show you the cells being opened and closed. This is only included as part of the evening tour and is VERY impressive as the sound it makes when they open and close all of the cells on a block at once is very loud and very intimidating - makes you glad to be free!!!!!. When we got back onto the boat (after they had discovered
Dianna locked in a cell by Matt) we headed back to the mainland and we got to see San Francisco by night which was very cool (unfortunately the camera wasn't able to capture the view as it doesn't function great in the dark). When we got back on land we decided as it was our last night in San Francisco we would do the other thing that the town is famous for and catch a cable car back to our side of town which was great fun.
We spent the last 4 nights of our visit to San Francisco at 'USA Hostels' which is just 2 blocks from Union Square staying in a 4 person mixed dorm. The hostel was great: free all you can make pancakes and oatmeal every morning (which Matt LOVED!!!!) and free tea and coffee all day. They also had free wireless Internet, pool table and foozball table, a movie room which was just like a cinema on a smaller scale, huge kitchen (so you can cook anything you want) and a huge common room. On the second night they were holding a 'computer games night' with free beer! We played on the Wii and
Lombard Street
The crazy crooked road! XBox all evening, drank free beer and met some great people.
All in all we loved San Francisco and would recommend it to everyone, next stop San Diego........
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Mummmmmma!
non-member comment
Love the pics.
Pictures are amazing, am sure as you say you need to see theses places to fully appreciate the beauty and capture the atmosphere. Think you right about the Medical Centre - not much has changed in the NHS - Looks pretty similar to our new treatment centre!!!!!