The Streets of San Francisco

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We have had a fabulous time in San Francisco, it is a great place. We arrived to warm sunshine, which was a big and welcome change after the last couple of weeks of cold weather.

Our SF initiation was the door to door shuttle service. The driver went to every terminal in the airport to make sure his mini bus was full, then dropped everyone off at their hotels. OMG! He was a maniac. You can not believe how steep the famous streets are until you are hurtling along them at ridiculous speeds. It was better than ‘The Big One’, at one point we looked down from the top of the hill, then looked at each other and said ‘ surely he isn’t going to drive down that hill!’ but he did!.

Got to our hotel safely in the end and it is great. Room is lovely and they have a great breakfast with 24hr kitchen including food! That has definitely stretched our budget nicely. It is one street away from the Haight Ashbury district which is very colourful. It is hippy-ville and probably hasn’t changed much since the 1960’s. A really interesting place as you can imagine, with shops, restaurants and many an interesting character.

Whilst we have been here we have become addicted to the cable cars. Been on them 4 times and managed to ride on the poles outside, ace! We have also been to the Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. They have a colony of sea lions living at the pier, around 300 of them! They are wild and there of their own free will. Apparently they started coming after an earthquake and there is a good supply of food for them in the bay so they stayed.

Of course we have been to Alcatraz. That was really interesting. The cells are so small; they basically just fit in a bed, toilet and small wall-mounted fold away table and seat. There was even an ex prisoner there on the day and we did a tour with a ranger on escapes.

Today we have had a tiring day. This morning we ran from the hotel (one block away from the Golden Gate Park), through the Golden Gate Park al the way to the Pacific Ocean and back. (approx 7 miles, hope you are impressed Dave and Nicola!). The beach was stunning with big breakers. It was a great way to see the park and the coast. After breakfast we went into town and hired bikes then cycled the Golden Gate Bridge. It was brilliant. Easily the best way to see the bridge and on the way back as we were cycling over a helicopter flew under the bridge! For me that was been the best thing we have done so far.

The only downside to San Francisco has been the large amount of homeless people. There are loads of them asking for money etc. It is sad to see so many people in such dire circumstances. Apparently a lot of homeless people come from other areas of the US because the weather here is so moderate. It can also be a bit intimidating although we have got used to it a bit more even in the few days we have been here and we haven’t had any problems. Overall it has been brilliant!

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Photos

Alcatraz
The Rock

The Streets of San Francisco
This is where the Cable cars go

Comments

[Mac]

pictures
I don't know if it is just me, but can't see or open any of the San Francisco photographs? Glad all is going well, keep safe. Mac