mattScott McKenzie’s lyrics about life in the city and the hippie scene of the day. Neither Jen nor I put flowers in our hair but do think that those we met were some gentle people.
Day 5 – 20th April (cont)
We made it safely back to shore after our trip to Alcatraz and felt a bit peckish so thought we would take in the recommendation from James and Maddy to visit Pier 39 and look at the food options here. Before we ate however Jen insisted that she meet the locals sunbathing at the end of the pier… The sea lions and seals not the hippies
After dining on some local food we decided that we should repeat our touristy experience from NYC with another open top bus tour of San Francisco. We rode the bus for the majority of the route taking in China Town and the financial and commercial district before heading to the civic centre and out towards the Golden Gate Bridge.
Along the way we were once again treated to interesting facts about the city through the years. Did you know that most of the damage for the 1906 earthquake was caused by firefighters trying to build fire breaks and using black powder which was flammable and also the residents realising their insurance didn’t cover earthquake damage but did cover fire damage?
The views across the Golden Gate Bridge were breathtaking and we made it across with only minor bruising to my hand from where Jen held on for dear life.
We checked out the view from above Sausalito back to the city and the bus headed for home. We jumped off at Lombard Street which is one of the steepest roads in the city.
“Trudgery” ensued as we walked up the hill to see the switchbacks that were installed to make the hill safer for motorists (another fun fact – once a year the road is unofficially closed and a load of big kids on tricycles descend the switchbacks in a Red Bull Soapbox style race
The views from the top and bottom were breathtaking, unfortunately to get back to our hotel meant going up and down a few more similarly steep hills. But we did find on the way an independent grocery store to get some much needed sun cream (I was turning lobster pink) and some snacks for dinner.
Day 6 – 21st April
We woke up and went to get breakfast the following morning at a small cafe a block from the hotel which was a strange Asian, Mexican and French infusion. I had a tom yum breakfast burrito and Jen had a breakfast croissant both of which were lovely. After breakfast we did some errands and a bit of shopping (both of us left our watch chargers at home and we no longer knew how many steps we were getting per day).
Shopping done, we jumped on a cable car to take us back over towards pier 39 and hopped on the ferry over to Sausalito which more than one of our friends had mentioned. Describing it as a Californian Salcombe is fairly apt.
We arrived in time for lunch at The Spinnaker which had some amazing views as you were effectively sitting on the water. Jen met more of her seal friends before and after the meal and we walked along the front to look at the shops and admire the views before getting the ferry back to San Fran.
We walked a few blocks to find a Trader Joe’s to pick up some food for dinner and breakfast but also car snacks as tomorrow we pick up our hire car and start the road trip proper.
Reminiscing on our days in San Francisco we definitely ticked off all the big ticket tourist pieces and would recommend them to anyone visiting the city for the first time but I would pick a new hotel and possibly not stay in San Fran at all. The city has a massive homeless problem which centres around the Tenderloin district (one block from our hotel) and it’s disconcerting when your hotel locks it’s doors at 7pm each night. Would I go back, yes but I would stay in Sausalito or another part of the city.
Stay tuned for Jen’s next post where we will get our hire car and make our way up to Napa for some wine!!
