** PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED SOON - PLEASE COME BACK **
Our San Francisco day started with walking around the corner for breakfast at IHOP which consisted of blueberry pancakes and french bread with apricot and pecan with orange and lashings of coffee. We left absolutely stuffed agreeing that we couldn't do that regularly. Most of our hotels have breakfast so it won't be necessary.
We ambled around Fisherman's Wharf in cool but bright sun and purchased the obligatory San Francisco logoed clothing item. A gray hoody, I was frozen last night.
One of the quays has been given over to a Sea Lion colony which moved in a few years ago and has become an item to see. The barking can be heard over much of the wharf as younger ones fight for places in the sun pushing and tipping each other off into the water and the older ones plant themselves basking in the sun.
Alcatraz sits out off shore. Lynne had been keen to go on the tour but all tickets on the Internet whether sold out when we tried over 3 weeks ago. About 50 tickets are released each morning at 6 but our hotel reception told us that people queue as early as 3 so we abandoned that thought. Several companies operate tours of the bay and we went on the Red and White Ferry, a 1 hour trip with a good commentary out to the Golden Gate bridge and then back around and very close to Alcatraz island. It was a really enjoyable trip with great views to the Golden Gate Bridge, and back to the attractive city with the tall buildings of the business district as a background. The cloud bank crawled over the towers of the Bridge obscuring the tops and into parts of the city with the Sutro radio tower popping out of the top of it.
Yesterday evening Lynne had convinced me to try one of the Clam Chowder samples being proffered outside the stalls and I had rather liked it. I would describe it as tasting like chicken and mushroom soup with bits that texture wise could be vegitable in nature. With that knowledge, today we had Clam Chowder from the Boudin bakery in a large hollowed out sour dough cob which made an excellent lunch sitting outside the bakery.
Afternoon was beautiful with a clear blue sky though still cool in the wind and out of direct sun.
Lynne had spotted a driving tour following a scenic route for the afternoon. It was actually a 49 mile route but we cut it short at the city limit.
Before joining the route, we headed to the postcard favourite Lombard Street switchbacks. We had to circle round a few roads to get the back of the queue which had developed but felt it had to be done. The queueing on approaching straight roads with massive uphill gradient was more freaky that the descent down Lombard which was easy at a slow pace. Not really worth the wait but if we hadn't we'd have felt we'd missed out.
The highlight of the driving tour was Twin Peaks where we had an amazing late afternoon view of the city below with the sea mist drifting across in waves varying the panorama from sharp bright city through ghostly pale to invisible in cloud. All with a clear blue sky above as the bank of cloud drifts low across.
We headed back to the hotel for a while which is in a great position on a few yards back from the main Wharf area then after freshening up we headed out for the evening.
An excellent burger in Wipeout with Nevada Sierra draft beer then we ambled around the quay and explored a museum of fairground machines, everything from What The Butler Saw through slot and pinball machines, Space Invaders and Driving Games all in full working condition.
A contented stroll back to the hotel, hot chocolate from reception before a welcome sleep. All in all, a very good day.
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