We were lucky again this morning, as the hotel provided free breakfast. To save on costs, they had not made a breakfast room, but had turned a corner of the front office into a preparation area, with jugs of juice and a toaster with bread and waffles. Food had to be taken back to the room, which worked perfectly for me as I got to stay in bed while Clare got the breakfast. We had planned an early start today so we could get to the docks and buy our Alcatraz tickets. However, we had also decided the hotel was acceptable and wanted to stay an extra night, just in a cheaper room! I went down to book us in, and found the only problem would be having to wait until 11 (check out time) to find out which room we could move our stuff into. Early start prevented, it was a chance to do some quick research on things to do in the city.
We'd decided that it would be best to get public transit around the city, parking was a nightmare, and the hills made walking an unattractive option. Luckily, the local transit company offered a 1 day pass, which would allow us to use multiple forms of transport throughout the day. The hotel desk staff told me we had to go down to a visitors centre (an hours walk or 10 mins by bus) to buy this. The bus would cost $2 each, which wouldn't be refunded on buying the pass. An on-line search was difficult, as you had to know your postcode to find the nearest retailer and surely the hotel staff knew best. Once we'd moved rooms, we set off. The bus stop was a short walk around the corner, and on the way we passed a Walgreens - a large chemist chain similar to Boots in the UK. On a hunch, we went in and asked - yes they sold the pass. Suck on that hotel staff!
We boarded the bus and made our way to Pier 33 of Fishermans Wharf, where we could catch the ferry to Alcatraz or buy tickets with cash according to the website. When we arrived, the signs said that the next available tour was Tuesday! We went up to the desk anyway and enquired about the Night Tour. The night your was sold out until the 26th November - a mere 21 day wait. Of course, it was to complicated for them to post this information on-line, or on signs in the area. Not only were they sold out, but when we asked about stand-by tickets they said these were sold out as well. How can standby tickets be sold out! We ended up booking tickets for tomorrow morning, knowing we would just have to squeeze our day plans slightly to accommodate it. Disappointed, we set out to make the most of the rest of the day, and walked to catch the historic tram that ran along the dockside area. We'd spotted as we walked up to the wharf that a huge cruise liner was docked, and loads of people were scurrying around with luggage. The road was packed with cars all turning up to unload infront of the dock, and perhaps this is why the tram never showed up. An electronic board counted down the minutes until the next one, and when it reached 0, was reset at 25. Lady luck was not with us today.
We were already comparing San Francisco to Seattle as the only 2 major cities we'd spent any time in on this trip. These setbacks did not bode well for it in the comparison, but we were determined to enjoy, so walked for 15 minutes back to a cable car up the road. San Francisco is a city built around a steep hill. Not just slightly steep, but if it were covered in snow it would be a black ski run steep. The hill crests in the middler of the sprawl, with downtown area on one side, the wharf on another. To deal with this, public transport is interesting. The historic tram runs around the bottom of the hill, but going up and over is left to a number of cable cars. These old fashioned cars are pulled up and over the hill on team tracks on the road mostly just going in a straight line. The one we had arrived at was going straight over to the downtown area, Union Square. Once aboard, the levers were thrown and we were being pulled up and away from the wharf, the view changing with every intersection we passed. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for exploring the city. We wandered around downtown for a while, and watched the Christmas ice rink being set up. It was strange to think Christmas is only a few weeks away, and here its still 24 degrees.
After our wander, we boarded a train hearing for Golden Gate Park. We thought we would grab lunch and visit the beach and walk back to the city through the park. We should have realised, when the information on the map said it was bigger than New York's central park, that it would be large. As the train passed the first end, we thought our stop would be coming up soon, but the train carried on. Stop after stop, and eventually 15 minutes later a arrived at the end of the line - the beach.
We stopped in a cafe to buy sandwiches for lunch, then headed
over the dunes to get to the shore. The sun was beating down, the sand was soft and the Pacific ocean was crashing in front of us. Despite it being November, there was still a lot of people out running or walking, cycling or surfing, and just plain sunbathing. It was the prefect place to chill and catch some rays before heading back to the city through the park. We entered the park from the south, not entirely sure what to expect. We had planned to just do a small section, having now learnt how big it was, and still with so much to see and do. The paths were small and mostly unmarked, but we saw so many cool things, Eventually popping back out and walking to the train stops. With the sun setting over the sea the sky was a glorious red colour 360 degrees around us, from sea to mountains to parkland. The light disappeared fast, and by the time we were back downtown it was dark. All the businesses were closed for the day and men in suits ran around all over the place. The less well off came out as well and were all over the place trying to shine shoes. After bring approached a number of times because of my casual shirt, only to be disappointed by my flip flop clad feet one enterprising shoe shine tried a different track. He made a bet instead, for $5 he bet he could tell me the city, state and country I got my flip flops. Intrigued, I agreed. .'San Francisco, California, United States of America' he says 'you got them shoes on HERE'. Moral of the story - never trust a man willing to stake his dinner money on a bet! I paid up, happy to reward his determination and cunning in making the most of a potential customer, where most of them had just moved on.
It was now time to ride another of the 3 cable cars, this one in a different direction - to see alone different views of the city. Each one way ride costs $6, but our travel pass gets us on as many times as we want so we ride the car up and over the hill, then swap on to the other side for a different view right back to where we had started! Cable car rides done we spotted that the historic tram was running again, so we hopped on that next, bringing us right back round to famous Pier 39. This pier has been glammed up for tourists and has bright lights and glitter all over. Off in the water, the famous attraction is the sea lions, but tonight they are all piled up on some floating wooden platforms, one atop the other. We plan to come back in morning to watch them, so move on meandering our way back through the shops to our bus stop.
Its been a long day, our feet are sore from all the walking but the overwhelming feeling I get is that there isn't enough time. Seattle was good, but the rain meant I didn't want to be out as much. Here, there are so many things to do, I doubt of even a week would be enough to get an initial feel for the city. Tomorrow, we've got a busy day planned, and after a hard day we get an early night.
We'd decided that it would be best to get public transit around the city, parking was a nightmare, and the hills made walking an unattractive option. Luckily, the local transit company offered a 1 day pass, which would allow us to use multiple forms of transport throughout the day. The hotel desk staff told me we had to go down to a visitors centre (an hours walk or 10 mins by bus) to buy this. The bus would cost $2 each, which wouldn't be refunded on buying the pass. An on-line search was difficult, as you had to know your postcode to find the nearest retailer and surely the hotel staff knew best. Once we'd moved rooms, we set off. The bus stop was a short walk around the corner, and on the way we passed a Walgreens - a large chemist chain similar to Boots in the UK. On a hunch, we went in and asked - yes they sold the pass. Suck on that hotel staff!
We boarded the bus and made our way to Pier 33 of Fishermans Wharf, where we could catch the ferry to Alcatraz or buy tickets with cash according to the website. When we arrived, the signs said that the next available tour was Tuesday! We went up to the desk anyway and enquired about the Night Tour. The night your was sold out until the 26th November - a mere 21 day wait. Of course, it was to complicated for them to post this information on-line, or on signs in the area. Not only were they sold out, but when we asked about stand-by tickets they said these were sold out as well. How can standby tickets be sold out! We ended up booking tickets for tomorrow morning, knowing we would just have to squeeze our day plans slightly to accommodate it. Disappointed, we set out to make the most of the rest of the day, and walked to catch the historic tram that ran along the dockside area. We'd spotted as we walked up to the wharf that a huge cruise liner was docked, and loads of people were scurrying around with luggage. The road was packed with cars all turning up to unload infront of the dock, and perhaps this is why the tram never showed up. An electronic board counted down the minutes until the next one, and when it reached 0, was reset at 25. Lady luck was not with us today.
We were already comparing San Francisco to Seattle as the only 2 major cities we'd spent any time in on this trip. These setbacks did not bode well for it in the comparison, but we were determined to enjoy, so walked for 15 minutes back to a cable car up the road. San Francisco is a city built around a steep hill. Not just slightly steep, but if it were covered in snow it would be a black ski run steep. The hill crests in the middler of the sprawl, with downtown area on one side, the wharf on another. To deal with this, public transport is interesting. The historic tram runs around the bottom of the hill, but going up and over is left to a number of cable cars. These old fashioned cars are pulled up and over the hill on team tracks on the road mostly just going in a straight line. The one we had arrived at was going straight over to the downtown area, Union Square. Once aboard, the levers were thrown and we were being pulled up and away from the wharf, the view changing with every intersection we passed. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for exploring the city. We wandered around downtown for a while, and watched the Christmas ice rink being set up. It was strange to think Christmas is only a few weeks away, and here its still 24 degrees.
After our wander, we boarded a train hearing for Golden Gate Park. We thought we would grab lunch and visit the beach and walk back to the city through the park. We should have realised, when the information on the map said it was bigger than New York's central park, that it would be large. As the train passed the first end, we thought our stop would be coming up soon, but the train carried on. Stop after stop, and eventually 15 minutes later a arrived at the end of the line - the beach.
We stopped in a cafe to buy sandwiches for lunch, then headed
over the dunes to get to the shore. The sun was beating down, the sand was soft and the Pacific ocean was crashing in front of us. Despite it being November, there was still a lot of people out running or walking, cycling or surfing, and just plain sunbathing. It was the prefect place to chill and catch some rays before heading back to the city through the park. We entered the park from the south, not entirely sure what to expect. We had planned to just do a small section, having now learnt how big it was, and still with so much to see and do. The paths were small and mostly unmarked, but we saw so many cool things, Eventually popping back out and walking to the train stops. With the sun setting over the sea the sky was a glorious red colour 360 degrees around us, from sea to mountains to parkland. The light disappeared fast, and by the time we were back downtown it was dark. All the businesses were closed for the day and men in suits ran around all over the place. The less well off came out as well and were all over the place trying to shine shoes. After bring approached a number of times because of my casual shirt, only to be disappointed by my flip flop clad feet one enterprising shoe shine tried a different track. He made a bet instead, for $5 he bet he could tell me the city, state and country I got my flip flops. Intrigued, I agreed. .'San Francisco, California, United States of America' he says 'you got them shoes on HERE'. Moral of the story - never trust a man willing to stake his dinner money on a bet! I paid up, happy to reward his determination and cunning in making the most of a potential customer, where most of them had just moved on.
It was now time to ride another of the 3 cable cars, this one in a different direction - to see alone different views of the city. Each one way ride costs $6, but our travel pass gets us on as many times as we want so we ride the car up and over the hill, then swap on to the other side for a different view right back to where we had started! Cable car rides done we spotted that the historic tram was running again, so we hopped on that next, bringing us right back round to famous Pier 39. This pier has been glammed up for tourists and has bright lights and glitter all over. Off in the water, the famous attraction is the sea lions, but tonight they are all piled up on some floating wooden platforms, one atop the other. We plan to come back in morning to watch them, so move on meandering our way back through the shops to our bus stop.
Its been a long day, our feet are sore from all the walking but the overwhelming feeling I get is that there isn't enough time. Seattle was good, but the rain meant I didn't want to be out as much. Here, there are so many things to do, I doubt of even a week would be enough to get an initial feel for the city. Tomorrow, we've got a busy day planned, and after a hard day we get an early night.
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