Day 1
Sunday 29th
June
Today will be all
about the Golden Gate Bridge and seeing the sights of San Francisco
Early
morning dip in the pool my two front crawlers!
Lovely
morning, forecast for 30degrees C so we have our continental breakfast around the pool area
One of the churches
on Van Ness Avenue which in 1906 was used as a firebreak following the
earthquake so everything that was on our right hand side going up was pre-1906
and everything on our left hand side was post-1906. When the earthquake hit San Francisco it
opened all the gas valves and fires broke out for 3 days until they made a
firebreak with dynamite and stopped the fires spreading further into the city
Pre-1906
building on Van Ness Avenue
West
gate entrance into Chinatown
Heading
into the financial district
Surprising
how narrow the streets are with the skyscrapers each side. There are a total of 436 high rise buildings
in San Francisco
The
circular building is an observation tower which gives views over the city
I
didn’t realise there are two bridges in San Francisco and the Bay Bridge is
bigger and better than the Golden Gate Bridge.
Bay Bridge is a double decked suspension bridge spanning the San
Francisco Bay. The Bay bridge is 4.46
miles long and takes 240,000 vehicles a day, wow!!
Pier
39 where it seems lots of things were happening at as it has shops, arcades and
restaurants on it
Looking
over the bay, Angel Island and Alcatraz which we expected Alcatraz to be further away than what
it was!
Two
houses with murals on, the keyhole design has a couple of painted on windows I
can’t tell which ones are real and which ones aren’t and the other house has a
big mural on the side
Fascinating
the length of these streets as there wasn’t much going on with any landmarks or
buildings
We
passed through the Italian district, we had to make a couple of detours and
change of route due to the Gay Pride parade that was happening today
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral
Golden
Gate Park which is 20% bigger than Central Park with a staggering 1,107 acres
of park, we were awed by Central Park but when we are driving by this park
looks nothing startling
The
Transamerica Pyramid which when it was built in 1972 was the eighth tallest
building in the world
A
pretty church hidden by those trees!
The
Stinking Rose – garlic restaurant who serve over 3,000 lbs of garlic per month
in their food, wow!!
The
Transamerica Pyramid full length
Cool
building, it was funny as there wasn’t much being pointed out of any
significance really going round on the tour
If
you look closely the two buildings are coming apart after the 1989 earthquake
Nice shot of the
pyramid tower even if I do say so myself ha ha!!!
Skyscrapers!!!
We
are surrounded on all sides but it looks like Spiderman should appear from
somewhere don’t you think?!
70
degrees F the sun is hot but there is a cold breeze, that only makes it 21 degrees C but it is only 10.30am!
One
of the detours we had to take because of the Gay Pride parade, there appears to
be crowds of people there with the floats going by at the end of the road!! We were advised by the lady in the bus when we were going to the hotel to stay away from the parade as there are large amounts of nudity!! Not for little eyes!
Pretty
glass fronted building recently restored
Look
at that the second clock we have seen on the outside of the buildings!! The temperature cube that showed 70 degrees was also a clock!
Art
Nuevo building doesn’t look anything startling but then the close up …..
Pretty!
Now
I have seen more hearts dotted around the city so I research the reason and the
hearts are designed and painted by different artists inspired by the Cow Parade
that were cows painted and put on display in various cities. San Francisco chose hearts due to the song ‘
I left my heart in San Francisco’ The hearts are auctioned off at the end of
the year with the money going to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation,
what a good cause and appropriate being hearts too!
Wow
look at that road structure a bridge, hill and tunnel all in one section!!
Another
heart well part of it anyway!! It is hard getting the photos when the bus is moving!
Union Square with the
Dewey Statue in the middle
Awh
how sweet a pregnant lady getting a photograph with one of the hearts and then a Hop on Hop off bus tour bus goes by and takes her photo too!!
Civic
Center welcomes the Triple A’s, I used to get called Double AA at work but this
could be the three of us Anderson, Anderson and Anderson. We like feeling welcomed!!
The
Symphony Hall that when you look down on the roof resembles a piano
Amy
and I have ducked downstairs as it is hot upstairs and Amy is tired so she
can have a snooze under cover downstairs!
British
Motors, Jaguar and Land Rover, funny the things that remind you of where we
have come from!
City
Hall with the fifth largest dome in the world
The
Opera House
Wow
that is some attire there in the area of Haight, real hippy area!!
And
some random sights around!!
Here
we are in the reflection of the window!! Cha Cha Cha!!!
Haight
Street Grounds Baseball Park with it’s opening game played April 1887.
The Baseball Park is famous for the film 'Dirty Harry'
Just leaving the hippy area, cool colour of house!!
Ok
here we go the Hop on Hop off Bus takes us over the Golden Gate Bridge, cool!! This is Amy and I’s view as we are still downstairs and this is ……….
Col’s
view and Col's photograph taking skills!!! Cool pic Col :o)
The
Golden Gate bridge is 1.7 miles long and is classed as one of the Wonders of the
Modern World and is the most photographed bridge in the world, you can see why
it is beautiful! Golden Gate Bridge takes 110,000 vehicles a day!! The commentary on the
bus told us that the Golden Gate Bridge is the second most popular place for
committing suicide with over 1,600 people who have jumped off. They stopped counting the suicides as a
company was offering a crate of alcohol to the 1,000th person’s
family so they deemed it inappropriate and stopped the tally!!! In 2013 there were a total of 46 suicides but
with the new suicide prevention initiative they prevented 118 the same
year! On the bridge they have installed
telephones that connect with suicide prevention advice line and posters giving
advice on preventing suicide. Nice to
see a prevention scheme having a positive impact.
View
from downstairs on the bus
The
view over to the Bay Bridge
Alcatraz
We
have made it over the other side!! Good
shot Col xx
Look
at Yorkie doing some pole dancing!! Our entertainment downstairs!!! Ha ha!!!
The girls are off the
bus just waiting for Col to get off the bus!
Amazing!
View
over to Bay Bridge
San
Francisco skyline
So
there are plenty people milling about so Colin takes photos for a family, (3 or 4 adults and 1 teenager) and
they offer to take our photograph in return but our camera gets handed to their
spotty teenage son! As you can see our
faces are saying ‘ why has he got our camera?’ and look at the photo do we
really need the bay in the photo we are there to get a photo of the bridge and
he nearly missed it!!
The dad could obviously see what poor shots he was taking so the
dad ended up taking the camera off of him and took this shot for us!!
We
are planning doing the night tour tomorrow night which will take us over the
Bay Bridge,
that will be cool!
Here was someone else
who took our photo, we were happy with them taking our shot, smiles back on JJJ
No
need to be the Lone Soldier Amy will stand with you!!
We
hop onto the Sausalito Tour an area down on the bay under the Golden Gate
Bridge
Sausalito
Bay area
We
are on a hair pin bend going further down into the Sausalito Bay
A
view from below of the bridge
Further
round the bay
Sausalito
Town
Beautiful
little town built on the side of the cliff
The
full span of Bay Bridge
Skyline
Wouldn’t
want to live on a cliff face
House
boats and a real random parking space there Mr!! It has got to be a man as a woman wouldn't have the balls to reverse and park there ha ha!!!
Smiling
sweetly as we are climbing back up towards the bridge. We didn’t stop at
Sausalito we saw enough driving through.
It is warmer in Sausalito than the city of San Francisco as it is
sheltered from the mountain from fog and the cool breezes and you did feel a
difference when you got back up to the top of the mountain again, brrrr!
We
went back over the bridge on our little tram ……
to
come all the way back again on the bridge to catch the bus to head back into the city across the bridge
again!
Here
we are back on the bus again and it is windy going back across the bridge this
time as we are up on the open top deck!!!
Golden
Gate Bridge from up top!!!
Big
pillar
it
is sooooo windy up top look at what the wind is doing to Colin he had to duck behind the seat just to close his mouth (hilarious!!) but then ……..
Amy is nowhere to be seen …….
Oh look here she is hiding behind the seat with her head on my lap, enjoying the bridge on the top deck Amy, eh I think NOT!!!! But wait look what has happened to my hair......................
WILD!!!! It was so funny up top with it being soooooo
windy and cold too, we just laughed the whole way over!!!!! I couldn’t even hold the camera straight
without it being blown about!
Oh
look Amy has sat up and wow your hair is flying everywhere lucky you have your
hair in a plait today girlie!! Amy
thinks her headphones are going to fly out of her ears, funny!!!
Palace
of Fine Arts
Look
at the steepness of the hill ahead, thanks for dropping us off bus near our
hotel!!
Beautiful
building
We
went out for a wander onto Union Street (yes another Union Street along our
travels!) so here we are Amy spies the rocking horses just a perfect size for
…….
Jemima
as Yorkie was dropped off at the hotel as she was tired after all the pole dancing and being blown about on the bridge so Jemima is out for a walk now!
and
then we get a balloon from the shop too!!
We
headed into the Cupcake shop which also had a café attached to it so you could
have an alcoholic drink along with your cupcake, now even I find that a bit
wrong cupcake and a beer???
Amy
got a Rocky Road cupcake for her pudding later, looks delicious with the edible
glitter on it too, yummy!
Balloon
girl xxx
We
got a KFC from around the corner and sat outside by the pool to eat it, yum
yum!!!
And
then before desert Amy has a play on the hammocks!!
Think
you are facing the wrong way for relaxing Amy!!
Oh
I see you are using it as a swing so I suppose you are lying on it the right
way then!!!
Col
relaxing after tea well that is before…….
the mischievous look
means that Daddy is away to have a turn on a hammock swing too, ha ha!!!
And
then we all pile on to join Col, peace is broken Col at least you had 5
minutes!!!
And
our view from the hammock, beautiful blue skies!!
Col
and I are chilling thinking of the last time we were on a hammock together…….
oh
my word that is a blast from the past just look how young we look here when we
were sipping our Coco Loco’s on the beach at Hisponiola July 2002!! This was when we lived in Bermuda and went on a Caribbean Cruise for our wedding anniversary, sweet!!!
Ok
the memories have gone, back to reality and the peace is broken oh yeah look the mischievous smile is back on!!!
Now
that is a pretty smile from our gorgeous girl xxx
What
a cheeky smile xxx that is because Amy was really rocking the hammock!!
The parking area is
really colourful too
So we headed back to
the room after our lovely relaxing lie on the hammock or should I say swing on
the hammock for our desert as the sun was going down and the chill was
starting! It was forecast for 30degrees
C but it didn’t feel it with the wind and as soon as the sun started going down
so did the temperature dramatically!!
Our hotel information did inform us not to go out after dark as the area
was a bit rough. And certainly there
were large numbers of homeless people in the doorways during the day so we
didn’t venture out after sun down!
Tomorrow we are
having an explore at Pier 39 and a cable car ride on the hilly roads of San
Francisco!!
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