The first stop for today in San Francisco was the Alamo Square. This Sunday morning, there was already a lot going on in the park. We saw a father who was desperate to give his daughter, who unfortunately had to play uphill, some soccer training. It was obvious that his daughter wasn't really in the mood. We used the free WiFi for a while and enjoyed the view of the Painted Ladies.
Haight Ashbury District
Afterwards we went to Haight Ashbury DistrictThe area is very... well... different. The shops are mostly alternative and crazy. We walked down the street once and back the other way. Enough!
Fort Point – Gateway to San Francisco
Next came Fort Point below the famous Golden Gate Bridge on the agenda. When we arrived, a thick fog was drifting across the bridge. For the safety of passing ships, fog horns on the two bridge piers alternately sound different tones every 20 to 30 seconds.
After a while, the fog cleared completely. After just a few minutes, the rear pillar was also visible. The way the fog slowly drifted beneath the bridge made for a magnificent sight. Simply awesome!
Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory
We fought our way through the city traffic back downtown in our rental car. We found a parking space, even free, on a side street surprisingly quickly. First, we wanted to complete a special type of geocache, a Whereigo. For this cache, we had to download a special file to our smartphones and then solve small tasks on the display, visiting specific points. The cache "Time Travelin Trolley“ took us right through the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory and the surrounding blocks. By the way, there are free samples at the entrances to the chocolate factory. So we entered the shop a bit more often... delicious!
Fisherman's Wharf
At lunchtime we walked to Fisherman's Wharf, the waterfront district in northeast San Francisco. We grabbed a portion of shrimp and fries from the countless stalls along Jefferson Street. They were really good. So delicious, in fact, that we had to defend them from the seagulls.
Afterwards, we went to Pier 39, where the sea lions are. I had read online that they were supposedly missing, but, whatever the source, it wasn't true. There were fewer of them, though. I wonder why that was?
San Francisco Cable Car
Our highlight of the day came next: riding the cable car. We walked to the Cable Car Mansion-Powell and didn't wait long for the next ride. Since a family in front of us didn't want to stand on the outside with their children, we were allowed to go first. The driver was collecting the fare and we wanted to get in line, but a man just wouldn't make room. We tried to point this out to him, but he just turned away. The driver noticed this because he wanted to get going, and explained to the man that we both had to fit there too. The man absolutely didn't want to listen, and the cable car driver became more and more vocal until the man finally gave in. There was still plenty of room for the two of us, but first we'll try to keep other people away... all we could do was shake our heads.
The ride was really great! If you lean out a little to look ahead past the other passengers, you really have to be careful when there's an oncoming train! It gets very tight! We arrived at the last stop on Market St and wanted to go back from there, but the line was so long. We would have stood there forever. So we tried a trick: we simply went up one stop, below Union Square, and waited there for the Powell-Hyde train. The drivers always leave a little space for boarding passengers, which meant us. :) After only a 15-minute wait, our train arrived and we went back up into the Hills. Much to our advantage, the driver forgot to charge us.
Lombard Street
Back at the car, we drove to Lombard Street. Driving down it yourself… that's something you have to experience. It's just so funny how everyone's zipping back and forth. It makes for some truly amazing photos.
Cable Car Museum
After that, we wanted to go to the Cable Car Museum. Thanks to a long search for a parking space, we arrived five minutes after closing time at 5:00 PM. Nothing again… another great reason to come back to San Francisco!
Treasure Island
On the way to our hotel We stopped on Treasure Island to catch a breathtaking view of downtown San Francisco. The setting sun and the Golden Gate in the background, magical!
Are you still looking for a suitable hotel in San Francisco?
You can find a hotel to suit your budget via various online travel agencies such as Agoda, Booking.com, ebookers.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, lastminute.com, otel.com or Venere.com.
