Our first stop was at the Golden Gate Park. A very nicely laid out and landscaped park, with interesting architectural building. We then hopped on the bus, and went over across the Golden Gate Bridge to the Sausalito Vista Point. It was so interesting. The bridge from the San Francisco side was shrouded in clouds. As soon as you got over the bridge, it was sunny and clear. You could see the San Francisco skyline, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, and Alcatraz.
The Bus tour then took us by the Palace of Fine Arts, then Lombard Street, and we then hopped off at Pier 39. We walked around the commercial stores, but we got tired of all the touristy stuff pretty quickly. We did have lunch along the Marina. Then walked over to Fisherman's Wharf. We saw a couple of WW II ships, the marina, and lots of people.
Looking at the map of the bus tour route, the next stop was Chinatown. We decided to just walk over the dozen or so blocks to get there, and get a sense of the neighborhood. Of course, as you would have it, half of the blocks were uphill. Typical San Francisco. Of course, after hiking in Yosemite, this wasn't that difficult. It was neat seeing all of the trolleys and electric buses, running on the overhead electric cables. Reminded me of my childhood growing up in Detroit, where we had them also. No hills, though.
We were VERY impressed with Chinatown. It was really crowded, all with Chinese folks. Hardly any tourists. They were all doing their grocery shopping at the many local stores--the fish/eel/butcher store, the fruit/vegetable/dried herbs/nut etc store, and the bakery store. No Safeway grocery store. And there were many of each kind of store, all loaded down with lots of food, laid out on tables with no refrigeration. The meats did have ice. Of course, there were also other types of stores--clothing, kitchen wares, and stuff I had no idea of what it was stores.
We hopped back on the bus and went through the more financial centers of the city, and hopped off at Haight-Ashbury. We were told this neighborhood still retained the same character as it had from the 60's. We were NOT impressed. It was a reminder, but to me, it just felt dilapidated.
After waiting quite a while for the tour bus, we took it back to the Golden Gate Park, where we picked up the UBER to take us back to the RV in Pacifica. We decided to use the UBER, instead of driving into the city, because our RV office staff told us that most of the people he knows have had there vehicles broken into, while parked in the city. Also, the traffic is terrible, and the parking is very expensive. So, the UBER actually worked out very well.
We were told by everyone, how expensive it is to live anywhere in the city. Not much new construction, all remodeled older homes. All the people, the traffic, the expense of everything, everywhere, the homeless, and the tourists (of which I was one), made me remember why I don't enjoy the cities, and would never want to live in one again. By the way, Peter does not agree with that sentiment. He loves all the people.
San Francisco Tour photos:
Golden Gate Park photos:
Golden Gate Bridge photos:
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| The Lone Sailor Memorial |
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