As is the way when we have a visitor we have to go on a trip – and this time, Aunty A had selected San Francisco (or San Frandiego as Toby called it – he was getting our two August trips somewhat confused!).
We set off for the airport, parked the car, went through security and were ready to go – and then the flight got delayed an hour. Never mind – it gave us the chance to sample breakfast at Wendys again. Hashbrowns were the order of the day but clearly we placed our order too late because they didn’t have any. We stocked up on other goodies and then did a spot of shopping – a common theme throughout the first 2 weeks of August!
Fortunately there were no further delays and we were soon in the air on the way to San Francisco. The flight wasn’t particularly eventful – other than it being everyone’s first flight on Alaska (apart from me) – and an hour and 45 minutes later we landed. San Francisco airport has an interesting approach to landing. It feels like your going to land on water and then at the last second, just before you actually do land on the water the runway appears! What a relief!
As we only had hand luggage we were soon in a cab on the way to our hotel. We were staying in the touristy area of Fisherman’s Wharf but the Holiday Inn was more than satisfactory for our needs. After unpacking the first thing on the list was food! Obviously! We went round the corner from the hotel and found an italian type restaurant and enjoyed some very good food. After food it was a stroll along the front, visiting the shops and then walking out along Hyde Street pier. It was nice and sunny but also pretty windy – wearing the right clothes was proving quite tricky!
We then went along to the small beach by the harbor area and while watching people swimming we got our first good view of Alcatraz – something that was clearly starting to intrigue Harry and Toby:
From the beach we went along past some more piers and saw a submarine, Naughty Marietta “doing her stuff” (which had Tracy in hysterics) and Sally’s Famous Fishwiches:
Next stop was pier 39 with the sea lions. There weren’t as many as usual but they were noisy and pretty stinky!
We then slowly made our way back to the hotel, taking time to stock up on beer, wine and biscuits and tehn settled down for an evening in front of the TV and DS’s. The evening in front of the TV was only briefly interrupted by a trip over the road to the Codmothers, where we got some Baha fish tacos, some fish and some proper English chips. It was lovely!
Next morning we were up early and on the cable car. We went from the bottom of Hyde Street to Union Square.
Obviously we were ravenous so we walked around, sort of aimlessly looking for a good place to have breakfast. By complete fluke we stumbled upon a place called Lori’s Diner which is somewhere Tracy and I had had dinner one evening the last time we were in San Francisco together – just over 10 years ago on our honeymoon.
We had a fab breakfast here which set us up nicely for a day walking the streets of San Francisco. First we went down through Chinatown.
We had a lucky escape in Chinatown. Tracy was clearly suffering from a lack of sleep or something as she went in lots of Chinese tat shops trying to find a gold waving cat. They were truly, truly hideous but for some reason she was most insistent that she wanted one. Fortunately we couldn’t find quite the one she was looking for and then when she did, she discovered that they were battery operated and she went right off the idea. Thank god. I really cannot say how disgusting they are!
From Chinatown we went up to Coit Tower. Sally and the boys posed for a picture at the bottom of the tower and just a couple of seconds after this was taken a couple of fat rats went leaping past behind them. They weren’t overly impressed:
After going up and down the tower we then set off towards Lombard Street, and in particular the wiggly, crookedest part. Despite the fact that San Francisco is mainly hills the boys decided they wanted to run up and down them all – silly boys – but they should have well toned bottoms after all the walking they did.
As usual the crookedest street in the world was chaos but still very lovely. I wouldn’t mind living on this street if it wasn’t for all the people that were there and the fact that the houses probably cost millions!
After walking the streets for a bit longer and then having a drink and a snack in a bar near the hotel we then continued our day of walking. This time we went towards the Golden Gate bridge. It was a bit to far to walk all the way there but that didn’t matter too much as the bridge stayed pretty much in the cloud for the entire time we were in San Francisco.
After all this walking we were starving! So on the way back to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant near the piers and enjoyed another scrummy meal. After this, it was time to stock up on more wine and then back to the hotel for drinks and DS’s.
The final morning arrived and we packed up our belongings and booked a cab for the airport later. Then we walked along the front to Pier 31 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. Harry was very excited about Alcatraz and had spent most of the weekend talking about it. Fortunately it didn’t disappoint him or Toby.
We landed on the island and then took the audio tour round the prison.
We heard about the attempted escapes, the prisoners, the fights and deaths. It was very interesting and a bit creepy at times but before we knew it, it was time to get the boat back to the city so we could get our cab to the airport.
And then that was that! San Frandiego done! A good time was had by all and another visit will be required before we leave I think. I’d like to go to Muir Woods, see the painted ladies (houses), go to Sausalito, visit the Napa Valley and get back to Yosemite. Crikey – there is a lot to do!!
And here are all the photo’s.