San Francisco

What can I say? I see why this is one of the most popular cities in all of the US. It was amazing and we hit it on the perfect day. it was a bit chilly but clear blue skies kept us motivated to see the city. We started with breakfast a small outdoor cafe - thank god for hot chai tea! Then we boarded a blue double-decker bus for our tour of the city. There were only 11 other people on the bus plus the tour guide and driver so it was all ours.

First stop: Fisherman's Wharf a seafood and sightseeing mecca. So many great little shops, vintage seaside stands, and places to eat it was almost overwhelming- where do I start first? Luckily the bus whisked us off to the next stop before I my head could spin too much. We  drove through the city and made our way to our next stop which was the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. We seriously couldn't have asked for a better day- it was clear with no fog and we got some great views of the city, of Alcatraz, and of course, of the bridge. The next site was Presidio and the large central park. We cruised through the park viewing the different plants, fields, and gardens. The Japanese Tea Garden was pretty impressive as was the center of the park- a large art museum that was show casing a King Tut exhibit and a small park planted with a living roof. Of course this being winter there was no roof to be seen but I can only imagine what it looks like in the spring.

We wound our way through San Francisco- Haight Ashbury, classical San Fran row houses, Union Square, and Chinatown. All completely amazing. It's hard to believe that this city has been shattered by earthquakes and destroyed by fires several times. It was totally alive. Do you recognize the yellow house in the middle? One hint: it's where Mary Kate and Ashley started in a full house.

We continued our tour and saw more of the iconic San Francisco architecture.

We even saw Francis Ford Coopola eating at the place he owns in San Francisco-

Our final stop was back on the wharf where we left the bus behind and headed for Alcatraz. We took a ferry boat into the bay and towards the Rock. It is a pretty ominous looking site from the mainland but coming up on it from the ferry added that much more to the mystique. For a fee we got the ferry ride and a recorded walking tour narrated by a few of the ex guards and prisoners of Alcatraz. Did you know that the guards families-wives and children- lived on Alcatraz too? There were small housing facilities for them outside of the main prison building. I had no idea. We toured the showers, the various cell blocks and heard stories of the escape attempts. The prison was only open for about 30 years and was eventually shut down because it was too expensive to run. Of course there were the famous residents like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Bird Man, but many of the prisoners were repeat offenders who had broken prison rules elsewhere.

Safely back on the ferry and making our way back towards freedom we landed again on Fisherman's Wharf. We did a quick stroll and stopped at Boudin's for the original clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. We explored the wharf, saw the sea lions and soaked in the salty sea air.

We strolled up to Hyde St and caught the classic San Francisco trolley. You really can hang off the rails on these things, just be careful because the other cars pass closer than you think. We hopped off and headed into Chinatown. After finding the gates and stopping in a few stores we headed back to the wharf on the trolley for dinner. I had the classic seafood stew with tomato broth and Bailey and Pops enjoyed fresh shellfish.

San Francisco was an amazing city and I will certainly put it on my list of places to come back to.