San Francisco 2011

We had the week off between Christmas and New Year so we thought we'd take a little trip. We decided on San Francisco because (1) the airfare was really low, (2) we had enough hotel points to stay the whole time for free and (3) we hadn't been there since our honeymoon in September of 2000. Plus, it's a marvelous city.

We stayed at the Hilton on Fisherman's Wharf. We got upgraded to a junior suite. Not bad.
We got there on Christmas day in the evening and our first stop was to get dinner. We decided to go to Chinatown for some dim sum. As navigator, I looked at the map and saw that we could go straight from our street to California and turn left and then we'd be in Chinatown. Ha! Our street at one point was at a 45 degree angle. The hills were so steep that my calves were burning with each step.
This is the hill we climbed up. In the very back, you can see Coit Tower all lit up.

We finally made it to Chinatown and found a really good place to eat. On the way back, we walked down Stockton. Guess what? No hills! I wish we'd realized that sooner.
This is the church of Sts. Peter & Paul. It was really pretty all lit up.

Monday, we decided to take the hop on/hop off city tour. That's always a great way to see the city. Our first stop was Golden Gate Bridge. It was so foggy, you couldn't even SEE the bridge.
Just in case you are having 'thoughts' there's this sign on the bridge to help you out.
We decided to walk across the bridge. It's 1 3/4 mile each way. It wasn't bad until we got to the other side and realized we had to walk all the way back. We looked for a taxi but no such luck.
The sun was trying desperately to peek through.
Even though it was foggy, it was still pretty bright.
It wouldn't be vacation if we didn't have the traditional self-portrait.

After we got back, we got back on the bus and decided to stay on for the duration of the tour to give our tired and sore legs a rest.
The domed building there is the Royal Palace of Fine Arts which was built in 1915 for the Panama Pacific International Exposition.
The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.
Hippie Central - Haight-Ashbury.
Here are some of the Victorian Homes in the Haight-Ashbury area. Apparently, you can't change the face of the structure but you can paint it any color combination you want.
These are the 'Painted Ladies'. These houses are in the intro scene from a show in the '90's called Full House. There's also a beautiful view of San Francisco. The house at the far end was for sale for $5,000,000. The price has since been reduced to $2,500,000. It's a tough sell because every 10 minutes a tour bus goes by. Our guide was telling us that people will randomly walk up to this person's door and ask for a tour of the house. How rude!
San Francisco City Hall.
The Christmas tree in Union Square. This was our only trip to Union Square. The traffic was horrendous. Of course, this is the shopping mecca of the city and we were here on December 26th so...
Chinatown Gate. The inscription says 'All under Heaven is for the good of the people' by Dr. Sun Yet-sen.
All the street lights in Chinatown look like Chinese lanterns.That evening, we took the Alcatraz tour. We'd been to Alcatraz the last time we came but that was during the day. My uncle suggested we take the night tour. Above is San Francisco at dusk.
The Bay Bridge at dusk.
Ghirardelli Square.
The welcome sign at Alcatraz.
The San Francisco skyline all lit up. A shot from the shores of Alcatraz.
Alcatraz Island.

Tuesday, we walked over to Starbucks. We decided to get back on the tour bus to go back to Golden Gate.

San Francisco Cable Car. The lines to get on these things was always long so we didn't get on.
The Presidio is no longer an active military base. It was decommissioned back in the '90's. This is the barracks that the single guy lived in. It now houses the Disney museum. There are a lot of commercial businesses that rent out these buildings.
These are the houses that the officers used to live in. They are 4 bedrooms - not too big and they go for about $5,000 a month. From the front yard of this house, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge. Imagine waking up to that every morning.
We went back to Golden Gate Bridge for pictures on Tuesday because the fog had lifted and it was nice and clear. The traffic around the bridge is atrocious. They have a tiny little parking lot that will hold about 20 cars and there are about 250 cars trying to get into those spaces.
Me & John in front of Golden Gate Bridge. It almost looks like a photo backdrop at a studio but it's the real thing. They are doing construction around this area in anticipation of the 75th anniversary of the bridge.
We took a cab up to telegraph hill. If we'd stayed on the tour bus, it would have taken the rest of the afternoon to get over there so we got off.
Coit Tower. This 210 foot tower was built in 1933 at the request of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. It's built in the shape of a fire hose. We went up to the top via elevator. Thank God the stairs were closed.
View of the Bay Bridge from the top of Coit Tower.
Alcatraz Island - view from Coit tower.
View of Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Coit Tower.
View of Transamerica Tower from Coit Tower.
Ghirardelli Square. We didn't go in but we stopped by.
Boat on display at Hyde Street Pier. They have a club in San Francisco called the Dolphin Club. The members swim around in the bay throughout the year. To get in, you have to swim from Alcatraz to the pier - about a mile. There was someone swimming in the bay this morning.
View of Golden Gate Bridge from Hyde Street Pier. It's magnificent.
Lotta's Fountain was built in 1875 and survived the 1906 earthquake. Our tour guide said that this was the only place to get good drinking water after the earthquake.
The streets of San Francisco. These hills are steep! Our first night here, we walked up hill from Fisherman's Wharf to Chinatown and I thought we were going to die! Of course we found out after the fact that there was an easier way to go (and much less hilly).
Transamerica Tower is the tallest building in San Francisco. It was completed in 1972 and used to house the corporate office of the Transamerica Corporation.
The Saints Peter & Paul Church. The original structure was built in 1884 but was destroyed in the earthquake of 1906. The new structure (below) was completed in 1924.
Lombard Street. All day everyday there are cars driving down this street to challenge the hairpin turns.

It was a quick four days. It was totally awesome and I would be happy to go right back there.