San Fransisco
Day 1 - Wednesday night
Arrived at the LAX with plenty of time to get through check-in and security. Found out it was the busiest day of the year for travel.
Arrived in San Fransisco at night - caught the BART (the Bay Area tray) to Union station, and walked to the hotel. There were lots of vouchers at the front desk of the hotel - which we collected. We ate pizza at the pizzaria attached to the hotel - sausage and mushroom: very good.
Day 2 - Thanksgiving day
Caught the free shuttle bus into Union square. Looked around, at the Christmas tree, and buildings nearby, and then went down to the start of the line for a Cable car, and bought a CityPass, which has prepaid vouchers for:
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise
- Exploratorium
- Legion of Honor
- California Academy of Sciences & Steinhart Aquarium
- Muni & Cable Car 7-day Passport
Saw the long line waiting for cable cars, and decided to do a walk (from the guide book) around the city. While standing on a corner looking at the book, a helpful San Fransiscan asked if we wanted help - one of many during our stay.
On our walk, we started in the foyer of the St. Francis Historic Hotel, where we saw "The Gingerbread and Candy Castle", with an electric train whizzing around it's base. We then saw Macy's and Neiman Markus (department stores), Maiden Lane (was the red-light district, but is now a pedestrian mall, and contains the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in San Francisco at 140 Maiden Lane). We then went on to Grant Avenue, saw the Ruth Asawa's San Francisco fountain outside the Hyatt, which visually shows the history of San Francisco. Then went on to Post Street, saw the Stockton St Medical and Dental Building, back, Powell Street past the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (where the doorman is dressed as a Beefeater) down Post Street, Bohemian Club, past Isadora Duncan's birthplace, Clift Hotel, Geary St, Curran Theatre, Geary theatre and back to the Powell st cable-car turntable.
After walking, the line for the cable car was almost as long as when we'd left it ... Caught it to Fisherman's Wharf. Had to sit inside, and the car was packed. More people got on. Not many got off. We bought fish and chips (Jo) and Chowder in Sourdough bread (Rob) for lunch. Headed over to Pier 39, a pier covered in shops, and exchanged a coupon for an item in the CityPass - cruise under the Golden Gate bridge. Looked around Pier 39, got a free bag full of coupons (didn't use any) and went on the cruise. The cruise went out across the bay, under the Golden Gate bridge, turned around and came back around Alcatraz. The breeze was cool, but the views were excellent. Looked around Pier 39, walked back to a Cable Car start line (by which time it was dark), waited for maybe 40 minutes in a line to catch a cable car, and caught the bus back to the hotel.
Day 3 - Friday
Caught the hotel's shuttle to Union Square, and went to the highly recommended (by the National Geographic travel book)
Sears Fine Foods for breakfast. We had their famous 18 Silver Dollar (mini) pancackes with a jug of warm maple syrup. We had to queue to get in, and because there was only two of us we were extracted from the back of the line (the other groups were larger). Afterwards we caught a cable-car to California street. Changed to another line, and headed up the line. Went to the end, got back on (the outside - much more fun), and stopped at
Grace Cathedral. The Church has wonderful stained glass windows, and was quite large. Inside the church there was a
Labyrinth, a large carpet with a path which winds from the outside to the centre. It is used for meditation - walking at ones own pace along the line meditating along the way. We had heard about the Labyrinth in the book on the church in the post-modern age, and it was good to see it. Unfortunately, the shop was not open, so we only bought a few postcards from the desk.
After looking at the Cathedral, we walked to the Cable-Car museum, and saw the hub of all cable cars in San Francisco. The cables are all driven from this one point and the cables run under the street to wherever the cars run. Over the life of a cable, the cables stretch up to 100m and so there is a long mechanism to allow the cable to kept under constant tension. It is amazing to see the cable travelling underground around huge wheels at each corner - the clatter of the cable can be heard on the street above the cable.
Caught another cable car to Ghiradelli Square. Along the way, saw Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world. We didn't get out and explore, as we were too busy using our CityPass.
We ate some chocolate at the square (exchanged a coupon), watched some students perform Christmas carols, ate lunch at a bakery, and headed over to the Maritime museum.
We got in free to see the boats, due to our National Parks Pass. Caught F-street car back to Union Square to watch the "Lighting of the Macy's Christmas Tree". After waiting for half an hour, with a few thousand others, the tree was finally lit - we had a laugh standing infront of a family who were doing the "look, look, it's about to happen" and then realising it wasn't and then repeating the same thing again 5 minutes later. Escaped through Macy's, and had dinner at a Thai restaurant. Whilst waiting to be served in the restraunt we met some Australians (working in the UK) over for a holiday weekend.
Day 4 - Saturday
Got up early and made our way to the
Palace of the Legion of Honor (built to honour those Californians who died in World War I), which had an incredible number of Rodin sculptures. Looked through the museum/art gallery, and saw some great artwork from the last 500 years, as well as more recent artwork by Monet, Picasso and Dali. We decided not to eat there, and caught the bus to the California Academy of Sciences & the Steinhart museum. Bought lunch (inexpensive and healthy - a unique combination) at a supermarket where we needed to change busses. Ate it whilst walking to the academy. The aquarium in the Academy was good - most people were fascinated with the Penguins. We also went to see on an earthquake simulator. There was an exhibition about the Gary Larson and Farside - yes, in a science museum (think about it!). Got rounded up and pushed out at closing.
Caught the bus back to a cable line, and caught the cable back to Union Square. Went to see the Christmas lights at a park, and saw the Martin Luther King memorial. The water was very noisy. Went into the Sony shopping complex, ate dinner at the food hall there (
Buckhorn Grill) and took home some dessert from
Just Desserts.
Day 5 - Sunday
Got up early and caught a bus to the Exploratorium - a hands on science centre. Got there early, and were one of the first few into the venue. Lots of science hands-on experiments, many of which we hadn't seen before. The best biology section we'd ever seen. This included some eggs broken into petri dishes, but kept at an incumbation temperature, so that you could see the development at different stages. Each had been started at different times and so we saw an embryo, and the heart beating of the growing chicks. Freaky. Stayed there the whole day. Went into Chinatown for dinner. Ate at a Chinese restaurant recommended in the guide book - even the receipt was in Chinese (and they insisted on keeping it). Far too much food, but very nice.
Day 6 - Monday
Left our luggage in the hotel, and walked to the United Nations Plaza in the Civic Center. It was raining, so we walked quickly along the plaza, taking note of the countries, and looking at quotes set in the ground. We then went to the City Hall, which was just amazing - lots of art works on the ceiling and ornate stair rails, and very large. There was a tour of 3 year olds, and they were singing, chanting, and being towed around in a large trolley.
We then went to the San Francisco Library, and then up to the Transamerica Pyramid (the tallest building in San Fran), where we'd heard they had a 'virtual' observatory. This had, however, been removed recently due to upgrades. The man at the desk was very helpful, and told us where to go to get some good views of the city. As we were running out of time before we needed to be back at the airport, we didn't go to any of these - we'll go there next time. We visited the Californian Redwood Grove to the east of the Transamerica Pyramid, and found some good art work there. We then made our way to the Gate at the start of Chinatown, and then to a Rand M'cNally map shop. We were unable to find the map we wanted, and time was running out, so we went back to the hotel, caught the BART to the airport, and flew home.
On our walk, we started in the foyer of the St. Francis Historic Hotel, where we saw "The Gingerbread and Candy Castle", with an electric train whizzing around it's base. We then saw Macy's and Neiman Markus (department stores), Maiden Lane (was the red-light district, but is now a pedestrian mall, and contains the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in San Francisco at 140 Maiden Lane). We then went on to Grant Avenue, saw the Ruth Asawa's San Francisco fountain outside the Hyatt, which visually shows the history of San Francisco. Then went on to Post Street, saw the Stockton St Medical and Dental Building, back, Powell Street past the Sir Francis Drake Hotel (where the doorman is dressed as a Beefeater) down Post Street, Bohemian Club, past Isadora Duncan's birthplace, Clift Hotel, Geary St, Curran Theatre, Geary theatre and back to the Powell st cable-car turntable.
Caught the hotel's shuttle to Union Square, and went to the highly recommended (by the National Geographic travel book) Sears Fine Foods for breakfast. We had their famous 18 Silver Dollar (mini) pancackes with a jug of warm maple syrup. We had to queue to get in, and because there was only two of us we were extracted from the back of the line (the other groups were larger). Afterwards we caught a cable-car to California street. Changed to another line, and headed up the line. Went to the end, got back on (the outside - much more fun), and stopped at Grace Cathedral. The Church has wonderful stained glass windows, and was quite large. Inside the church there was a Labyrinth, a large carpet with a path which winds from the outside to the centre. It is used for meditation - walking at ones own pace along the line meditating along the way. We had heard about the Labyrinth in the book on the church in the post-modern age, and it was good to see it. Unfortunately, the shop was not open, so we only bought a few postcards from the desk.
Got up early and caught a bus to the Exploratorium - a hands on science centre. Got there early, and were one of the first few into the venue. Lots of science hands-on experiments, many of which we hadn't seen before. The best biology section we'd ever seen. This included some eggs broken into petri dishes, but kept at an incumbation temperature, so that you could see the development at different stages. Each had been started at different times and so we saw an embryo, and the heart beating of the growing chicks. Freaky. Stayed there the whole day. Went into Chinatown for dinner. Ate at a Chinese restaurant recommended in the guide book - even the receipt was in Chinese (and they insisted on keeping it). Far too much food, but very nice.
