San Francisco

San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge

This is a bit late (a few months late) but here it is at last! My first time to San Francisco I was much younger than I am now. This trip was my second time to San Francisco but this I got to wander as I pleased. However for my wife this was her first time to the bay area. We started off the day crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with higher parts of the bridge disappearing into the fog. I took these next shots from inside a moving vehicle so they are not as good as I wanted but you get the visual.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Though I did not go, you can go to Alcatraz Island to see the prison that was there. It is quite a tourist spot and you get a different look at the bay. Perhaps I'll go next time I'm there. Here are some shots of the island and bay and it shows some tour boats in them.

Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay with a tour boat and a sail boat

San Francisco Bay with Alcatraz Island

Tour Boat

Just off of Pier 49 you can get a look at the Sea Lions sunbathing and sleeping the day away. You can see them from the tours but you can get just as close from Pier 49.

Sea Lions by Pier 49

There is always a good amount of Street entertainers. Below is a shot from my favorite performance. It was a pair of brothers (their sister does it too but she was not there that day) who could do some amazing things. Here this one is balancing himself on an aluminum board on three cups on another aluminum board on four other cups on a wooden board, all on a metal cylinder. He put it all together while he was on it. It was quite impressive. To top it all off he juggled on the precarious pedestal.  

Street Entertainer from England near Pier 49

There is something for everyone. These boys were playing on a small beach with a grounded rowboat. They played in the sand and pretended they were actually on the water. Their mother was able to sit and rest her feet while she watched.

Boys playing on a little beach on the San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz and wharfs/piers

San Fransisco and bay from a wharf

The Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory is a fin place. You can see the Factory in the Panorama above. (look for the name Ghirardelli, it is on top of the building. You can buy chocolate to your heart's content. There is also an ice-cream parlor where you can get some fabulous desserts!

Ice-cream from Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory

There is plenty more to see like the world's windiest road, Lombard Street. We also drove through China town but that is all we could do because of time. I'm sure there is even more than what I even saw. This photo of Lombard Street is also taken from a moving vehicle. There was just so much to see and do so I had to take some photos from the car.

The windiest road in the world, Lombard Street, in San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge looking towards San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge looking towards San Francisco

My wife and me in front of the Golden Gate Bridge