A stroll in the Parks: City By the Bay: Day 1

Kate and I began last Tuesday at Logan, waiting for our flight to board. With no McDonalds in our terminal, we settled on some French Toast from Johnny Rocket's. The service was slow but the grub was actually decent. Our Jet Blue flight was uneventful and we busied ourselves watching our TVs built into the seats, munching on the snacks, reading, and occasionally dozing off.

Upon arriving in San Francisco we waited for our bags while listening to an announcer unenthusiastically recite directions to the travelers in an accent that sounded slightly "surfer dude". Our transit into the city center of San Francisco turned out to be fairly simple. We purchased our week long MUNI passport (San Francisco's city Mass Transit. Next we hopped on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) after buying a one-way pass for $8.10. Like many airports, SFO is actually quite far outside the city and transit would have cost much more by cab or shuttle. The BART is actually just a long distance "commuter" subway system that looks and feels almost exactly like the Metro subway system in D.C. Once in San Francisco we hopped on the 1 bus line which took us to a stop 1 block from our hotel, the Gateway Holiday Inn. Kate booked the room and was offered a free upgrade to the 21st floor. We originally were on the 6th, and I'm sure this upgrade probably made a big difference in terms of the street noise. Van Ness Avenue which runs by the hotel, apparently replaced the central artery after the earthquake destroyed it in 1989. Surprisingly the traffic wasn't too bad, and although there was some noise, it didn't compare to NYC.

A couple shots of the view from the hotel. It was a little hazy the first day, but it was probably in the mid sixties Fahrenheit. We had few complaints about the weather.

After "unpacking" which for us means dropping off the suitcases, we took the "California St." cable car line down to Embarcedaro station next to the old San Francisco Ferry building.

Embarcedaro is actually one of the busier stations in San Francisco. It connects the Muni underground, the BART line (which we came in on), the F-line which is an electric trolley system, and the cable car line from California St. It runs from the Castro to a turn-around about a block from Fisherman's Wharf. The Ferry Building area is home to public markets, open pedestrian spaces that frequently were filled with arts and craft stands, various coffee shops and eateries, as well as gourmet food shops. There was an entire store in the Ferry building dedicated to mushrooms, and another dedicated to "pig parts".

Entrance to a Muni/Bart station with the F-train running in the background.

This is a view of the Bay Bridge which is a two part span that connects Oakland and San Francisco. It contains two layers of traffic, and at one time it continued through the city itself as a raised highway/central artery before getting damaged in the 1989 quake. I recall seeing it on TV because if I recall correctly the Sox were playing the Oakland A's at the time.

There are several historic boats that serve as museums along the San Francisco waterfront. This is an old ferry, complete with a paddle wheel.

A view of the Transamerica pyramid from a pier.

This is the Ferry building. The area is essentially San Francisco's equivalent of Quincy Market, however, where Boston focuses on quick/ prepared local favorites and ethnic food, the Ferry building contains gourmet foods that are often unprepared.

Palm trees and warm weather, ahhhh. Coit Tower is seen in the background on Telegraph hill. We take in that attraction from a closer vantage point later in the trip.

This is Fisherman's Wharf, home to many casual seafood eateries, often specializing in dungeness crab. This is San Francisco's claim to Sea Food greatness. Unfortunately I didn't find the ideal time to try it, however, it is my understanding that it wasn't in season.

The sea lions seen below were lounging outside of Pier 39. We stood around briefly watching these creatures bark, flap their flippers, and look lethargic.

We ended up eating on pier 39 which is essentially an outdoor mall with a tourist flare. Again, think Quincy Market. We chose a bar & grill that had a very over the top "California" beach theme. I had calamari and Kate had a teriyaki/ pineapple chicken sandwich. Both of course came with fries. It was too much food but I was starved. We walked it off afterwards, almost traveling all the way to another district of San Francisco, the Presidio.

From the end of pier 39 we had our first glimpse of Alcatraz. It is just over a mile out in the bay, however it seems much closer in person.

Musee Mecanique is a museum dedicated to antique arcade amusements. Among many fortune teller machines, movie viewers, pinball machines, and even the old Atari games were these politically incorrect gems.

Kate humored me and she treated me to a display of the "Opium Den" which cost a quarter.

The window in the back has a dragon to be "chased" and there is a skeleton that pops in and out of the door on the left.

Another shot of the festive "Fisherman's Wharf" area.

This shot of the sun setting was taken at Aquatic Park which is near Fort Mason. There were people swimming in here, it seemed a little cold honestly. Some of George Lucas's studios are near here in the Presidio.

Another historic vessel in the San Francisco harbor.

The old Ghiradelli Chocolate factory. We intended to get ice cream in a store there, however by the time we made it over it was unfortunately closed.

This is a photo from the breakwater in the San Francisco Maritime National Historic park.

Looking at the sun behind what was our first glimpse of the Golden Gate bridge.

This odd statue was located in a water front park in the Marina area of San Francisco.

The picture below shows the Golden Gate Bridge behind some of the buildings that make up Fort Mason. The shot below had some amusing graffiti on the sign, which was my primary reason for taking the picture. I have no idea what any of it means. A tribute to Aqua Teen Hunger Force perhaps?