It was then on to Union Square. On the way we got to admire San Fransisco's Victorian homes neighbourhood, also known as San Fransisco's painted ladies due to the great gingerbread work and attractive facades. We drove by a set of Victorians, near Alamo Square that are amongst the most popular as they are featured in a number of TV shows and movies and are one of the most photographed group of Victorian homes. (First photo, bottom right hand corner.)
Oh, and I must say that I would absolutely not survive in this city as a bus driver! The tight squeezes and sharp turns these people have to make with these huge double decker buses is a feet in itself! Not too mention driving up and down the super steep streets in this city.
We drove by San Fransisco's City Hall which is one of the finest I've seen. It has quite an interesting history. It's the building in the next set of photos, far right; middle. Judge for yourself. I love the architecture and detail in all the buildings in San Fran. So unique.
Oh yes, and in the photo top right...had to take a picture of the guy with a rat, on top of a cat, on top of a dog...hmmmm. I believe this was at Union Square, our next stop.
Union Square is fantastic (I know I use this word a lot haha) but it is. There were SO many people! Wish I would've taken a picture of all the people! It was crazy! It has every store imaginable from Macy's to Louis Vuitton. This wasn't a shopping trip for me but one day I hope to go back and explore Union Square a little more. From here you can also go explore Chinatown and San Fran's Financial District.
Then it was on to North Beach and Little Italy. Points of interest at this stop: Lombard Street: San Fran's crookedest street. So imagine a crooked street....now imagine it crookeder (not sure if this a a word but seriously). The speed limit on this street is 5, yes I said 5 mph!! Here's a link to a picture of Lombard Street, we only got to see the view from the top.
http://www.executiveedge.com.au/themes/executiveedge/images/issue8/lombard-street.jpg
Then on to Alcatraz landing, the departure point for the ferries that take tourists to Alcatraz. Speaking of Alcatraz, if you plan on taking the tour, and it's a weekend, get your tickets the day you get there, they sell out fast! Located at Pier 33.
Last stop and where we disembarked: Pier 39, which we had explored the day before (thank goodness). It was amazing how much busier it was Saturday compared to Friday. We were so grateful we toured around this area the day before, there were hordes of people here when we got off the tour bus. Groups of people watching artists paint or getting their pictures taken with the guys that spray paint themselves silver and pretend to be statues. You name it, San Fransisco has it!
The palm trees in the next picture are along The Embarcadero, which runs all along Fisherman's Wharf. The other shots are of different trees that were around when we were waiting in line for the cable car on Hyde Street, our next stop. I love the different trees and shrubs and flowers they have down there. The tree in the top right corner was so beautiful, the picture next to it is the same tree zoomed in. The top left is looking down towards the beach.
As we are walking towards the Hyde Street cable car, which is the most popular of routes to take by cable car, John says to me "Look Mel!" and what do I see...a huge group of naked mountain bikers!! Not too sure what that was all about but I had to snap a picture for sure! lol See for yourself: next picture, top left. Other discoveries on our walk, was the Boudin Bakery. A 30-foot observation window lets you see a team of experts crafting batches of sourdough bread by hand. I thought it was pretty neat the animals they had created out of sourdough so of course I had to take some pictures.
I was super excited to go on the cable car! Tickets were $5 one way or you can buy day passes I believe. This cable car line is one of the most popular as it goes straight down to Union Square, so the line up was pretty long, but moved faster than I expected. Helped that there was a gentleman playing his guitar to entertain us the whole time (sarcasm)...too bad he only really knew about 3 songs...and another problem was that people kept giving him money when he would walk around with his hat so then in turn he would keep playing. And can't forget about the guy that got chained to a light pole in a straight jacket and showed us his escape routine then wanted money from everyone. There's all kinds in San Fran!
Riding the cable car was great. Got to see a lot of sites as we went up and down the steep San Fransisco streets. We rode all the way to the end of the line, Union Square, got off, saw the line up for the return trip was even longer than the line up we waited in to begin with, and decided to walk up a bit. I think we maybe walked up 2 stops and got on no problem. This time I got to stand on the outside holding onto the pole. So much more fun!
The ride back was quite a bit more exciting as we got stuck at the bottom off one of the super steep hills and the conductor guy or whatever you call him had to call for the truck to come push us up the hill! Must happen frequently if they have a big truck just for this purpose! Took a picture of us getting pushed up the hill; top left hand corner pic.
Taking a ride on a cable car is a must do in San Fransisco.
I loved it!
Afterwards we headed back to our hotel and went swimming and sat in the hot tub. So relaxing. Had a great dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that night.Here's short clip of the cable car ride.
Tried to upload a video of the cable car being turned around at the end of the line but it was too big. Too bad, I wanted you to hear the electric guitar guy. lol
End of Day 2.
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