My car was glad to leave San Francisco!

I enjoyed San Francisco, but I could not imagine how life is for the people who actually drive on a daily basis.  Granted, I am sure they are used to it, but their poor cars! 

My stick-shift Mazda had trouble getting up one of the steeper hills, and almost rolled back down it!  I have seen the pictures, but man- these uphill streets.  Unbelievable.  So I was thrilled to find a good free parking meter (Sunday) not too far from Fisherman's Wharf and started walking.

It poured for the first half of the day as I walked along the piers and visited the Pier 39 sea lions.  They just lounge around right off the pier!  Got a look at Alcatraz and headed further up for lunch.

Tried crab chowder from Fisherman's Wharf in a sour dough bread bowl-- really really yummy, but way too big to finish!  The sour dough here is delicious; something about the atmosphere that makes it so good. 



She's making fresh bread into turtles and an alligator

Ghirardelli Square for desert, of course.  Just had some chocolate because the sundaes were too big after that bread bowl, and my hands were freezing as it were.  It was a nice walk up there, and by then the rain let up.  

I jumped on a street car towards downtown to walk over into Chinatown.  Chinatown in San Francisco is very festive, to say the least.  Flags hanging out over the streets and plenty of places to shop and eat. 

I went into a fortune cookie shop, where they actually still use vintage machines!  It's a very big beautiful area that is laid out within the streets, rather than in a plaza like Chicago and LA.

 

From there, I cut through an Italian part of town towards Coit Tower.  It was quite a hike, but nothing after the last couple weeks.  It wasn't open for upstairs viewing, but even to just see the artwork on the walls of the first floor was awesome.  A nice view of the city along the bay is right outside the tower too.

 

Ok, now for the curviest street in the world: Lombard Street.  Eight turns in one street, and a very steep street!  Those people driving down it are crazy.  Thanks, but I would love for my brakes to be put to better use later on in my drive :)  I was cool to see though, and definitely a great view after exercising those calf muscles to the top.

Walked along the bay at dusk back to my car, just in time for the rain to return.