Started off with the well known attraction, Alcatraz. We took a boat over and the island is surprisingly small, but it pretty cheery and bright, even with the sad interviews from ex-prisoners being played over the loud speakers as we walked around the cell blocks. We tried to see the Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz, but the fog had other plans for us. Back on dry land and away from whining prisoners, we visited the ‘sea-lions’ on Pier 39, which made us hungry for crab. After a long crunchy lunch, we spent most of the afternoon riding around the cable-cars, which are actually tramcars being pulled up the hills by underground cables, which is not what the world would call a cable-car. We then strolled around Union Square.
We past a hotel San Francisco has plenty of and decided to see if we could book a room for a day. We weren’t planning to stay here, but one day is not enough to thoroughly experience this amazing city. The hotel did have accommodations for us, so we went up and unpacked our clothes and put on several layers of clothes as to keep the cool wet weather from giving us a chill as we head back out to Monster Park, formerly known as Candlestick Park, to watch the 49′ers play the Chargers. American Football, is also not what the world recognizes as football. The game is entertaining all the same and the people are really fun, friendly and thumbs up for the food! Hot dogs, cold beer and garlic chips! We could eat and drink while in our seats watching the game! Fantastic! We really appreciated how they designed the stadium so that there is no cold wind blowing inside. Today, it would’ve made watching the game miserable if the wind blew, because it was already very cold.
The next day, which we are so glad we decided to book a room, we rented bikes and rode along the waterfront to the Golden Gate Bridge, which is very visible today. We would have missed this beautiful bridge if we followed our itinerary and drove down to San Diego. The bridge needs to be experienced and fortunately we experienced it by riding our bikes across it and back! What a wonderful treat. We managed to find another restaurant and ate more crab for lunch! Crab is very plentiful here, such a succulent delight. Alas, it was time to get back in our car and drive on down the coast of California. San Francisco definitely has our hearts. We made a decision that next time we travel, to stay an entire week here.