Thursday, 16 July 2015
California
Our last hotel's WiFi password was worldpeace--you know we're in California! Today we drove to San Francisco. I hate to drive in San Francisco because having a manual transmission on those steep hills stresses me out. But I was able to get downtown and find a parking spot on the street near Fisherman's Wharf without too much hassle. We walked around and Joshua needed to go into many souvenir stores to find two "models"--one of the bridge and one of Alcatraz. We weren't able to go to Alcatraz because you need to schedule it far in advance and we didn't check until yesterday. But Joshua collects little models of buildings and monuments that impress him. He has them from all over Europe. Once those were found, we could walk around in the beautiful weather (sunny and in the 70s!) and watch the street performers.
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| An interesting shop we looked around in |
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| Fisherman's Wharf |
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| Street Performer |
We needed to walk back to the car to put more time on the meter, then went to Ghirardelli Square to see the old buildings of the chocolate factory and, I don't know, maybe find some chocolate to buy? Well, the buildings were cool and remade into shops and restaurants and you know, we did find some chocolate! Then we walked down to the beach then out onto a long pier to get closer photos of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz.
By that time, our meter was out again, so we got in the car and Randy got to drive around the city--only killed the car once. We went to Alamo Square which has a row of Victorian row houses that are photographed by most visitors to San Francisco. We, of course did too, as well as some others then decided to walk around the square. We met a man named Phoenix and his dog Chester. He admitted that he has now fulfilled the stereotype of the 55 year old gay man who buys a small dog (you can tell he dotes on him!). He was very funny and had a lot of stereotyped ideas about Minnesotans. He suggested that we go to Golden Gate Park tomorrow and skip the Castro because it is too touristy. After that, we had a snack in the park of blueberries, almonds, apples, and the last of the 'Nilla Wafers with our water (oh, and a piece of chocolate). All we have left are the blueberries (and some chocolate!).
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| Golden Gate Bridge |
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| The "pretend you like each other" pose |
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| The "have fun" pose |
By that time, our meter was out again, so we got in the car and Randy got to drive around the city--only killed the car once. We went to Alamo Square which has a row of Victorian row houses that are photographed by most visitors to San Francisco. We, of course did too, as well as some others then decided to walk around the square. We met a man named Phoenix and his dog Chester. He admitted that he has now fulfilled the stereotype of the 55 year old gay man who buys a small dog (you can tell he dotes on him!). He was very funny and had a lot of stereotyped ideas about Minnesotans. He suggested that we go to Golden Gate Park tomorrow and skip the Castro because it is too touristy. After that, we had a snack in the park of blueberries, almonds, apples, and the last of the 'Nilla Wafers with our water (oh, and a piece of chocolate). All we have left are the blueberries (and some chocolate!).
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| The "Painted Ladies" |
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| At the playground in Alamo Square! Their own "Painted Ladies" |
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| Joshua wishes he were younger to play more at the playground! |
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| More beautiful Victorian row houses! |
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| Found this on the walking path |
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| Love the bark! |
Then we drove around downtown for Joshua to see the TransAmerica building up close, then drove to Lombard Street. There is a block there where the street is even more steep than the others (which is saying something) and a lot of very nice homes are there. They built the entire block with switchbacks--and nice flowers (including a lot of hydrangea bushes) planted in between the switchbacks. After taking photos, we, of course, had to try it!
We also sighted some towers and a dome, so we followed them and found a beautiful church.
Earlier today, we saw what looked like a giant Greek tower on the other side of the bay, so we went to look at it. It is the Coit Tower in Pioneer Park. Not actually Greek; a wealthy woman left money when she died for the beautification of the city she loved. They used it to build a tower in the middle of a park on the hill.
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| From the bottom |
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| Going down! |
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| St. Ignatius Church |
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| St. Ignatius |
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| Cathedral of the Sacred Heart |
Earlier today, we saw what looked like a giant Greek tower on the other side of the bay, so we went to look at it. It is the Coit Tower in Pioneer Park. Not actually Greek; a wealthy woman left money when she died for the beautification of the city she loved. They used it to build a tower in the middle of a park on the hill.
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| Coit Tower |
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