San Francisco 2008


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After dropping my bag at my hostel and finding lunch, I headed to Golden Gate Park, an enormous park on the west side of San Francisco. In the park is a Japanese Tea Garden. Lots of natural beauty in the Tea Garden, with a Koi pond and lots of huge trees. After walking through the park (took ~2 hours to get from one side to the other, at least), I reached the ocean. It was just slightly cold.
Backtracking now, back to downtown San Francisco, I ended up at the Civic center, where there was a huge biking event going on. There had to be 1000+ bicyclists passing on the road. Near the Civic Center, was SF City Hall. Huge and ornate, and lined with gold. Saturday, I got up and walked town to the water front near the ferry building. There, a large group of people were starting a huge city-wide scavenger hunt called City Rush. In the backdrop, was this odd looking water thingy.
After wandering the Ferry building and it's huge farmer's market (fresh seafood everywhere!), I joined a San Francisco tour. It started with a ferry ride to a neighbouring town. At the other town, there were lots of boats. This was the town, Sausalito. A nice little town, very touristy feeling.
Next stop was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, and stopping at the main lookout point. As can be seen, there is a slight bit of fog. Huge bridge. Then, the Palace of Fine Arts. Then, the De Young, a museum (I think?), with the outside made entirely of copper. It's designed that way, so that as it slowly turns green over the years, it will blend in more with the surrounding trees. It is also someone mesh-like on the outside, to allow light through, like a canopy of trees.
Full House! The Grace Cathedral, a large church near central San Francisco. The steepest street in San Francisco, over 35 degree (!!) slope! It's a good thing they don't get snow/ice often at all.
Me at the famous Lombard Street. China town! San Francisco's Chinatown is huge, and very busy. The tallest building in San Francisco, the Transamerica Pyramid.
Next day, a more involved tour of Chinatown. We stopped by a neat tea shop, a fortune cookie factory, and had a large dim-sum lunch. The Cable Cars! One of my favourite parts, and easily the most fun public transportation available. I rode all 3 cars, and got to hang off the front on all three. Great fun!
The cable car took me to Fisherman's Wharf The USS Pampanito, a WW2 submarine. The interior of the sub. Incredibly cramped, I can't imagine being inside for weeks/months on end.
Looking back at San Francisco. Blue sky! Sea Lions at Pier 39. Pier 39, lots of shops and street performers.
Next destination, Coit Tower. It was a long, tough walk! The view from Coit Tower. Going back down to the waterfront, through one of the neat walkways.
Next up was the Alcatraz tour! It began with a boat tour around the island, then we landed. Sun was setting and the fog was rolling in. The dock area, welcoming you to Alcatraz.
The main cellblock. The showers inside...not a lot of privacy here! Your typical cell.
The mental ward of Alcatraz. They also had the solitary (pitch black) cells here. The best cells, they could see windows! One main cell block.
Up in the hospital area of the prison. A final walk around the island before leaving. Next day, more cable cars! The hills they go up are impressively steep.
It's neat how the cable cars work, they pretty much grab onto a giant cable running under the ground, and use wooden breaks when stopping. Neat, incredibly old technology. Back at Lombard street, at the bottom. And the view from about 1/2 way up.
Walking to Crissy Park, a park on the bay. Looking out at the Bridge (my next destination), covered in fog again. Argh. On my walk there, a heron swooped down and snatched the prairie dog from the ground. It flew off shortly after. Up to the Golden Gate bridge now, still in fog!
The other side of the bridge. Walking the bridge! It's a huge bridge (took about 20-25 minutes to cross), and fairly cold and windy. View from the other side of the bridge.
And back again! The sun is coming out! Me at the bridge. An neat building downtown.
The bridge to Oakland. Final thing, a baseball game before catching my flight. Prepping the field. It was very very windy and cold in the stands!
As night settled in, the lights came on and the Cubs beat the Giants badly (9-2). From here, I went straight for my red-eye flight, and returned to Sarnia.   
Photos 1 - 58 out of 58 | Back to Albums
Description: Vacation from June 27 - June 30 to visit the west coast of California.
Location: San Francisco

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