Day 32 & 33 SanFrancisco

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Trip Start May 07, 2008 Previous
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  San Francisco, California, United States
Monday, June 9, 2008

Day 32 - Moss Landing - San Francisco

We let the castle roll out of Moss Landing near Monterey and headed north to San Francisco.
It was a simple and uneventful drive with a comfortable direction commentary from Mandy/Tom GPS.
We arrived in at the Candlestick RV park at around 12:30pm, this park is opposite a large football stadium.
The sites are simply a little larger than car parks that we backed into and hooked up for the power/water. The restrooms are similar type to our Bulli campground but we don't pay for the shower time! Mind you these are the most heavily used facilities we have encountered this far on the trip.
We settled in and decided to take the shuttle to the city, this takes around 20 - 25 mins

The Streets of San Fran

. We left at 3pm and booked the 9pm home trip. I might mention here that maybe Rick and Earnie have left the trip to San Francisco around 40 years too late, we both haven't enough hair to put a flower in! ("if your going to San Francisco, Be sure to wear a flower in your hair" for the uneducated in the mid 60's music)
We were dropped off near China town (every city has one and off course San Fran has a large one because of the earlier gold Rush heritage), we managed to find one of the famous cable cars that took us towards fisherman's wharf.
Again an experience that has to be taken on a journey we are on, hanging on to the outside on the step as the cable car descends the steep roads and climbs up to descend again. (Why build a city on this slope and in an earthquake zone as well? As the saying goes, "only in America!"
We spent time wandering around from pier 41.5 to pier 39 in and out the small shops and absorbing the atmosphere and energy of the many cultures and tourists such as ourselves. The wind took no prisoners it was a nasty cold one blowing through us.
We managed to find our way back towards China town and chose an upstairs Chinese restaurant for our evening meal.  It worked for us for two reason's, it filled our stomachs and gave us relief from the wind.
The shuttle bus arrived a little early (we had no complaints about that!) to take us home for a warm shower and bed.

Day 33 San Francisco 2nd day experience.

We had a reasonable start to the day and caught the 9:30 shuttle bus, this time the plan was to catch the, around the town red bus, this allows the "Hop on Hop off" option over 48 hours

View from the Front window

.
We were a little early for the stop we were closest for a pick up point, this led us to choose to walk to the next one.
Interesting changes of cultures within a couple of blocks, from Chinese to Italian, one thing about San Fran it claims to be the mixing pot of world cultures and our experience from our observations  in the eateries and varied encounters we have observed in our walks etc, they certainly have it all.
We waited at the next stop simply observing people and the locals also lined up at a breakfast and lunch place called Mamas place, the line simply was out on the pavement and didn't diminish, Even later on during our return to this area via the Red bus it was still going about 3 hours later. We were informed by the guide that the place only serves breakfast and lunch yet it is always a line up to go in waiting for tables. (reminded us of the Seinfeld episode of the famous soup shop)
We managed to end up at the tour office of the Alcatraz tours and booked for a tomorrow tour, this left us the rest of the day to do as we wished. After the bus about tour gave us some idea of where or what direction we could take.
We lined up again for another Cable car ride, this one was to take us past the famous zig-zag street called Lombard St, where the road is deliberately designed in a zigzag to slow the horse and carts from running away.
We went to the end of the cable car tracks ending at the Westfield centre SF. From here we had an aimless wander within the city and found ourselves back at the water (definitely influenced by the fact it is downhill!) through a Ferry terminal (containing farmers markets shopping and wine tasting.
Time was approaching for us to return to the shuttle bus area, we chose to walk and did so uphill for a few blocks against the wind, that had returned again to let us know it can be cold in this here part of the world. To quote Mark Twain "The coldest winter I ever had was the summer spent in San Francisco"
We are home now relaxing after a hard day at being tourists with legs either shorter or if not they certainly have a few tired muscles.
Tomorrow is planned to take the Alcatraz journey back in time and that for us will be San Fran, with plans to move on the next day towards the north, hopefully via Muir woods. (Famous Redwood forest area.

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