Instead of taking BARD we take the bus down to Jack London Square where we can take the San Francisco Bay ferry from Oakland to San Francisco. It takes about 20 minutes and is a lovely scenic ride.
It’s a busy harbour with lots of cranes for loading containers on to freighters.
The Bay Bridge.
Arriving on the San Francisco side.
This trolley train runs up the Embarcardero on the waterfront from Pier 1 to Pier 47 at Fisherman’s Wharf.
We walk around until it’s time for our Love Tour.
The Stinking Rose is a landmark. It’s an Italian restaurant where even the desserts have garlic in them.
This is our ride for the Love Tour. We start this two hour tour at Fisherman’s Wharf. The best 60’s music blaring and everyone singing along.
The Palace of Fine Arts
Fort Point located by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Girls by the Golden Gate Bridge doing our ‘groovy’ thing!
These houses are referred to as the Painted Ladies. Victorian homes in beautiful condition with the skyline of San Francisco behind them. They are symbolic of the California Gold Rush. It wasn’t until the 60’s and 70’s that houses started to be painted in colours. Up until that time houses were quite drab.
We drive down the famous Lombard Avenue. More people were taking pictures of our Love Van than we were taking of the road.
We also went to Haight Ashbury and the gay community of Castro but weren’t able to stop. We hope to go back to those areas on our own later.
After the tour ended we headed home however the next day we go back to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz Island. It’s a bit foggy and quite cool this morning.
Approaching Alcatraz.
Pretty creepy place with a lot of history. Originally a Military Prison before it became a Federal Prison in 1934.
A very famous escape.
The likes of Al (Scarface) Capone, George (Machine Gun) Kelly, Arthur (Doc) Barker, Alvin (Creepy Karpis) Karpavicz, Robert (The Birdman) Stroud, Ellsworth (Bumpy) Johnson and Meyer (Mickey) Cohen.
Alcatraz Island was occupied from November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971 by Native Americans. The occupation served as a strong symbol and uniting force for indigenous peoples everywhere because of the importance the island held. The occupation was caused by violations of the Treaty of Fort Laramie and was forcibly ended by the US Government. The goal was awareness of American Indian oppression.
We leave the island and head back to San Francisco.
We walked to the Cable Car Museum. Cable cars were brought to San Francisco from all over the country as they were fazed out in other cities. The first run was in 1873 and they continue to operate today. The cable cars themselves have no power but operate by gripping the constantly moving cable to go forward and then releasing the cable and applying a brake to stop. They definitely add charm to San Francisco. The museum also had some great pictures of the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fire.
There are four main lines and these are the cables. They never stop.
As we leave the Cable Car Museum and head back to the ferry we pass through Chinatown again.
Wonderful colourful buildings.
As we head through the Financial District we pass the 48 story Transamerica Pyramid. This building houses offices of lawyers, accountants, financial institutions, etc. Built in 1972 it’s now 50 years old and yet looks very modern in this city. It’s the second tallest building in San Francisco and currently undergoing a renovation.
The last four days we have put on the miles! Our bodies are aching so it’s time to take a day off….tomorrow we rest.
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