The best way of seeing a city is without doubt a "Hop on hop off" bus tour that comes with a guide who fills you in with lots of interesting facts and details you might otherwise miss. We caught the local bus into the city which took us via the Bay and dropped us at the Ferry Terminal and from here we made our way to the stop, to catch our tourist bus.
This is also the only place to catch the ferry to Alcatraz.
One of the surprising sights was to see how any homeless people were sleeping wherever they could find a comfortable spot.
I was a little nervous of getting too close and upsetting these "homeless" folk! They seemed to have their worldly goods with them and looked so scruffy!
San Francisco was named after the patron saint of small animals and is one of the worlds most popular tourist sights. There is much to see and some beautiful buildings.
The Hearst Building was home to the newspaper mogul William Hearst who lived in the penthouse until his death. This building was remodeled by one of the first female architects Julia Morgan. The entrance is very beautiful with its monogram.
Many movies have used the beautiful buildings as the background for their scenes.
The City Hall is modeled after the St Peters Basilica in the Vatican and has gilded decor for all to see.
Lombard Street is a street everyone wants to travel down as it is known to be the "crookedest" street in the world. Because the street is so steep it has been designed so that it winds down and thus slows the traffic down. It has eight hairpin bends and is quite beautiful as the street is lined with lots of colorful plants. This could not be seen from the tourist bus. I should add that while it carries this important reputation, it is not the crookedest street in San Francisco or the world!
Union Square is a great place to sit and watch the world go buy. It is opposite Macy's
The tour ends at Pier 39 and this is also where the cable car start fom but ther was a four hour wait so we gave that a miss. I would however like to return to Pier 39.
China Town was buzzing with activity. Lots of Chinese restaurants are here too.
There is lots to see and do in the city and it was great fun trekking around!
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