This past June, my friend had the privilege of attending an all expense paid work conference in San Francisco. To her, this meant hotel stay, meals and transportation would all be covered by her employer. To me, this meant vacation. I booked the flight on Virgin America (continually the best flight experience of my travels) and made my way to San Fran, City by the Bay.
The fact that she would be occupied with work, trainings, meetings and studying meant that I would have to explore the city alone. This would be my first time on any vacation without a travel partner, but I’m always up for a new and exciting experience. Since Blackberry is the root of all evil, the signal on my phone would not allow me to use the gps service included with my device. I made it through this trip using a city map that I picked up at the airport and good old-fashioned communication.
DAY 1
Getting an early start on the day (since I would only be spending about two days in the city) and following some advice from Time’s 10 Things to Do in San Francisco, I started my journey. I had already read that parking in certain areas would be a pain and cab fares could be a fortune, so public transportation was the way to go. For the record, it is my opinion that the craziest of crazies in ANY city utilize public transportation; but my inner bourgeois was muzzled and the adventurist was released.
First stop, Union Square to purchase a City Pass (I live by these) and hop on a historic cable car. Street entertainers made the 15 minute wait for City Pass tickets and the 45 minute wait for a cable car bearable as dancers and musicians showcased their talents on the sidewalk. Once aboard, the ride from Union Square through China Town and into Fisherman’s Wharf was brief.
Street Entertainer
Cable Car
Fisherman’s Wharf, even as a tourist, screams tourism; but what’s a trip to San Francisco without seeing the Wharf? I made my way to Pier 39 for a look at the Sea Lions and a glimpse of Alcatraz Island across the bay. Then I made a stop to fill my stomach: clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl! I’m not a fan of soup, but this was worth trying.
Sea Lions at Pier 39
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
Apparently, I look friendly so people are ALWAYS talking to me. Sometimes this can be a bother, but at times it works to my advantage. So while enjoying my soup and discussing the Miami Heat with the table of older people next to me, I managed to obtain directions for a few sites on my “To See” list.
Thanks to City Pass, I had tickets to the Aquarium of the Bay. After lunch, I headed to the Aquarium. It was a nice Aquarium, but once you’ve seen one Aquarium; you’ve seen them all and I had just visited an Aquarium in Texas earlier that month. There were some funky creatures that I had never seen before, but unless you’re traveling with small children or you just have an affinity for fish this is something you could pass on depending on your time schedule. Next stop was Ghirardelli Square (flagship location for Ghirardelli Chocolate Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop) for a tasty milkshake then off to Coit Tower.
I'm just as confused as you are!
Coit Tower provides spectacular views of the city in every direction and for a $4.50 fee, you can make your way to the top. The trek to Coit Tower was intense. Maybe not as intense for the physically fit; but I, however, am not in prime physical condition. It was nothing that I couldn’t handle but after a few steep hills, high inclines and plentiful stairs; I was tired. No time for resting though because time was of the essence!
Coit Tower
The Stairs of Telegraph Hill were the point of departure just a short ways from Coit Tower leading back down the hills. 800 stairs (I didn’t count them, but I’ll take Time’s word for it) lined with spectacular homes and beautiful flora. I was glad I was going down and not up as Time pointed out. Although, the up from any side was no walk in the park.
I’ve often heard of lone travelers, usually of the hippie variety, stumbling upon other lone travelers for company. Let’s just say that I may be of that variety because while regrouping and trying to figure out where to go next; I met another map toting, equally lost, East Coast residing tourist. We were headed in the same direction so why not together?
Off to the Ferry Building for coffee before catching the ferry over to Sausolito. Sausolito was a quaint town with beautiful natural scenery and a large boating community. We ventured through Sausolito for a bit then made our way back to the ferry boats. While waiting for the ferry back to San Francisco; a musically inclined, homeless boat owner with a lame dog occupied our time with stories about how the burning bush, from the Bible, was actually a weed plant… After arriving back to the Port of San Francisco, my newfound travel companion and I parted ways with no real plans for meeting up the next day but grateful for the days company.
DAY 2
Castro neighborhood
A few buses and trolleys got me to the Castro Neighborhood. I stumbled upon a small, but interesting GLBT museum then grabbed a snack from Hot Cookie (as recommended by Time). I got back on the bus and set off for Haight-Ashbury. I was a little lost at this point, so I asked the bus driver with the “Do not disturb” face for directions. It turns out, she was actually very friendly and even blew the horn and waved me down when randomly passing me later in the day.
Haight Ashbury neighborhood
The shops and artwork in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood were very urban-trendy right down to the Ben & Jerry’s bearing the “Peace, Love & Ice Cream” sign. I wandered into a local smoke shop just to obtain some decorative paraphernalia: don’t do drugs. I then walked to Golden Gate Park; where, ironically, I was offered marijuana. I’m guessing I looked like I had arthritis or anorexia (probably not anorexia) or glaucoma or whatever else they prescribe medical marijuana for out in California. While in the park, I rode on the Carousel then headed to the Conservatory of Flowers. With this day being chillier than the previous (even though it was June), the sweltering 80 degree heat in the Conservatory was welcomed!
Palace of Fine Arts
My departure time was steadily approaching so I made two more quick stops before heading back to the airport. One was the Exploratorium. It was basically a Science Museum and since we have a few of those in Miami, I could’ve skipped this part. The next stop was the Palace of Fine Arts. This was beautifully built, but not a major point of interest either. Now it was time to head to the airport and during the trip, I did not get to make it to the Golden Gate Bridge! Unfortunate, but I was already making plans for a return trip…
Eclectic Lemonade Stand 