San Fransisco

So we were up early and drove to the Bart Station to go into the city. We could have taken a local bus to the BART station, but DH can only take so much public transportation.

We arrived at Powell and Market, into the tourist throng. We headed up to the Borders store at Union Square, where we were supposed to be able to pick up a brochure about the Barbary Coast Trail, a self guided walking tour of San Fransisco (think Freedom Trail in Boston). Well, they were out. Huh? So we ended up buying a local guide and making up our own tour, from what I could remember from a walking tour we did 10 years ago, and what was in our book.

First up, was Chinatown. We headed up Grant through the lion gate. We had fun looking in all the shops, and when we got hungry for lunch, we let ourselves be led UP a hill and down an alley to a great Chinese restaurant. After lunch, we continued to wander through Chinatown, and even bought ourselves some chopsticks and fresh fortune cookies. In a nearby park, there is a small monument to the first public school in California, which also happened to be near where the gold find on the American River was announced, sparking the Gold Rush.

Then we headed up through North Beach into the Italian section. We hopped on a bus up to telegraph hill and Coit Tower. Then we brilliantly thought we'd take the stairs down to the Embarcadero- how hard could down be? My calves cramp at the mere thought of those steep stairs straight down the longest hillside of my life! We jumped on a streetcar and headed for Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. Once thoroughly amused by the Sea Lions and the shops (sourdough bread and chocolate, yum) we took the trolley back up to Powell and Market and hopped back on BART for our trailer.