We flew out of Fredericton on January 19. In my mind, it wasn't exactly shirt sleeve weather, but it was a lovely day.
Flying into Toronto...they've had their fair share of snow as well.
The cruise was leaving from San Francisco. Flying over the Sierra Nevada mountain range...
Lovely puffy clouds...
Which cleared to give us a view of green mountains...
I think this is Islais Creek winding through San Francisco...
We took a cab to the Hotel Zephyr, which had been recommended by the people on the Cruise Critic site.
It has been remodelled and is quite eclectic...freight containers seem to make up a good part of the lobby.
Popeye, the sailor man...
I guess we have a nautical theme...
The exterior was well designed with sitting areas surrounding firepits. The trailer in the background is a canteen, serving beer, wine, sandwiches and nibblies.
This jumble of rusted parts made a unique firepit.
The sitting area and a freight container with a big window looking into the lobby.
We went for a walk in search of dinner and I spied this interesting statue...a tribute to workers and organized labour.
Carmel Pizza, a restaurant featuring wood-fired pizzas had been recommended to us by none other than...
Our travelling buddies, Margaret and Mike! They had arrived in San Francisco a few days before us, so they had restaurants already picked out. Love it! Margaret is also turning 60 this year, so we were cruising to celebrate our milestone birthdays.
The restaurant was tiny and featured only outdoor seating, but had heaters going so we didn't feel the chill.
Walk up to the window, place your order, and wait for the best pizza I've had in ages!
Loved the decor...I love you! The food was so good we went back the second night as well.
With our tummies full, we walked back to the hotel via the Boudin Bakery. It is the home of the famous sourdough bread and you can watch them making it at all hours.
This crocodile looks a little overcooked, but pretty cool. He has a little crocodile buddy and a few bear friends.
All of a sudden, we weren't that full and went in to investigate. Lots of yummy things to buy. Mmmm...cookies! I can't say for sure, but I think a few might have been purchased.
The next morning we had a tour of San Francisco organized, but unexpectedly the US government was on a shutdown and none of the parks that were part of the tour would be open. We decided to cancel and went for breakfast instead.
The Buena Vista Cafe is known for its Irish coffees and was originally a boarding house until the first floor was converted into a saloon in 1916. There are some really neat photos in the Archives. Our waitress has probably worked there since it began(!). She was a wise cracking, gum snapping blonde wearing a short skirt and flinging cocktail napkins onto the table. Margaret and Mike went for the Irish coffee. When we declined, she promptly declared us "no fun." Alrighty then!
After breakfast we wandered along the waterfront and debated what to do with our unexpectedly free day.
There were people swimming in the bay. Seriously? It was not that warm. I hope they were doing some sort of charity event.
The Ghirardelli store, which I still haven't been to, although I've taken photos both times we've been to San Francisco. It opened in 1852.
We decided it was a good day to ride the cable cars, so we paid our money and hopped on.
It's a pretty simple system. The gripman pulls back to catch the cable and go forward. Cable cars must follow the rules of the road and stop at red lights.
We thought we could ride to the end and then stay on and ride back. Nope, everybody out! They swung it around and the people waiting on the other side of the street hopped on.
Cable car turnaround...
Some pretty basic rules...
There were several street performers around the area. They had a captive audience while people waited to board the streetcar.
Waiting to board the streetcar for our return trip...
One of the many San Francisco hills...you have to be in pretty good shape to hoof around this city. Uphill is hard, but the downhill is hard as well.
A ride to the top of the hill, after which we made the fatal error of getting off to walk to Chinatown. Getting off wasn't the problem. Finding another street car to get back on would be, but we only figured that out later!
You dry your laundry however you can.
We walked (or plodded) down the hill to Chinatown...
The Transamerica Pyramid is the second tallest skyscraper in San Francisco and takes up a full city block!
There were so many beautiful murals...
Huh! The Terra Cotta Warriors!
Margaret and Mike had heard of this bakery that makes amazing lemon tarts. Turns out they only had custard tarts, but they were pretty tasty.
One of the places you might never venture into without a recommendation. Apparently, Bill Clinton was there.
This reminded me of some of the opium houses we saw in Singapore.
Tall and skinny!
After waiting and waiting and waiting for a streetcar, we finally walked to a hotel and took a taxi back. Even taxis aren't easy to find in San Francisco. We whizzed by the beautiful Saints Peter and Paul Church. Apparently, Marilyn Munroe married one of her husbands in this church.
One afternoon we saw a crowd gathered to watch some street performers. I'm not a breakdancing expert by any means, but we thought they were pretty good.
This guy was a little creepy with arms that could twist in positions you shouldn't be able to!
This arch at Pier 43 was used for loading and unloading rail cars onto ferries.
And here is the famous Alcatraz prison, in San Francisco Bay, located 1.25 miles from San Francisco.
For some reason, I got on to photographing birds (as you'll see in subsequent posts!)...
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936. It features two levels with vehicles going in one direction on each level. The bridge was built through Yerba Buena Island via a 540 foot tunnel.
On our last night we wandered down to Pier 39 for dinner...
It has a carnival atmosphere and must be crazy in the summer. Hey look! Another Boudin Bakery...
Bungee jumping...
Merry-go-rounds...
And the Oakland Bay Bridge at night...
The next morning was cruise day! All four of us piled into a taxi for the short ride to the pier. Our ship was the Grand Princess and boarding was quick and smooth. In no time we were on our balcony looking at the view. Coit Tower in the distance...
Taking on supplies...lots and lots of supplies. We would be at sea for four days and with 2600 passengers on board and 1150 crew members, you don't want to be running out of food at sea.
Sailaway! We had a great time in San Francisco. It's a beautiful city. Now on to Hawaii!
Coast Guard escorting us out of the bay. You don't fool around with those guns!
Sailing by Alcatraz...we didn't visit this time as we had been there previously. Pretty sure it hasn't changed much.
On our way...
The sun was starting to set as we neared the Golden Gate bridge...
Not that warm, but there wasn't any snow!
Sailing under the bridge with the ship's horn sounding...
See you in two weeks, San Francisco!
One of my favourite views on any cruise...the back of the ship looking at the wake.
We did get to a few of the production shows on our sea days...
The orchestra is always good and the dancers do a great job, especially when they're trying to stay balanced on a choppy sea.
I love the costumes...
We really enjoyed our relaxing sea days. We played trivia, we ate, we went to shows, we read and napped and explored the ship. Now it's on to our first port, Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii.
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