Sn. Francisco City Tour

Trip Date: Sept. 19, 2010 - SFO, CA

After finding a parking spot around the area, we signed up for the San Francisco City Tour taking the All Loops Package which include a visit to Golden Gate Bridge, and a visit to Sausalito.

We actually thought we can complete the tour since it is unlimited hop-on, hop-off from the bus for 48 hours and we can make our own itinerary whichever comes first, the way we like it.
There are 27 bus stops on the 4 diverse loops, so we just carried our loop maps with us. ride the bus and from there, we made our itinerary.

After touring the SFO downtown area, we hopped off the bus and strolled up Lombard Street. I almost gave up going up further on the hilly street...stopped 5 times to rest and catch my breaths due to the sharp incline.
But after reaching the top, it was all worth it, seeing the most crooked street in the whole wide world! Whew!

Going back to where the bus stop was tough...we got lost, and I think we were walking endlessly, and felt it was like we walked 3 miles going back and forth!
By the time we reached the place, we realized we could no longer make it to the 3rd loop.
We then proceeded to go on with the rest of the 2nd loop which included the visit to Sausalito.

Sausalito is a charming coastal town that has breathtaking views of the bay. I couldn't seem to find my photo in here but I'll update it in this post once I see it, :)).

The entire day was exhausting but we didn't mind. We enjoyed the tour.
There's always the "next times" of going back to SFO and continue to visit those places we missed during our tour.

Fisherman's Wharf

September 18, 2010 - San Francisco, CA

Who isn't familiar when it comes to Fisherman's Wharf? It's the popular destination of many visiting SFO and famous waterfront community in SFO (San Francisco).

We tried our luck with our GPS, went there and the place was so crowded.
Since it was weekend, finding a parking spot is tough! We finally able to get one after going around the place for 10 minutes.

We though of seeing Alcatraz Island, and we saw a ticketing booth close to Pier 39 to get a ticket for the ferry boat. It's a small trip adventure that has something to look forward to, so off we went.

Our trip was called "Alcatraz Tour Cruise" (Escape From The Rock) and we boarded the Blue Gold Fleet at Pier 39.
The tour includes the history of the island, the facts about the Golden Gate Bridge and other facts about the bay.
We had a closer look of the Golden Gate as we went under it. It was foggy that day, so the entire bridge wasn't really clear.

We thought the tour would allow us to go down the Alcatraz Island, but it was only a cruise.

Oh, and we also saw a group of sea lions hanging out close to the pier at Pier 39. There were tons of them, and no wonder why that "fishy" smell on that area seems to be strong!

San Francisco City Tour

September 19, 2010

This day was our City Sightseeing Tour aboard the hop on-hop off double decker bus . Weather is still a bit cloudy and chilly.
We did signed up for the complete tour including a hop off to see the Golden Gate bridge up close.

It was a whole day activity since it includes all the 3 big loops. Unluckily, there were some spots we missed to visit. I wanter to visit the Golden Gate park, but due to time constraints, we missed the timetable. (maybe next time, it would much be easier to do it since I can pretty much recall those places I wanna visit). The next time around would all just be a focus on those certain places ;).

The only hop off we did was to go walk towards Lombard Street going to see the most crooked street around the world. The walk going to the street was uphill, and oh boy! I was catching my breath before I reached the top, LOL! I thought I couldn't make it to the top, but thank God.

Going to our next bust stop was challenging because we got lost, and I was super tired walking and it was chilly. I was getting impatient as hubby had noticed it. Thank God for portable GPS on my phone! whew! We already walked more than 2 miles before I remembered that I can use GPS on my iPhone! Thank goodness for the modern gadgets nowadays...it's a lifesaver!

It was a nice fun ride for our last loop that afternoon, where we visited Sausalito. It was like a small city up the mountains, and boy! The standard of living is classy up there. Many houses are built exclusively on top of the mountain where the residents are famous in the society.

We also visited the Golden Gate bridge through the North - Vista Point, but that was quick! It was getting dark, but the view was still awesome. I should have taken some good photos of it, but again, we were always catching our time. {sigh!}

Alcatraz Cruise Tour

September 18, 2010

While we were in Pasadena, we finally had the weekend to visit Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, CA. And from there, we bought our tickets for Alcatraz Cruise. (Escape From The Rock"). I was thinking we can go down to the island to actually visit it, but it was just a cruise tour, where we sailed passing by the Alcatraz Island, and the Golden Gate bridge.

We boarded the Blue Gold Fleet at Pier 39. It was fun seeing a group of sea lions along the bay...no wonder why that "fishy" smell! lol.

Anyway, it was fun cruising the bay while a tour guide is telling the story about famous landmarks being seen from the bay. It was windy and cold, but bearable.

The cruise was an hour or so, and it was a good experience.