The Funky Site - San Francisco

San Francisco

Created 14th August 2008, last updated 14th August 2008.

After driving up the coast through Big Sur and Santa Cruz, we arrived in San Francisco on a Sunday evening. Pulling up outside the Sir Francis Drake we were met by the Beefeater who took our car to park while we checked in. Having seen a snippet on the Internet about it, we also asked to see their prohibition room. This is a secret room in between the first and second floors which can only be accessed from a particular lift and only if you know how. There is a peep hole into the lobby below and apparently there used to be doors in the elevators which allowed you to move to another elevator without being seen.

One of our highlights from San Francisco was our Segway tour with the Electric Tour Company. It is actually a tour of Fisherman's Wharf but the appeal is in riding the Segway's rather than learning anything about the area. It's great to ride the Segways around the steep streets of San Francisco although you do get a few surprised looks from other people.

The main tourist area (or one of them at least) is Fisherman's Wharf, largely populated with shops selling the usual tourist tat. At Pier 39 is an unusual attraction though - a sea lion colony which decided to setup here in January 1990.

Baby seal at Pier 39

Foggy San Francisco

Pelicans over the Bay

Sausalito

Seals of Pier 39 again

Seals of Pier 39

Steep streets

View from the bridge

Blazing saddles

Of course the most famous tourist destination is the Golden Gate bridge, known worldwide as a symbol of San Francisco. We first saw it when we hired bikes from Blazing Saddles and headed over the bridge to Sausalito in Marin County. The weather was typical - fog - not the most photographic (for me at least). We only had three days in SF, and luckily on the third day we awoke to clear blue skies, a relative rarity at this time of year we were told. Despite having a five hour drive ahead of us to Yosemite NP we headed down to Fort Point to get a better photo of the bridge - which I'm happy to say we got! Had we been able to hang around a bit longer we would have been ever luckier - once a year they sail old ships through the Golden Gate as part of the Festival of Sail, and getting the ships and the good weather was almost too good to be true. We met at least two other photographers down by the bridge who were on assignment, but we couldn't afford the time.

Approaching the bridge

Sarah by the bridge

The bridge in fog

The bridge in fog2

On the bridge

Sunlight bursting through

From the north side

The bridge on a sunny day

The famous view

The Golden Gate bridge

The bridge from Fort Point

The Golden Gate bridge

Another 'must do' on the tourist list is a visit to Alcatraz, the famous prison island. There is an interesting history to the island which predates the prison, but thanks to movies such as Escape from Alcatraz (with Clint Eastwood) and The Rock (Sean Connery) ithat's what it's better known for. Alcatraz is now part of the National Parks remit, and as such visits are by guided tours only. These operate three times daily - full details of times, prices, and the ability to prebook online can be found at the official Alcatraz cruise website.

We took the night tour which departs at roughly 6:30pm and returns around 9pm. This is the longest of the available tours and allows you to see the island both during the day and at night. The guided tour was actually very informative and interesting, and if you've seen the movies referenced above you'll recognise some of the locations in the films!