San Francisco, CA

We arrived in Larkspur, CA on Monday, August 25th.  Larkspur is located just north of San Francisco.  It was only a 10 minute walk to the Larkspur Ferry Building from the RV park where we were staying.  We were fortunate to have had absolutely gorgeous weather the entire 9 days we were there.  This post is mostly about things we saw or did on our first day or two in the city.  There will be more posts regarding San Francisco. 


Getting There:

We took the ferry across the bay each day to the Port of San Francisco.  The San Quentin State Prison is located right next to the ferry building at Larkspur and each day as the ferry passes some of the inmates wave their white T-shirts at the boat.   In the photo below you can see the inmates out in the exercise area. 

The ferry ride takes about 30 - 35 minutes and during the trip you can see the Bay Bridge, Angel Island, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.  And, of course, the entire city skyline as you approach the Port of San Francisco.  It was all really spectacular to see. 

This is the Ferry Boat that we took each day to the city.  These ferries are much smaller than the Washington State ferries that we rode while in Seattle.  These don't carry vehicles, only passengers.

 

 

San Francisco:

The picture below was taken coming into port at the Ferry terminal building.  The ferry building is the long, low building with the arch design and the tall steeple with the clock.  Inside the ferry building there are shops and restaurants from one end to the other.  Really neat place.

This is  picture of the ferry building as we were coming in to the city one morning......

 

 

 

 

 

and these are sunset pictures one evening when we were leaving the city. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The front side of the ferry building faces downtown.  You cross to the middle of the street where you can catch a street car.

 

 

 

 

These are the street cars that we took to Fisherman's Wharf.  They run on train

tracks from the Ferry Terminal Building to Fisherman's Wharf and up Market Street and back.  They are part of the city transit.  By the end of the week we finally had most of the city transportation figured out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These street cars are usually packed from after lunch when all the tourist get out and about and then later in the day the commuters are riding them as well.  If the car is full, it will pass right by you at the bus stop.........several times this happened to us, but we always made it to the ferry terminal in time!

On certain days outside the ferry building there are vendors set up with fresh fruits and vegetables, smoked fish,  prepared food, etc.   And on Saturday mornings they have a "Saturday Market" where there are many more vendors.  These pictures were taken on a workday.

 

On our first day in the city, we walked from the SF ferry building (next to Pier 1) all the way down to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  It was a little over a mile walk, but there was so much to see along the waterfront that it went by fast. 

Pier 39 has many shops and restaurants and is the pier that some of the tour boats leave from. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

This was taken early that morning.  It hasn't gotten crowed yet.  Later that day you could hardly walk through this area.

 

 

 

It's still not very crowded......but it's getting there!

 

 

 

Most retail shops and restaurants in this area do not have air conditioning. 

There is outdoor seating at a lot of the restaurants. 

 

 

 

They even had several vendors with fruits and veggies.

 

 

 

 

Some neat plant sculptures. 

 

 

 

 

Out back by the water......

 

 

 

 

is where the Sea Lions are abundant.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw several of these large hearts around the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the trolley/street cars that we took to Fisherman's Wharf.  They run on train

tracks from the Ferry Terminal Building to Fisherman's Wharf and up Market Street and back.  They are part of the city transit.  By the end of the week we finally had most of the city transportation figured out.

 

 

  

 

 

You can see the wheels on this one.  They are like the wheels on a train only smaller.

 

 

 

 

Boudin Bakery is famous for their sour dough bread and clam chowder.

 

 

 

 On our last day in the city we made sure we bought some bread to take back to the motorhome with us. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Fisherman's Wharf was just a short walk from Pier 39. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures below are of various "street performers".  You will see them almost anywhere in the city.  The guy with the old typewriter is a poet.  He was outside the ferry building. 

 

 

 

This "Silver" man was down by the wharf.  They each have a routine to gather a crowd around.    They all have their tip cans nearby.

We saw on the news before we left that Elmo (below) was in trouble the SFPD.  Basically, he just walks around until someone wants a picture with him and then he would ask for money.  Seems he was offensive to a lot of tourist and was bad mouthing some of the stores and restaurants in the area.   Some of the stores had signs posted that Elmo has nothing to do with their establishment and that you did not have to tip him.

 

 

 

 

We didn't get around to the Segway tours.......maybe next time.  It looked like fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left the city that first day, we made reservations to tour San Francisco bay by boat the next morning.  We also tried to reserve a trip to Alcatraz, but they were booked until September 3rd.  That was the day we were leaving........again, maybe next time.