Day 17 | Wow San Francisco fabulous day
Today we set off to walk down to the waterfront marina adjacent to Crissy Park by the Golden Gate. Firstly it was a very warm day here and we stopped for brunch in Bin 38 on the way. Being a Sunday the place was busy and had a neat outside part out the back and the front. The conversations were loud, interesting and long. The folk next to us gave a bit of a taste of local culture which we found interesting.
The food was yummy (I think we were both actually hungry) and the restaurant great. We walked the rest of the way to the Marina on this sunny day. The houses all this way go from apartments on the Lombard St end down to these gorgeous homes with views of the sea and the marina. All the cars were all Lexus' and Mercedes’ and the narrow gardens were manicured.
Down on Marina Boulevard there is part of a continuous walk-drive from Oakland Bridge in the east of the city to the Golden Gate in the north, about 9 km or so. There were lots of people taking their constitutional weekend walks with the children and dogs. There were also blokes playing baseball catch. It is funny that here in the home of the Frisbee that this was one of the prohibited activities.
We walked down to the Palace of Fine Arts. This odd structure is all neo-classical Roman Columns and was built for the 1915 Exposition. Featuring a big dome and surrounding arches with a swan pond and gardens it makes a dramatic scene. There were lots of opportunities with a good-natured crowd to get your photo taken and take photos of them. We also got a chance to fondle someone’s tiny dog (a teacup Chihuahua) Penelope which shivered excitedly. Best to keep it from the swans, but very cute.
After lingering a while we returned to La Luna to retrieve the car to get up to check out the granddaddy of San Francisco, the Golden Gate. This is one Angus’ favourite sites and an icon. We parked up and got to walk out and over on the eastern sidewalk, the western being used for bikes on this busy day. There were Bridge Staff there to stop bikes going on the pedestrian side. The bridge is loud with six lanes of traffic shooting past at 70 km really close and add a bit of wind and you get the idea.
Again the good-natured visitors with many from San Francisco you have this great atmosphere. The harbour also put on a bit of a show with a passenger ship, ferries, windsurfers and para-sailers sharing the space. It seemed easy on this day with great visibility but there must be some interesting moments, especially with the para-sailers that can go so quick.
Back to the car saw us across town to check out a couple of views from Potrero Hill, which is just a suburb to the south. Driving across town we got up these steep hills (thank goodness for automatics) with stop signs on every cross street.
Then to Mel’s Drive In Diner for dinner, first of the Mel’s Diner chain as seen in Hollywood also.
