Day Two ~ Part One

If you're ever looking for other parts of this report, you can view them all by scrolling to the bottom of any entry and clicking on the trip report tag.

The next morning we got up around 8 and took showers. Then we started thinking about what the hell we were gonna do.

Remember how earlier on in this report, I mentioned how I didn't plan this trip as much as I would have liked?

Yeah. This would be a great example of that.

After we got ready we headed down to the lobby and I bought a blueberry muffin and a juice from the little cafe downstairs. That muffin was goooooooood. Brian just had some cereal we had brought. There was a concierge desk in the lobby that had a rack of brochures nearby, so we perused it and found some tours we were interested in. We were kind of trying to save money (at this point in the vacation, anyway...) so there were a few that we thought were too expensive. But we did find a tour we thought looked good, so we decided to just walk down to the office listed on the brochure and check it out.

Using the iPhone maps, we found the place. It was a few blocks away. And...it was basically a hole in the wall place that wasn't even open yet. So I was kind of annoyed that we had just wasted our time walking all the way over here for nothing.

A shot we took on our journey.

So we started heading down back towards the Bay (hey, it's downhill that way, can you blame us?) and we run across this tour company office. There are a bunch of people inside waiting for buses and such, and I send Brian up to inquire how much it would cost to do a city tour. They were offering a few different tours, so we decided to take the cheapest one - which was a hop on/hop off city bus tour. I forget what time it left - 9:30 or 10 - but whatever time it was, we had a few minutes to wait, so we milled around and sat on the benches until it was time to board the bus.

I did not take my jacket with me today (I had meant to, but I forgot) and I was a little chilly. So when we got on the bus, we did go to the top level (it was one of those double decker buses) but we sat under this covered portion. It had rained yesterday, as you may remember, so things were a bit wet up there, but under the covered portion it was fine. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect on this tour, since I had never been on anything like it, but I was hoping to see a good chunk of the city.

In this case, I must say, not planning ahead definitely worked in our favor.

On the bus we had a guide who told us all about the different areas. His name was Stephen and he was British and very informative. Brian really took a liking to him, and so he never wanted to get off the bus and get a different guide.

Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, which I was super excited about. I have a weird obsession with the bridge - it always looks so great in pictures!) so I couldn't wait to see it in person up close.

It was a little foggy that morning. Here was our ride over the bridge:






I was totally excited to be going over the bridge! I know that must sound lame, but to me the bridge kind of summed up San Francisco for me. (From my tourist standpoint, anyway.)

On the other side of the bridge there's one of those scenic points where people park and take pictures. It was a very large area, and the bus stopped there for a few minutes so we could take some pictures.



After our photo stop, we got back on the bus and went back over the bridge to San Francisco again. We went by the Presidio and Golden Gate Park. There was stuff in the park I wanted to see, like the Japanese Tea Garden, but there just wasn't time this trip. Along the way I took some video of the many gorgeous Victorian houses in San Francisco. They are also very expensive if you want to buy one! If I ever get super rich, I'm totally buying a Victorian here. I just love Victorian houses.



We also passed by Alamo Square, where the house from Full House is located - it's part of Postcard Row. I don't know why I don't have a picture taken of the houses, but I wasn't in charge of the camera, I was in charge of video, so I got some of that instead.



Next we saw city hall, which is the area where they finally stopped the fires after the earthquake in 1906.



After that it was on to Union Square! The bus stopped for quite awhile so we had some time to really see things - at least from the bus! This is the premiere shopping area of San Francisco - tons of high end stores, and in the winter they even have a (very crowded) ice staking rink.

A shot of Union Square - complete with a beautiful Christmas tree.

It was getting kind of cold on the bus at this point - for me, anyway. In order to see better we moved to the uncovered part of the bus. Brian let me have his coat. I still don't understand how he can have short sleeves on and be fine, and meanwhile I'm freezing my butt off.

Next we cruised by Chinatown and Little Italy. More places I wanted to check out, but we didn't have the time.

Chinatown Gate.

That's Lombard Street up there in the distance.

So we cruised around downtown, and then we headed back towards the Bay. We stopped at Pier 33, where the Alcatraz tours leave for, and they were sold out until Wednesday! (This was Sunday.) We would be back later to take our tour, and we were looking forward to it.

After that was the last stop on the tour - Pier 39. This is a very touristy area full of shops and restaurants. We got off here because we had a coupon for the Hard Rock Cafe and they also give a AAA discount. Yeah for discounts!

The Hard Rock Cafe wasn't very crowded and we were seated right away. I had never technically eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe before, believe it or not. (I say technically, because I went to one once at Foxwood's for a special corporate event and the food sucked.) Our server was really nice. They didn't really seem to have any awesome rock memorabilia that sticks out in my mind, but we enjoyed the music videos that were playing on the TVs scattered around. (Even though I totally don't wanna watch Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane" while I'm trying to eat. Yuck!)

I don't remember exactly what I had, but it was some kind of salad, and it was very good. I don't remember what Brian had, but it was either chicken fingers or a burger most likely. That's all he eats! After our meal, we used our coupon to get a free lanyard and we got a free sundae with the AAA discount that Brian enjoyed. Then we headed out back onto Pier 39.

It was crowded! This was definitely the most crowded area of the city we had experienced so far. There were people everywhere. As we walked along, I stopped a tiny puppet store and just HAD to go in. I'll admit it - I'm a fan of puppets. I used to collect them when I was a kid and they all had elaborate names (most of which I unfortunately forgot.) and sure enough I found a puppet I just had to have - a cute little rabbit!

There was a carousel right by the puppet store. I kind of wanted to ride it, because I love beautiful carousels, but I decided I'd better save my money.

Next I wandered into a candy store and bought a really expensive coconut cluster candy. It was like 3.50 or something. It was good, but not really worth that much. Brian had wandered into the Del Sol store - I was kind of surprised to see one in San Francisco. It's not exactly sun central there. But I guess one pops up wherever tourists tend to gather in large groups.

We didn't do too much more at Pier 39. We wandered into a couple more stores, bought a few more souvenirs, and headed back to our room. It was really crowded, and I wanted to rest a bit before our Alcatraz tour.

Huge Christmas Tree at Pier 39

COMING UP...

More hills?!

"I am not getting in there."

Getting all bundled up at the unhappiest place on Earth!