The summer mist, tropical palm trees, salt air and a combination of wind, water and hills - we are in San Francisco! And this is what we have seen so far:
Oakland Bay Bridge (known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a pair of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay of California, in the United States.The toll bridge was conceived as early as the gold rush days, but construction did not begin until 1933. Designed by Charles H. Purcell, it opened for traffic on 12 November 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge.
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| Bay Bridge, on an average day 280,000 cars drive its 8.25 mile length. |
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| Driving in SF is a challenging task, but we enjoyed it! |
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| Bay Bridge |
Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, and views of California sea lions hauled out on docks on Pier 39's marina.
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| Pier 39 Restaurant, where we met Mark :-) |
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| Pier 39: California Sea Lions |
Fisherman's Wharf gets its name and neighborhood characteristics from the city's early days during the
Gold Rush where Italian emigre fishermen settled in the area and fished for the Dungeness Crab. From then until present day it remained the home base of San Francisco's fishing fleet. Despite its redevelopment into a tourist attraction during the 1970s and 1980s, the area is still home to many active fishermen and their fleets.
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| Fisherman's Wharf |
The streets of San Francisco!
The most famous streets in SF are:
Lombard Street - known as the steepest street in San Francisco. Every day hundreds of tourists come to the street to take pictures of its 40 degree incline and arranged in zigzag. The main attraction of Lombard Street is seeing cars going down the street as if it were a roller-coaster.
Castro Street - The Castro is one of the United States' first and best-known gay neighborhoods, and it is currently the largest. Castro street remains one of the most prominent symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activism and events.
Market Street - known for San Francisco's world famous cable cars.
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| Streets of San Francisco |
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| Streets of San Francisco |
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| Lombard Street is famous for being the crookedest street in the world. |
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| Saints Peter and Paul Church |
San Francisco Chinatown - the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest Chinatown in North America.
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| SF Chinatown |
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| SF Chinatown |
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| Entry to SF Chinatown |
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| San Francisco's cable cars |
Painted Ladies is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian homes in Alamo painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details.
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| Painted Ladies: About 48,000 houses in the Victorian and Edwardian styles were built in San Francisco between 1849 and 1915 (with the change from Victorian to Edwardian occurring on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901), and many were painted in bright colors. |
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| Fine Arts Museum |
Golden Gate Bridge: one of the world's most beautiful suspension bridges and an engineering marvel. With its tremendous towers, sweeping main cables, signature International Orange color, and Art Deco styling, it is a sensory experience featuring color, light, and sound.
