Monday September 10th - San Francisco

We are in San Francisco! Today is Monday, Sept 10th. Actually we are done, well done ;) after a beautiful sunny day in „The City“. But where begin?

After a smooth flight on UA 927 we landed in SFO at around 7.30 at night. Great views of the city and the surrounding area! We had planned to leave our large soft suitcase at the airport and travel BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit - S-Bahn) to downtown. A few people and several answers later we finally found the luggage storage at the very end of Level 3 at the Airport Travel Agency. So „BART“ so good. But they only open at 7.00 am and our flight leaves at 8.00 on Tuesday morning.
So we took the Door to Door Shuttle (15,- US,- pp. – to provide some helpful information) to the Handlery Union Square Hotel (the ride raised a question why almost every shuttle, whether it be in the Caribbean or in Berlin has this particular sweet smell to it - to provide some sensefull information). Jeffrey, very friendly and helpful, checked us in and told us anything we needed to know (wireless access, close proximity to Union Square and the cable cars, Macy’s, art galleries...).
This morning we woke up to a grey sky. It already broke up at around 9.00 while we were walking through Chinatown carrying a coffee to go (this is to my North American friends: how do you manage to drink while you walk without a) spilling the coffee all over? b) getting your lips burnt?). We actually followed San Francisco’s Barbary Coast Trail which leads to historic places and buildings of the city – at Washington Square we watched groups of people doing their morning workout and meditation, had fantastic views of the sea in Telegraph Hill and simply enjoyed the difference and variety.
Pier 39 was still uncrowded (apart from the sea lions) and we had no problem boarding the Blue and Gold Fleet’s one hour Bay Adventure Cruise. Just few minutes prior to departure the sky turned cloudy again (panic!) but Golden Gate Bridge was absolutely impressive – and not a single structure was covered with fog. The tour is highly recommendable, commentary enjoyable!
Back at the harbour at noon, we carried on walking to Fisherman’s Wharf and further on to Hyde Street and the cable cars. What an interesting and fun way to explore the city (and save some energies). Talking about saving: We had a CityPass San Francisco which saved us time (no MUNI, Cable Car tickets to buy, Blue and Gold Fleet ticket and many more) and money.
Next stop Lombard Street. Once we had walked down and taken our picture, we (and the rest of us tourists) were friendly greeted by some San Francisco Fire Fighters who drove by clutching the horn and - in a very inviting voice (over the microphone) - let us know that we were a) „Welcome“ and b) in San Francisco“. Up Lombard St. and on to the next cable car down to Powell. Searched for the Visitor Centre to get a map of Mission District. Finally found both.

Walked blocks and blocks before realizing that we wouldn't catch our particular bus on a oneway street. Good thing! Otherwise we wouldn’t have met our friendly and unique cab driver Mr. Seiler (third generation of immigrants from the Stuttgart area and admirer of Angela Merkel) whose last words before driving off were „...and sorry for George Bush“. On our own feet again we walked through Mission District, admired the Murals and again just enjoyed being here. Found a unique spot to rest and eat (Boogaloo’s – name, interior design and menu suggested a complete Latin experience, but we ended up sharing our Quesadillas with The Scorpions – excellent Quesadillas, though, and after a while our heads got the hang of it, too). The next few hours are told quickly. Took the MUNI bus to Mission Dolores (one of the 21 California Missions, this particular one is dedicated to Franz von Assisi). Bus close to Alamo Square, took photo of the Painted Ladies (those Victorian houses often used for movies and TV productions, e.g. Fullhouse (that’s the only one crossing our mind right now, and yes, we are tired). Bus to City Hall, MUNI underground (Municipal Public Transit) to Powell which is very close to The Handlery, just a few blocks to walk or take the cable car up the hill. It is 7.00 / 19.00 hrs. now and expect us to have in-room dinner! Tomorrow is another day – and it starts at 4.30 in the morning.

We hope you enjoyed our 24+ hours in San Francisco – we definitely left parts of our hearts here.

PS: reports might get shorter with the trip ;)

IMAGES online now - thanks to T-Mob hotspot at SFO. Looks like the program doesn't take portrait format - or we haven't found out a way to tell the system to just to it ;)