Howie got a good rest today.
Harris and Judy walked their tootsies off.
Leaving Larkspur dock
We started with a mile walk to the ferry. It was a sunny 30 minute ride across the harbor to the old piers in San Francisco. We passed Angel Island where the Japanese were held during WWII and then passed Alcatraz prison. Next time out here we will have to take the tour. We landed at Pier 1, and had to walk to Pier 41 to catch a trolley tour. Ok…but at Pier 1 and a half, Judy started complaining. How long is this walk going to be? The sun was out, and Harris told her to just enjoy the day. We got to the pier 41, paid our money, jumped on the trolley and started off. The tour itself was about an hour, but we got off outside Union Square to get some lunch.
Passing San Quentin prison
The tour guide said this was as close to Chinatown as we’d get. He’d also told us that this was the largest Chinatown in the US, and after walking through just a part of it, we can believe him. Several blocks were taken up with shops, and then we finally got to a restaurant area, and had a good size lunch. We decided that walking through Chinatown to the other side would be quicker than walking back to Union Square for a trolley pick up. We ended up outside a church that had a replica of a shrine St. Frances of Assisi built in France. It was beautiful inside, and we just had a small visit before our trolley came and took us back to the piers. Judy really wanted to ride the cable cars, so we hopped on another trolley tour and had him take us part way to a cable car stop. (We skipped the station stop, the line looked at least a mile long.) We found out you can just pay the conductor on board, which we did. We bought a day pass that allowed us to get on and off cable cars and busses all day.
Passing Angel Island
When we first boarded, it was a bit crowded, and there was standing room only. Ok, even though we were tired from all the walking around we had already done, we wanted the experience, so we hopped on. At first we thought we should pay the driver, but he was a young man who only told people to move back and rang the bell for traffic…as he operated the brakes, both a foot brake and a large handle he yanked on with muscle. The conductor was an older man who gladly took our money and packed people in. And packed people in. Even when the driver said he was full, people still jumped on, pushed their way in and away we’d go. It was still fun to go up, up, up steep hills, pause for just a second, then seemingly rush down the steep hills. The conductor in the rear had fun telling people to push forward on the way up hills to help us climb, and told us to hang on when we went down. We got off downtown, jumped on another one to go back up the hills to the top of Lombardi Street, the crookedest street in the country. It’s the one you see in the movies that winds back and forth in tights curves.
The Golden Gate
Cars can only go a few miles an hour and have to ride their brakes pretty hard all the way down. There is a sidewalk along both sides, so people like us can walk down and watch the cars. It’s just too bad our camera battery had died, and we couldn’t take pictures!
San Francisco skyline
We walked some more, hopped a bus to the waterfront, and then took an electric trolley to our Pier 1. It, too, became increasingly crowded at each stop. We were lucky to board it at the beginning, and get seats, although not together. By the time we got off, we had to shout through several people…hey, Judy, hey Harris, I think the next stop is ours! Another ferry ride, another walk, and we were back to Howie….worn out, tired feet, but happy the day had been so beautiful and sunny and warm.
A one man band
(Harris also got to watch the Mariners on TV again tonight. They’ve had 3 close games with the Oakland A’s..won 1, lost 2 so far.)
An 8 million dollar purchase?
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