From December 19 to 23:
After more than 4 hours flight from Houston and a change of plane in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we landed in Oakland and finally reach our Hotel just 10 minutes from the airport. It was just cheaper to go directly there down rather than San Francisco. Oakland is located just on the other side of the bay from San Francisco and we are just 30 minutes from downtown through BART (sort of RER).
The weather we announced rain for the next three days, but as you will see from the photos we're pretty lucky and have only had clouds, which does not prevent us to be cautious and we walk around with our umbrella. Furthermore, temperature changes us radically from San Antonio (about 10 ° C) and we finally feel in winter. The jacket and cap are therefore required to start our first day of visit.
Monday, December 20, Day 1:
With the time difference we won 2 hours of sleep and were therefore able to start our day early, even having made a little sleep. First step, take BART to get to downtown. So we buy our tickets round trip for 3 days. Then to the Visitor Center to get a map of the city and buy our unlimited pass for all the different transport proposed San Francisco Bus Metro, Tram and the famous cable car (tram pulled by a sort of underground cable).
The first day was fairly intensive. We first went to the site of Union Square in downtown, where all the big stores. Then direction Filbert Street to begin our ascent of Telegraph Hill. From up there, we had a beautiful view of the city and the bay of San Francisco.
Then we came down towards the docks and we stopped on one of the liveliest on Pier 39 which is comprised solely of souvenir shops and restaurants.
Since this platform, we have a nice view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. The wharf is also famous for its many seals come to rest on the pontoons.
We then walked along the beach to join the Golden Gate Bridge from parFisherman's wharf which is the old fishermen's quarter and the Exploratorium, one of the most renowned museums in San Francisco.
Having photographed the bridge from all angles, we take the direction of Golden Gate Park that we will cross that eventually as the night begins to fall . On our way back we stopped near Hippie Haight Ashbury and Alamo Square to see some Victorian houses. We end our day on the site or the Civic Center is the City Hall (City Hall).
For those that are just lost along the way, here is our route on a detailed city map with our route in blue and underlined in the day red the various places we visited:
Tuesday, December 21, Day 2:
After our marathon day, we begin our day in Golden Gate Park. This park is so huge that is almost impossible to walk in full. The bike is a good alternative but because they predicted rain so we choose to do bus ...
First stop: the Conservatory of Flowers in 1878 built one of the largest in the world (see photos in the album right). Then we stopped at the Japanese Tea Garden which as its name suggests is a Japanese garden. And finally finish our run on the beach in Ocean Beach.
We leave then downtown to eat and after a good Burger King finally we decide to test a cable car to get to Lombard Street, a of the steepest streets in San Francisco. In fact the slope is so strong that he has had to create a zigzag road and sidewalks are also stairs.
Chinatown Branch then, the second largest Chinatown in U.S. after New York, it really feels like China. Then the highest building in San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid. We decide to cross again the city from east to west in Cable Car to go this time at Cathedral Hill, where you can see St. Mary's Cathedral to look more original. Right next to Japantown is much smaller than Chinatown as much more recent. As for the first day here our route, a little more rough this time:
Wednesday, December 22, Day 3:
After a review of what we had to do, we decided to start this 3rd day with a visit to the inescapable prison of Alcatraz. Located in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, this island legendary for decades housed a military fortress before becoming the most famous and most secure federal prison in high-security United States. Al Capone was one of the most famous prisoners of Alcatraz. The prison was closed in the 70s and the island is now a National Park.
After more than 4 hours of visiting the island, we head to Lincoln Park, west of city, home to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor one the most impressive art museums in San Francisco. It includes 80 works by Rodin, whose famous thinker ...
We finally finish our visit to San Francisco by the gay Castro, and return to the city by the oldest streetcar line in the city's F Line . We enjoy the downtown to do some department stores, including the legendary Macy's (sort of Galeries Lafayette), which alone has 6 floors and the shopping center.
Now is the time to redo our suitcases. Our plane took off Thursday morning at 7:15 am towards Hawaii from Oakland!
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