After a very peaceful nights sleep we got up and explored the breakfast buffet at the hotel and found it to be excellent. The hotel offered free transport to Oakland Airport and to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station at San Leandro, so we booked a ride to the station. It was only about 2 miles and only took about 10 minutes.
At the station we bought tickets into San Francisco which cost $4.25 each and caught the first train that arrived. The train travelled on the surface along the eastern side of the Bay passing the Oakland Colliseum, a sports venue, and Oakland itself before going into the tunnel below the Bay and into San Francisco proper. Ken and Lin got off at Embarcadero, whilst we stayed on the train to Powel Street.
Once off the train, we briefly visited the San Francisco Visitors Centre and picked up a couple of maps and a day pass for the transport system in the city. Our first foray took us just a few yards to the corner of Powell and Market Street, the terminus of one of the iconic cable-car lines. We had been warned there were often queues at the terminuses and we weren't disappointed!
When the cable-car arrives at the terminus, it is disconnected from the cable, pushed onto a turntable, the turntable pushed around and then the car is pushed back into a position to re-engage with the cable, all this done by the conductor and the brakeman! The cars have interior seats as well as seats on the outside and 'running-boards' that riders may travel on. The brakeman gets the car moving by using a large lever to grab onto the constantly moving cable under the street. To stop, he disengages from the cable and stands on a large brake-pedal - it is a very physical and skillful job!
We got on the cable car and quickly started heading up the switch-back hill that is Powell Street. In the China Town/Nob Hill area, the car manages to make a 90 degree turn along Jackson Street and shortly afterwards a second 90 degree turn onto Hyde Street. The ride down Hyde Street is a real roller-coaster ride all the way down to Beach Street and the dock area. Throughout the ride, people jumped on and off the car as it passed each cross-road.
Down at the dock area, we wandered onto Pier 45 which has a collection of historical ships moored alongside, interestingly, several were from UK. At the end of the pier we could see both the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island, site of the infamous prison, in the distance. As we looked toward the Golden Gate Bridge we could see sea mist rolling in which quickly hid the bridge before continuing on toward where we were standing. The temperature dropped several degrees and a cool breeze picked up.
By now it was lunchtime, so we walked on towards Fishermans Wharf and stopped at a restaurant by the fish market where we had a very good fish lunch. Following this, we continued to wander down toward Fishermans Wharf and pier 39. Several of the ferries stop in this area and next to Pier 39 several pontoons moored in the area are home to a colony of Sea Lions. The whole area is very touristy, a bit like Skegness as somebody said, and very busy.
By now we were feeling a little chilly, so decided to head back into town and made a big mistake. We first caught a trolley bus back to junction of Hyde and Beach and joined the queue for the cable-car back into town. The queue got longer and longer and the cable-cars didn't seem to be going anywhere fast. Staff there said it was normal, but it seemed totally disorganised. Finally, we got on a car, Lynn on the outside seats and me hanging on travelling on running boards, quite and exciting ride.
Halfway up the hill we got off at Lombard Street and went to explore the 'famous' crooked street. This street is so steep, a series of hairpin bends have been created so that cars can travel down the street, quite an odd sight. The steet is very steep to walk down (think of Steep Hill in Lincoln) with lots of people trying to get pictures. I think the best view is from the bottom looking back up. We continued on down the road until we got to Columbus street where we stopped for hot chocolate (yes it really was that cool!).
We decided that we'd head back to Market Street so we caught a trolley bus that delivered us back into the middle of the city where we went shopping to buy a jumper each! After this, we found our way into a huge shopping mall that had an interesting food court in the basement where we had a meal.
By now it was evening, so we caught the BART train back to San Leandro and phone the hotel for transport to get us back. Quite a tiring day, but we saw a lot of the city.
Hotel - Marina Inn
Weather - Clear skies and sunny to start with, then mist rolled in and a cool breeze picked up. High 60s at most.
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