Despite our old friend Tony's hectic work schedule at his silicone valley job, he was happy to host us at his apartment in Mountain View. We went out for drinks at a local bar our first night there to catch up. It had been years since Bill had seen Tony, and I hadn't seen him since my last visit in Dec 2013.
The next morning we were able to leave our car at Tony's place and take the commuter train into the city. We walked through SoMa to Market street and the Business District and tasted all the delicious samples at the Ferry Building.
Next we walked to North Beach to east lunch at a restaurant called The House that Tony recommended for us. It was absolutely delicious.
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| Lunch at The House in North Beach for some delicious Asian Fusion |
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| Curried udon noodles with BBQ chicken |
From here we explored North Beach and Chinatown including City Lights bookstore and some delicious pork buns at Chinatown's oldest bakery.
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| City Lights bookstore with the Transamerica Pyramid in the background |
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| Checking out City Lights Bookstore home of the 1950's beat generation |
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| Walking through chinatown |
San Francisco's hills certainly live up to their reputation and we worked up a sweat walking up hill to Lombard street in the hottest part of the day.
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| The ridiculously windy Lombard St. |
Lombard St. is known for it's ridiculously curvy road. Originally starting as a cattle path, it's still a public street today, although mostly navigated by tourists.
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| At the top of Lombard St. looking down |
Our walk carried us down hill though Pacific Heights to the Embarcadero. We walked along the pedestrian walk getting some good views of Alcatraz, but unfortunately it was too hazy to see the Golden Gate Bridge.
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| Bill with Alcatraz in the background |
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| Alcatraz |
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| Watching the old fashioned street car turn around |
En route to Fisherman's Wharf we stopped to watch the street car turn around and to play some old fashioned arcade games for a quarter or two at the Musee Mecanique.
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| Inside Musee Mecanique |
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| Hot Stuff |
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| Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf |
Fisherman's wharf is home to a bunch of wild sea lions. We stopped to watch them play fight and lounge in the sun. We also visited the left handed store on Fisherman's Wharf, where Bill could be among his people.
Our last stop for the day was Coit tower. We hiked up five flights of stairs to get a great view from the top. On the way down we helped a lost kitten find a new owner. If that's not a sign of a good day, than I don't know what is.
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| Coit Tower |
After Pizza at an Italian Restaurant in North Beach, we walked briskly back across town to the Caltrain station as it was quickly getting cool and windy. We caught the 8:40 train back to Mountain View.
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| Someone had a busy day |
The next morning we took the Caltrain into the city once more but this time walked from the station to The Castro through The Mission. San Francisco is a city reinventing itself through controversial gentrification. The process has left a patchwork of neighborhoods each with their own distinct character, some safer to walk through than others.
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| Dolores Park |
We took a break from our long walk at Dolores Park, a popular afternoon hang out spot for students and locals. The Castro is the gay neighbourhood in San Francisco home to awesome night life and cool cafes. Also the historical starting point of the gay rights movement. We took a break here to grab a croissant and a mojito ice coffee at Philz Coffee.
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| The Castro neighbourhood and it's flagship Castro Theater |
Next our walk lead us north a few blocks to the Haight Ashbury neighbourhood. This historic neighbourhood was the epicenter of the mass exodus of hippies to California in 1967 summer of love. Those days have long passed but what is left are some cool cafes and an amazingly huge record store called amoeba records.
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| So many records/Cd's and movies!!!!! |
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| The Rose Garden in Golden Gate Park |
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| Yep smells like a rose |
We carried on to the Golden Gate Park. This 50 city block long park stretches across the city to the Pacific Ocean. It's home to several museums, Japanese gardens, the botanical gardens and the rose garden as well as much more.
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| Entrance to Japanese garden |
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| Gorgeous old houses around the city |
On our way back to the Caltrain station we gawked at some of the gorgeous homes around the city. Including the famous Painted Ladies.
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| The Painted Ladies |
The next morning we said goodbye to Tony as he headed off to work, packed up and drove 15 min down the road to the Winchester Mystery house.
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| Front entrance to the house |
Quite a few people had recommended this attraction to us. The house was built by Sarah Winchester, widow of the Winchester Rifle fortune. With her family having died quite suddenly she turned to the help a psychic who told her she was being haunted by all those spirits killed by the Winchester Rifle. The psychic instructed her to go to California, buy an unfinished house and work on it until the day she dies.
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| Lots of natural light needed with so many rooms |
The result of Sarah's efforts and the better part of her fortune is the Winchester Mystery house. A maze of 160 rooms including windows on the floor, stairs that lead to nowhere, doors that open out to second story drop offs and many other unique architectural features.
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| The rooftop |
We took an hour long tour of the main rooms in the house. Despite being haunted (allegedly) there are many beautiful rooms in the house. We also checked out the Winchester gun museum on site afterwards.
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| Winchester gun museum |
After our tour we headed east to the ever popular Yosemite National Park.
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