First pic, the view from my open top bus tour. We bought a two day ticket for this, hop on and hop off as you want and it was a really good way to get our bearings and an overall knowledge of the city. In the foreground here is a school yard, apparently O.J. Simpson went to this school before he chose his future life path, now is that a reflection of the teaching I wonder!
Next up, City Hall, typical tourist image.
The street entertainment was awesome, these guys with drums would often have small children playing along with them. You can also see a cable car in the background.
I took this next picture from the bus again so couldn't get any closer. Can you see the group of houses to the left of the square building? These are apparently famous Victorian houses known as ''the painted ladies'' and are often used in films.
Next, a gorgeous piece of art in Union Square facing our hotel, (very close to the spot where the famous knee pictures were taken!) our hotel is in the image below.
A lovely ''arty'' water fountain on Embarcadero
some more temptation for feeding the creative soul, very tasty too I might add!! especially filled with strawberry cheesecake ice cream.
We went to a ball game, San Francisco Giants v L.A. Dodgers. I adopted the home team, needless to say they lost but it was worth it for the view from our seats across the bay, amazing.
My lovely, fresh fruit smoothy, a healthy feast for the creative soul, taking care of my 5 a day here! I still don't know what the black things in the bottom were but they went down with the rest!
The next pic was taken on the boat trip to Alcatraz. The following Alcatraz images speak for themselves really. It was quite wierd being there and thinking how it must have been when it was in use. I love all the neatly folded prison issue wear, doesn't it look good, folding fabric, right up my street!
this next one is the view of the city from Alcatraz. I was suprised at how close it seemed. In my head I imagined Alcatraz to be miles out to sea, not so.
More street entertainment. These guys were amazing, they sounded fantastic and I really admired their innovation, guitars with amps on a street corner, they were there every night.
On our way to Yosemite National Park we travelled through, (I think it's the central Californian valleys) anyway there were acres and acres of crops. I don't know what these were but they are either walnuts or almonds, you could see them for miles.
I cannot find words to describe these next images. Yosemite National Park, speechless. I hope you spend time with these ones, try and imagine, breathtaking.
I have never in my life seen such huge fruit! The plums tasted delicious, we were at this street market A LOT. (see, it wasn't all cup cakes and ice cream) Can someone please tell me what squash blossom is? what do you do with it?
ahhh! my little friend, sat next to me for ages, so tame and friendly.
Below is the cause of me using San Francisco public transport in a state of unimaginable 'wetness'! We had a tour round the bay in this power boat, guess who was sat at the side and got drenched????? Followed by a tram trip to get changed, not a good advert for the English tourist!
Pier 39, permanent home to all these seals.
Now some general views of the city from a cable car. I risked life and limb hanging out of the side to take some of these!
I took this next photo to show you the mist. Do you see it at the top of the skyscraper. Mist would descend from nowhere, anytime during the day it was amazing, one minute sunny next thing everything obscured by mist. It is something to do with the unique climate of San Francisco.
and finally. I spotted this on our hotel on my last day. Good job I didn't see it on the first day I may not have stayed! What's this all about!
So that's it, never another post on this blog, enjoy and let me know what you think.
I think you should change the blog name and add '...and other travels' then you can add Sweden and who knows..Crouch End? Teddington?
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that. Aren't squash flowers courgette blossom? Stuffed, battered, in salads?
Those seals! Sort of 'industrial seal veiweing'. I know its corny to say this but thanks for sharing. I don't suppose I'll ever go there but at least now I know a bit of what I'll be missing.
I agree with Jackie, you should add other travel photos. You have a great way of looking at the world and I for one enjoyed it very much. I have been to San Francisco and you captured it nicely. I think squash blossoms can be sauteed and eaten or they can be battered and served. I have had them once and they were sauteed and had a mild squash flavor.
ReplyDeleteNow since I have never been to Yosemite I must go.
As for the sign on your hotel. I imagine it was because the building contained Asbestos. Many old buildings contain Asbestos and mostly it was used to insulate the heating systems,and is most dangerous when it is being removed. So I am sure you were safe. We lived in a very old house that had Asbestos on the heater and we are fine. :-)
Thanks, Karen!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing these photos of S F, particularly Alcatraz... thanks Karen.
ReplyDeleteThe second photo of Yosemite is almost the same at one I had hanging for many years in my house. The boys father went there many years ago and had the photo blown up to poster size. A very beautiful part of the world
ReplyDeleteAHH the smell of those sealions! And the noise of them too. This makes me miss SF and also makes me miss the places I haven't got to go to yet- Yosemite especially.
ReplyDeleteThank you Thank you! I can just smell the salt water and that fog. Sometimes when you drive across the Golden Gate when you get to the other side the fog rolls down in billows across the highway in thick folds.
ReplyDeleteAnd Yosemite....there isn't any quite like it .... is there?
How cool is that? I am not a traveller by nature but I can see the appeal.
ReplyDeleteI've been to San Francisco - two years ago now. Alcatraz too but didn't get to Yosemite. Thanks for the photos, it brings back memories. I didn't particularly care for the hills. My friend and I did the quilt shop tour and took in quite a few missions. We drove from San Clemente to San Fran and back again. In the summer and at one time it was over 100 degrees fahrenheit. Not fun but the car had air conditioning so we survived.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovey pictures from your travel!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of what I imagine to be a wonderful city, Karen. You have done nothing to lessen my desire to go there! If you grow courgettes you get the flower at the end of each one. I have seen them for sale with the flowers still attached and eaten them stuffed in France. Were the black things passion fruit seeds? How amazing is that pier with all the seals! Thanks for showing us your holiday photos.
ReplyDeleteJanice.
(note: am using a friend's computer so it's logged onto her account, this is shirley of shirime.blogspot.com)
ReplyDeleteAs a San Francisco native, I can see you definitely did the touristy thing. Not necessarily a bad thing. If you ever get the opportunity to visit again, I'd definitely try and see more of the other neighborhoods. I see you visited the Haight, did you ever get a chance to visit the Castro or Mission neighborhoods? Also equally "vibrant" parts of town. The Presidio is also quite lovely for a stroll and please tell me you went to Golden Gate Park! (It's slightly bigger than the more renowned Central Park in New York City). Chinatown is touristy but also a different feel of the city (btw, it's not exactly like China but it gives you a sense for the vibe of China, not necessarily its layout). And for gorgeous views of SF, a trip to Twin Peaks or a short hike on San Bruno Mountain (southern park of SF, where I live; it can be a bit sketch but it's fine during the daytime hours).
Also, the black balls in your smoothie are tapioca pearls. Just plain old tapioca flour with black coloring I suspect. It's a VERY Asian treat. I'm Chinese and we call it Boba. So the drink can be referred as a smoothie, or a tapioca drink or boba or a bunch of different things depending on the region of the country.
Glad you enjoyed the trip and glad that SF was good for you.
As for the health sign, there are health signs all over the US of A. As one person suggested, it's probably the old building possibly containing asbestos or lead or other harmful things due to old building materials. I don't know about the UK, but in the US we have to put out signs anytime we suspect something may be harmful. And, let's face it, half the processed food we eat are carcinogenic. So... not a surprise if a building can be harmful too. But, no worries, there's no harm if you weren't actually exposed to it.
And, yes, Yosemite is beautiful! I had the privilege of attending a lower income high school that had a program where teachers would take us on weekend trips all over California, including Yosemite. There are plenty of gorgeous camp grounds and all over so unique. If you ever get the chance, visit Joshua Tree National Park in southern california -- it'll change your idea of what a dessert looks like!
Wow! Lot's of lovely pictures :)
ReplyDeleteJe rêve de San Francisco depuis toujours. J'ai vu beaucoup de films tournés dans cette ville, lu des romans qui s'y passent , écouté des chansons écrites sur elle. Autant te dire que de regarder et de lire ce reportage, m'a beaucoup intéressé.
ReplyDeleteJe t'en remercie, sincèrement,Karen.
Belle journée à toi,
Roger
Squash blossoms are the flower that will later form the squash...you can deep fry the blossoms and they are really good.
ReplyDelete