I have found that one of the best ways to get an overview of a new city, and decide the best places to go back and see on foot, is to take a tour by bus, trolley or carriage. I decided today to try the open air bus tour in San Francisco. It had options to "hop on, hop off" at all stops if I wanted to - however I found that I wanted to sit back and listen to the tour and make notes.
San Francisco has a vast hodge podge of ethnicities that founded it, like most other cities in America. Among the many influences are French, Spanish, Asian and Italian. Before I boarded the bus, I visited the Boudin sour dough bakery/museum which discusses the french influence. Bakers were revered during the Gold Rush days. As for the Spanish influence, I mostly saw spanish architecture - and there is a latino section. Of course the asian influence is best seen in Chinatown - which was the one place I got off the bus. I was sort of disappointed in it though. It seemed mostly to be lots of tourist shops - packed with junk to appeal to the masses. If there were real finds, they may have been off the beaten path. Since I had to get back to the bus, I stayed on the main street.
I would love to take a tour through SF with an architect. The different styles are amazing - the victorians being my favorite. Driving up Van Ness (hwy 101) was an interesting view of styles as well. One side of the street is all original buildings. The other side is all new construction - rebuilt after the earthquake and fire in the early 1900's.
The tour took us up Hwy 1 toward the Golden Gate bridge. Highway 1 is 644 miles in length, stretching all the way up to Oregon. It was once the primary route of travel along the coast. It turned out to be a foggy day to see the bridge - which is not really Golden at all, but a sort of rusty red color. As the bus picked up speed across the bridge, we were buffeted by heavy wind from the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. It was freezing! Note for future: Next time take a hat and a coat! I have serious sun and wind burn. But the views were fantastic from the top of the bus. The fog rolling over the hills was amazing. It looks like they have a fog machine on the other side just pushing it over constantly. The fog rolls over the top and then dissipates so that the bottom of the hills stayed clear and sunny.
I made a list of the places I want to go back to: The Japanese Tea Garden, the botanical garden and museums at the Golden Gate Park; Haight Ashbury district; Sausalito and Muir Woods on the other side of the bay. Pictures of todays tour are below. Too tired to be eloquent tonight. Stay tuned.
San Francisco has a vast hodge podge of ethnicities that founded it, like most other cities in America. Among the many influences are French, Spanish, Asian and Italian. Before I boarded the bus, I visited the Boudin sour dough bakery/museum which discusses the french influence. Bakers were revered during the Gold Rush days. As for the Spanish influence, I mostly saw spanish architecture - and there is a latino section. Of course the asian influence is best seen in Chinatown - which was the one place I got off the bus. I was sort of disappointed in it though. It seemed mostly to be lots of tourist shops - packed with junk to appeal to the masses. If there were real finds, they may have been off the beaten path. Since I had to get back to the bus, I stayed on the main street.
I would love to take a tour through SF with an architect. The different styles are amazing - the victorians being my favorite. Driving up Van Ness (hwy 101) was an interesting view of styles as well. One side of the street is all original buildings. The other side is all new construction - rebuilt after the earthquake and fire in the early 1900's.
The tour took us up Hwy 1 toward the Golden Gate bridge. Highway 1 is 644 miles in length, stretching all the way up to Oregon. It was once the primary route of travel along the coast. It turned out to be a foggy day to see the bridge - which is not really Golden at all, but a sort of rusty red color. As the bus picked up speed across the bridge, we were buffeted by heavy wind from the ocean on one side and the bay on the other. It was freezing! Note for future: Next time take a hat and a coat! I have serious sun and wind burn. But the views were fantastic from the top of the bus. The fog rolling over the hills was amazing. It looks like they have a fog machine on the other side just pushing it over constantly. The fog rolls over the top and then dissipates so that the bottom of the hills stayed clear and sunny.
I made a list of the places I want to go back to: The Japanese Tea Garden, the botanical garden and museums at the Golden Gate Park; Haight Ashbury district; Sausalito and Muir Woods on the other side of the bay. Pictures of todays tour are below. Too tired to be eloquent tonight. Stay tuned.
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