Day One We had three days in San Francisco, so much to do here. Phoebe was truly amazing during all the long drives. She slept most of the mornings, and in the afternoon, I sat in the back seat with her and amused her, and then she would have another sleep. She is quite the little traveller. As you can see the weather is a bit cooler in San Francisco, we had to ditch the summer clothes and start wearing long sleeves.
Thankfully I was in the back seat when we arrived in San Francisco. Kurt had just finished driving down a 12 lane
highway – in peak hour, and then we went through a couple of winding streets to
the Apartments. I swear I thought I was
back on the roller coaster at NewYork NewYork.
We went up this street that seemed vertical, of course I know it couldn’t
have been. When we got to the top, the
bloody thing went straight down. Amanda
was in the front seat, Andy in the middle.
The only one in the car that was not phased was Phoebe, who continued to
play “peek a boo” with me. There were about
three sets of these hills before we finally came to the apartment. Go Kurt, he never batted an eyelid. These pictures were taken on much flatter roads, but you can still see the ups and downs. The motto of the story, if you learn to drive in San Francisco, I think you can drive anywhere.
Of course San Francisco is renown for its cable car system. You buy a 3 day passport for $21 and this gives you unlimited access to the cable cars, the trolley buses and and mini buses. This is great value as it is $6 one way otherwise.Apparently one of the San Francisco cable cars has been given to Melbourne, and one of theirs is in San Fran. We didn't see it.
The beginning of the cable car route was just three blocks from our apartment which was very handy. You had to ensure that Phoebe's pram was folded up as there is no room on the car for that. Just meant we had to be very organised. They run about every 30 minutes.
When you sit on the cable car you have several options. You stand at the back of the car, note the mesh at the back where the conductor is standing. Two people are allowed there and you get fantastic views going up the hills. The mesh bit is where you hook the pram. The conductor controls the brake from this vantage point.
You can sit inside, which is what we did most of the time. Note at the front of the car there are four wooden seats with green poles, these are the outside seats on both sides, that was very exciting, I did that on one journey.
And the best of all is what Amanda did on the last day, you can actually stand on the ledge at the front and literally hang off the tram.
Our first visit was to Union Square, which was very busy. They are erecting a structure for an upcoming event, so there were workmen everywhere and machinery. It is surrounded by beautiful shops, you can see SAKS Fifth Avenue store in the background.
The garden beds were very beautiful and lots of workers sit here and enjoy their lunch. It is not a very large space, but well catered for.
If you have to look at a giant billboard, it may as well be Brad Pitt huh - the face of Chanel apparently. Not that it looks like much, but this is Victoria's Secret, I was on a small shopping mission for my friend Helen.
The famous Tony Bennett song is immortalised by the heart statue in Union Square.
We spent lots of time on the cable cars on Day One as you can see. Even though it was cooler, Phoebe was still "sun-smart" in her hat.
You can see the conductor at the back, his left hand is on the brake. The driver is at the front of the tram and operates it using a pulley system. They were a great team, lots of talking, bell ringing and general fun for the tourists.
Some of the beautiful Victorian architecture that is very common here.
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