The foggy city

A day of touristyness for me:

I rode the duck board ie. stood on the step on the outside of the cable car.

 

The driver works two levers constantly, and at the rear another works the brakes.

 

Thank God the brakes work! The streets are really steep - Alcatraz Island is just off the shore in the fog at the bottom of the hill.

 



They have interesting 1950s looking trams too.

 

 

I hired a bike and rode to the famous bridge. It was like a trip to my childhood - being allowed to ride a bike without a helmet!

 

The Golden Gate Bridge slowly revealed itself through the fog. It really is quite beautiful. It is currently being retrofitted to make it more earthquake resistant. There are two fog horns with different pitches that blow constantly to help ships navigate under it. 40 million vehicles drive across the 2.7km bridge annually.



Palace of Fine Arts - a curious Greco-Roman style building - the only surviving fantasy monument from the 1915 World Expo.

 

Lunch - clam chowder in a sour dough loaf - a San Franciscan speciality - with a view over the bay toward the bridge. Very delicious!

Pier 39 sea lions. These are wild sea lions sleeping on platforms provided for them at Pier 39. What a life!