San Francisco, Day One: Thursday, November 10, 2016

I've been back home for a week now following my wonderful time in San Francisco, and am only finally getting to sharing some of the details here. Coming home I felt this strong urge to wrap myself up in my family . . . a week away from some of your very favourite people is a long time, and I just felt like coccooning myself in their very presence upon my return home. Luck would have it that the beginning of our family's fun & festive season is also upon us, and it's been so nice to celebrate E's birthday this week, which helped to offset all of the resettling and organizing that comes with returning from a trip. And fortunately for me, one of my favourite people, my Mom, was with me in San Francisco. We've been talking about going to this city together for years now, and we were very excited that the opportunity had finally presented itself. I'm happy to now finally have some time to sit down and reflect on the experiences that Mom and I shared in Northern California, and have decided to do so on a day-by-day basis again, as I did with our trip to Iceland. This way my posts won't stretch on with undue length, and I can include some more specifics and photos for each day.

After a four-and-a-half hour flight from Toronto, we arrived in San Francisco at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on November 10, happy to still have so much of the day lying ahead of us thanks to the three-hour time difference that we experienced. During the drive from the airport to the Nob Hill neighbourhood in San Francisco where we stayed, I was struck by the very hilly geography of the area, and by the wide variety of trees and shrubbery including tropical palms and brilliantly flowering bushes as well as pines, though all of the plant life has suffered from the drought of the past few years. I was also amazed by the density of housing that we passed as we drove towards the city. These structures, often cube- and block-like, seem to crawl up the hillsides, practically stacked one upon the next, creating a step-like vision extending on and on, higher and higher. The sun shone, the sky was blue, and the spring-like warmth were all most welcoming signs.

Checking into our hotel room, from which we had a beautiful view of the city, particularly of some of  the financial district's most impressive buildings, we were excited to begin exploring!

Panoramic view from our hotel room, including the pyramid-like Transamerica Building.

 

We began with a downhill walk towards Union Square, where we were happy to see our first San Francisco heart. 'Hearts in San Francisco' is, according to Wikipedia, "an annual public art installation started in 2004 by the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation for the purpose of fundraising. . . The choice of hearts is inspired by the Tony Bennett song, 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco'." Artists paint uniform heart sculptures, which are installed at various locations around the city. Along with the beautiful heart depicting a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, we were treated to the coolest juxtaposition of palm trees and a towering Christmas tree! The sensation of walking around without a jacket while seeing a festively decorated tree was somewhat surreal, to say the least.

 

Palms trees and Christmas trees bound together with love in San Francisco's
Union Square.

 

Following a great lunch just off Union Square at Cafe Bellini which recharged our energy levels, we thought we'd head to the waterfront. Despite all that I'd read, and all of the warnings from friends who'd been to the city, San Francisco's steep hills and streets nevertheless caught me off guard. I couldn't help picturing them covered in snow and thinking about what an amazing sledding experience they'd provide! The MUNI pass we bought, which enabled us to hop on a wide variety of public transit vehicles operated by San Francisco's Municipal Railway, including cable cars, buses, street cars and subways, certainly helped us traverse this incredibly hilly city.

 

We caught our first cable car, the iconic mode of transportation designed to help solve the problem that horse-drawn wagons had navigating the steep hills of the city in days gone by, and I was charmed by the quaint cars and their often charismatic drivers.

A string of cable cars wait their turn to approach the line's final station. And no, that street is not even close to being one of the steep ones!

Hopping off at Lombard Street, known as "the crookedest street in the world", we enjoyed a fantastic view of the San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge, and Coit Tower. Walking down this twisty-turny road that boasts eight sharp hairpin turns, we wound our way amongst the lovely homes and gardens that line the street. Numerous houses were draped in gorgeous blossoms of brilliant shades. I can't quite imagine what it would be like to live on this part of the street, seeing hundreds of thousands of tourists gawking at your home and driving down your street, but I suppose the residents must have known what they were getting into when they bought their houses!

At the top of Lombard Street.







Coit Tower as seen from the top of Lombard Street.

 

Wanting to see part of the waterfront yet on our first day in the city, we meandered our way down to Hyde Street Pier and got our first glimpses of the shore and the famed Golden Gate Bridge, deemed by many to be the most beautiful bridge in the world. This incredible suspension bridge links San Francisco to Marin County, and is 1300 metres long.

 

Hyde Street Pier

 

 

The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

 

Our first day in San Francisco was capped off with a tasty dinner at Chabba Thai Cuisine, and we were more than ready to get to sleep after a busy day of travel and explorations.

Stay tuned for details of our second day's adventures!

 

My wonders: Have you ever been to San Francisco? If so, what were your first impressions of the city?