We had a great driver (Juan) and an excellent and knowledgeable tour guide for our tour.
Saturday, July 21 | San Francisco Bus Tour
We departed the Marriott Hotel at 9:00 AM and headed to the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge. As we crossed the bridge we saw Treasure Island and passed through the short Yerba Buena Island Tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel the San Francisco skyline shrouded in fog came into view.
We took the first exit on the right and proceeded to the Embarcadero. As we traveled along the Embarcadero we saw the Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street where a Farmers Market was in progress. As we continued we saw many restaurants and piers. We passed the Exploratorium, the cruise ship terminal. (The Port of San Francisco hosts over 80 cruise ship calls and 300,000 passengers annually at the James R. Herman (Pier 27) and Pier 35 cruise terminals.) We passed Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, The Cannery, Cable Car turn-a-round and Ghiradeli Square. All along the Embarcadero we had great views of the Bay and Alcatraz.
Next, we traveled for a few blocks on Van Ness Avenue and then turned West on Lombard Street. We traveled down Lombard to the Palace of Fine Arts, our first stop. The Palace of Fine Arts was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. We took pictures and then returned to the bus. Upon leaving the Palace of Fine Arts we traveled north towards the Golden Gate Bridge which we learned that the name has nothing to do with the color of the bridge which is International Orange.
We traveled across the bridge which was barely visible because of the fog, which is typical for this time of year. (Most homes in SF do not have A/C because of the natural air conditioning of the fog.) At the end of the bridge we pulled into the North Golden Gate Vista Point. We took pictures, but the bridge was obscured by the fog and we could not see San Francisco at all. Benjamin Robinson took a group picture of all of us and the grandchildren of George Andrews--the first cousins.
Following that, we traveled back across the GGB to SF past the SF Presidio on Presidio Parkway. We turned west on Geary Street and took Geary to Lands End Lookout. We were able to spend a little bit of time here to visit the visitor center and take pictures. From Lands End Lookout we were able to see the ruins of the Sutro Baths, the Cliff House, Seal Rock, and where the San Francisco Bay pours into the Pacific Ocean. Benjamin Robinson was able to get a great group picture and he was able to get into the picture as well.
Upon returning to the bus we traveled for a few blocks along Ocean Beach on the Great Highway and then turned up John F. Kennedy Drive into Golden Gate Park past the Beach Chalet and the Dutch Windmill. (Golden Gate Park is 20% larger than Central Park in NYC.) We continued on JFK Drive passing buffalo, soccer fields, manmade lakes, barbeques, and bounce houses until we stopped at the Music Concourse. The area of the Music Concourse includes a stage, Japanese Tea Garden, de Young Museum, and the Academy of Sciences. We departed the Music Concourse and continued through the park past the Conservatory of Flowers which first opened in 1879. It is the oldest building in GGP.
Upon leaving the park we turned right on Stanyan Street and then left on Haight Street where we entered the Haight-Ashbury district that became a very popular place for hippies and flower children especially during the Summer of Love in 1967. We continued up Haight past Ashbury and made a circle around to see the "Painted Ladies" (restored Victorian homes painted with at least three colors) and then down to Oak Street to an area named the Panhandle. We made a right turn on Oak.
We turned left on Franklin and then right on Grove. We passed the War Memorial Opera House (first meeting of the United Nations was held there), Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco City Hall (London Breed is the first African American female mayor of SF), and the Old SF Public Library which is now an Asian Art Museum. We drove up Larken Street and turned right on California Street. We went to the top of Nob Hill where we saw Grace Cathedral, the Masonic Temple, Pacific Union Club, the Fairmont and the Mark Hopkins hotels. As we continued down from Nob Hill on California Street we crossed Grant Avenue in the heart of Chinatown. We made a left turn on Kearny Street, a left turn on Broadway, and a right turn on Columbus. We passed through North Beach and from the bus we looked up Lombard to see the "crookedest street in the world."
From Columbus Street we made our way to Pier 39 where the bus driver dropped us off for one hour. He picked us up at 3:00 PM and took us back across the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge to the Marriott Hotel by 4:00 PM.
We had a great time. Everyone was thrilled at the sites and there was such a beautiful spirit of family love. read more
