We left the Hyatt in Long Beach and traveled to San Pedro to board the new Discovery Princess. We are staying in cabin A332. The cabin is spacious for a cruise ship and tastefully appointed. We find the color pallet very relaxing and appealing. The pallet is repeated throughout the ship. I’ll be taking ship’s photos later. Here are a couple of photos of our cabin, great place to enjoy a seven day cruise.
Our first stop, after a relaxing day at sea was San Francisco. We decided the best way to get an overview of this fascinating place was on a hop on, hop off bus tour. So, tickets in hand, we boarded a Big Bus San Francisco for a two and a half hour tour.
Now, I want you to understand, its not easy snapping photos from a moving bus but I did my best. Here is a selection of those that turned out. I can’t tell you where or when I took many of them but hopefully they give you a flavor of the city.
I am placing some photos in a slide show. There are a number of photos in each slide show, indicated by the gray buttons below the photos. Other photos will be displayed in galleries and on occasion as single shots. Let me know what you think and if you like this presentation style.
Then, before we knew it we were in Union Square. Here’s a photo of the historic St. Francis Hotel. JoAnn and I stayed here over 50 years ago and it still looks exactly the same only the stores around Union Square appear to have changed.
Moving along from there I managed to get these photos which I decided to place in a collection. Hope you enjoy the scenery as much as I did.
As we looked to our right we glanced at the San Francisco City Hall. Its dome, at 307 feet, is the tallest in the United States and beats the U.S. Capital by 42 feet.
In fact, the dome is finished with 23.5 carat gold leaf. Here’s a closer look.
There were a couple of other interesting buildings near City Hall. Have a look.
And off we went. Ride along with me for a colorful view of the city.
San Francisco is famous for its painted lady houses. About 48,000 houses were built in the Victorian and Edwardian styles between 1849 and 1915. Many of them were painted in bright colors. A number of these exist today with the most famous being found at 710-720 Steiner Street, across from Alamo Square Park. Unfortunately, we did not see those but here are a couple of photos taken as we zoomed past.
We passed through Golden Gate Park as we made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. Here are a few photos taken in the park.
I was able to snap this shot of children sitting on a wall waiting for what? No idea.
The Golden Gate Bridge and views from the Marin County side in a slide show.
Back over the bridge and coming to the end of our Big Bus tour. Barbara and Jimmy decided to return to the ship while JoAnn and I decided to have lunch at Bistro Boudin, the cafe at the Boudin bread bakery. We ate there many years ago and really enjoyed ourselves. The sour dough bread is wonderful and our lunch of crab dip, mussels and a crab sandwich was great. Here are a couple of shots at Boudin.
After lunch we strolled down the Embarcadero to Ghirardelli’s Square. Here are a number of photos I took as we walked along.
On our way back to the ship we managed just a few more photos of this beautiful and exciting city. Enjoy!
Alcatraz Island, the “Rock.”
Let’s end with a photo of Coit Tower, a slender white concrete structure on top of Telegraph Hill. The tower is modeled on a fireman’s trumpet and named for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy patron of the city’s firefighters. She could often be found helping firemen when assistance was needed. She died in 1929 leaving a substantial bequest which was used to build the tower in honor of San Francisco’s firefighters.
Fabulous pictures and commentary of a great city. You certainly captured the essence of San Francisco.