Did We Miss Anything?

Becci and I were busy gals today.  It was Becci's first trip to San Francisco, so we did our best to see as much as we could.  We started out by heading to Starbucks to fuel up and caught this picturesque shot along the way:

We wanted to walk The Embarcadero, so we hopped aboard the streetcar to take us to Pier1:

I guess it was a little early for most folks, as we almost had the entire car to ourselves:

Before we knew it, we were at the Ferry Building:

We learned today that the Ferry Building used to sit in alignment with Market street prior to the 1906 earthquake, after which it turned 9 degrees.  I couldn't tell, though.  ;-)

Most of the shops still weren't open, so we took a walk around the back to see the ferry gates.  This morning was less foggy than yesterday, so we were able to see the Bay Bridge quite nicely:

Rounding the far back edge of the pier, I found this site quite compelling - that's the Ferry Building clocktower, one of the "bookshelf" buildings, the San Francisco port sign and the Transamerica tower all together:

After a brisk walk, we found ourselves at Pier 39 where I discovered that the elbow macaroni art (apparently just a temporary work) had been replaced by this festive site:

We walked to the end of the pier, visiting a few shops along the way and watched the double-decker carousel for a moment:

Then visited the sea lions - I was suprised by how few there were today:

Then it was on to Fisherman's Wharf, but first a shot of the submarine tour boats:

And a photo op with the briefly visible Alcatraz:

We walked the wharf - it sure seemed quiet compared to my last visit:

Next we decided to take advantage of our bus tour tickets and finish the entire loop that we abandoned for Chinatown yesterday.  At City Hall, we learned they were hosting a free sledding hill - they made snow and provided free sleds - our tour guide Mark seemed quite excited about going sledding after he finished work:

Following the bus tour, we made a quick pit-stop at our hotel to pack up Becci, then decided there were a few off-route sites we still needed to squeeze in.  First off - the Palace of Fine Arts.  Becci definitely thought this was one of the highlights of the day:

We drove through the Presidio, past Crissy Field to get to Fort Point so we could see the Golden Gate bridge close enough to get past the fog:

Next, we made our way to Alamo Square to view the "painted ladies" (the colorful row houses in the opening credits of "Full House"), where Becci found one of the houses previously owned by one of her patients - what a small world!

By that time we were quite ready for lunch, so we found a Thai restaurant near Haight-Ashbury where we had a very tasty appetizer called Curry Puffs and some Phad See Ew - perfect!

We decided next to head for Coit Tower to see if we might be able to see the bay, Alcatraz and the bridges - but no such luck - all were fogged in by that point again.  So we had just enough time to drive up to Twin Peaks, where the fog was so thick, this was all we could see of downtown:

By then we had to get to the airport, so we headed down 101 which was really backed up - both directions.  We made it in time, but I decided I wasn't interested in heading back into the city in the traffic, so I thought I'd ask the Information Desk at the airport about alternatives . . . wow, I don't think I've ever had such a poor service experience.  Besides having very broken English, the woman swore that 101 wasn't backed up (I had just been on it 5 minutes earlier) and then when I asked about possibly going to San Bruno to see a movie, she told me I had to take 380, but shouldn't or else take 101, which wasn't backed up - huh?  So finally, I figured I'd just use my navigation, so she said I should look for the shopping center with the Treforan theater (she wrote it on a piece of paper and I aksed her if it was indeed spelled T-R-E-F-O-R-A-N).  I used my phone to look for what was playing, where I discovered the shopping center was actualy called Tanforan.  I think maybe it is time for her to retire.  :-(

Anyway, after hugging Becci goodbye at security, I did manage to successfully find the theater and see the movie "Morning Glory".  While it was a bit quirky in places, there is one montage that literally had me crying I was laughing so hard - that alone was worth it.

So traffic back into the city post-movie was a breeze and now I am in my jammies, finished blogging and ready to relax and drift off to sleep.