Save me, San Francisco (Part 3)

Are you all caught up on Part 1 and Part 2?  OK, good...let's go!

On Monday, we decided to do the hop-on/hop-off open-top sightseeing bus tour.  With the package we picked, we would be able to do three tours in one day - the Golden Gate Bridge/Sausalito tour, the downtown tour, and the evening tour.  Monday also wound up being our totally unplanned let's-all-dress-alike day!  The outfit du jour was jeans with a black top.  

Our first tour was the Golden Gate Bridge/Sausalito tour:

Looking back on the rest of the passengers on top of the bus.

Oh, hey!

Twin Victorian houses built for Adolph Spreckles' daughters.

Mel's Drive-In

The Palace of Fine Arts - might look familiar...part of "The Rock" was filmed there.

These ladies showing their rears was a statement by the architect.  Classy.

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge.

Driving along the Golden Gate Bridge...

...while looking up...

...still looking up...

...now on the backside of one of the bridge towers.

'Twas a bit windy (hence the errant sleeve)...GGB in the background.

Rachel and Karen

Hi Rach!

Karen and me

Heading into Sausalito.

 

Casa Madrona hotel

Lou Dursi's long lost brother - Sal from Brooklyn

I don't know what kind of trees these are, but I LOVE them!!!

Muir Woods

George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic

Ana Mandara is Don Johnson's Vietnamese restaurant

The ships at the Maritime National Historical Park.

After the GGB/Sausalito tour, we hopped onto the downtown San Francisco tour bus.

Ready to see the downtown sights!

Our tour guide...Dean?  Derek?  Something like that!

Pier 35

There were TONS of motorcycles in and around San Francisco!

The Ferry Building at the Embarcadero

The Oakland Bay Bridge

That's one way to tour the city!  (Not the way I'd go...but only because of traffic.)

The famous Hibernia Bank

San Francisco City Hall

Giddy up, cowboy!

The entrance to Chinatown.

I thought this sign was really cute.

Looking back at the Transamerica Pyramid Building.

I managed to get a good shot of the Fishermans Wharf sign on our way back.

When the downtown tour ended back at The Cannery, we decided to return to Fishermans Wharf and go in search of fish tacos.  We found them!  After snarfing on some fish taco-y noms, we walked back to Ghirardelli Square for another round of ice cream before we had to return to The Cannery for the nighttime city tour.

Another Anchor Steam?  Um, OK!

Back at Ghirardelli Square for dessert!

"As Pure as the roses that glow upon the cheeks of little children." - Ghirardelli's Cocoa!

This time I went with the dark chocolate sauce on my chocolate ice cream...
it was a good choice!

Awesome name!

Rachel and Karen in their matching fleece jackets.

So many wires for the trolleys and buses!

Things were wrapping up in Chinatown for the evening.

Notice the "olive" in the martini.

Whoa!  I never knew!!!

I really like the shopping star...so cute!

And thus begins the tour of all of the super cool houses in San Francisco!

The "Full House" Park

The "Full House" houses with the city in the background.

A close-up of the "Full House" houses.

The backside of City Hall.

It's just a mansion...nothing to see here.

There was a protest at the BART station -
the BART station where Karen was supposed to go later that evening!

That doesn't bode well for Karen's trip to the airport!

Another shot of the Oakland Bay Bridge.

Once our tour ended, we snagged a cab back to our hotel where - thanks to the kerfuffle happening at the BART station - we made arrangements for Karen to take the Super Shuttle to the hotel.  Once those transportation arrangements had been made, we went down to Elephant & Castle for a late dinner.  Karen's shuttle arrived and we bid her safe travels.  (She left us a day early because she and her husband were flying out the next morning to Florida to visit Joe's daughter.)  Once Karen was safely en route to the airport, Rachel and I made our plans for Tuesday and turned in for the night.

And then there were two...of us left; and then there was one...day left in the city.  Stay tuned for the last day of our San Fran Adventure! 

Save me, San Francisco (Part 2)

So, it's been a while since I posted Part 1 of the San Francisco trip.  Let me give you a quick little recap:  I flew out Thursday night after work, arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Friday, met up with Rachel at a hotel in Millbrae, Karen joined us Friday afternoon, we went to the movies Friday night, we went shopping Saturday morning, and we went to Katie & Alex's wedding Saturday afternoon/evening.  Whew!  There...you're caught up.

Sunday morning, we slept in a bit; all of that dancing at the wedding the night before, plus all of that power shopping in the morning wore us out!  We were due at Katie's parents' house for brunch at 10 AM.  We called down to the front desk for a taxi at 9:35 AM.  At 9:36 AM, Katie's mom called to tell us that Katie's dad was on his way to the hotel to pick us up!  We promptly called the front desk back and canceled our taxi.  We enjoyed a delicious brunch at Katie's parents' house and had a chance to chat with the other Penn Staters who were in attendance at the wedding.  We also got to watch Katie & Alex open their wedding gifts.  

The wedding bouquets on display.

The Mahoneys' backyard is gorgeous!

Outdoor seating for brunch.

There's Katie and Alex on the right enjoying their first brunch as Mr. & Mrs.

Admiring one of their presents.

Trust me when I say, this present was lovely!

The Mahoneys have a lemon tree in their front yard!

A lemon tree!  WANT.

The Mahoneys' house.

Mr. Mahoney took us back to the hotel when we were ready to leave.  (Honestly, the Mahoneys are some of the nicest people I've ever met; their hospitality was endless!)  We checked out of the hotel and walked to the BART station (the right one, this time!) to take the train into San Francisco.

Taking the short cut to the BART Station.

Excited to be heading to the city by the bay!

Rachel got a workout dragging her 117 lb. suitcase. 
OK...I might be exaggerating a little.  It only weighed 103.5 lbs.

We got off the train at Embarcadero Center and walked about five blocks to our hotel for the next two nights - The Club Quarters on Clay Street.  After checking in, stashing our bags, and freshening up, we decided to walk up the Embarcadero to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.

Lovely Ahngels in San Francisco.

It was a gorgeous Sunday evening in San Francisco.

Famous Pier 39.

It was packed for a Sunday evening!

Justice!  The line for the men's room was longer than the women's!

These strawberries were HUGE!!!

As were the cherries!

Again...I was surprised how crowded it was for a Sunday evening...but it's a tourist destination, so maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised.

Boats, boats, and more boats.

There's "The Rock."

We saw the Pier 39 sea lions.

Lazy, lazy sea lions!

These guys (and gals) showed up after the earthquake in 1989 and haven't left!

A bread snake at Boudin Bakery - famous for their sour dough bread.

Trolley car.

Loved this sign!

When we got hungry, we decided to stop in the Blue Mermaid for some chowder.

Mmmm...the first of many Anchor Steam beers!

Inside the Blue Mermaid.

Rather than a bowl of one, I opted for a sampler size of three different chowders.  YUM!!!

When we were done, we decided to walk to Ghirardelli Square for dessert.

I can't say enough how gorgeous of an evening it was!

You can just barely make out the Golden Gate Bridge.

Karen and Rachel at Ghirardelli Square.

Ghirardelli chocolates...yummy!!!

Rachel opted for the peanut butter sundae.

Karen got a single scoop of chocolate ice cream...

...and so did I!

A cable car approaches.

That's it for our Sunday in San Francisco.  After dessert at Ghirardelli Square, we walked back to the Argonaut Hotel next to The Blue Mermaid and had the bellman hail us a taxi back to our hotel.  When we got back, we had to request the rollaway bed for our room (it only had one queen bed).  A nice gentleman named Oscar brought us the rollaway and helped us rearrange the room so it would fit and so everyone had a clear path to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  After briefly discussing our plan for the next day, we crawled into bed for a good night's sleep.  

I'll try to get Part 3 (Monday) posted this week; if I'm really ambitious, I'll get Part 4 posted this week, too!