I've been craving a day in the city, and with my big-crazy-wild-and-absolutely-true new adventure staring at me and my feelings of being almost overwhelmed by it all yesterday, I decided a day in San Francisco was in order.
I left this morning and drove to Oakland, where I left Rosie Pro parked at the Rockridge Bart station. I love driving Rosie...but I loathe driving in San Francisco, especially in the part I was specifically visiting today: Market Street.
You have this wonderful grid system in San Francisco, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, at some point in history, someone with a very mean sense of humor stuck a few diagonal streets in for some nefarious reason. It should make sense, but every single time I drive in that part of San Francisco, I get hopelessly turned around and find myself all the way to Ocean Beach or the Presidio before I can make sense of anything.
See? It's just cruel.
Anyway, I stopped on the frontage road along the inside of the bay on the Oakland side for some pics and a quick video.
That's San Francisco, behind Yerba Buena Island, and to the right
of the pic, the Golden Gate Bridge (with Alcatraz).
Close-up of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate.
Close-up of the city, with Yerba Buena (the natural island) and Treasure
(the flat, man-made one) Islands.
No swimming for Cali Swimmy today. Too windy!
See? Windy.
I took a little video (the part of the narration that got drowned out by the wind is simply pointing out Angel Island and, behind it, the Marin Headlands), before getting back in the car and heading to the Bart station.
I love this view from the Rockridge Bart station.
This pigeon couple got very close to me--they weren't afraid at all!
I got off of Bart at Powell Street with a specific mission in mind. Through some Google fun last night, I found that there is a Mac repair business called Keane on Market Street, near Powell. Finding it proved to be a bit of an adventure, as it's located in a high-rise building and one must sign in at the front, and everything! I signed into a building and rode up to the 10th floor just to take a picture of a door...that's dedication to sign-pic-taking, am I right?
I love, love, love the various architectural styles represented in San
Francisco...
Not very exciting, considering everything I had
to do to get it...
I wandered down towards the Trans-America building. It occurred to me that for all the pics I have of it, I've never really been all that near it. So I walked by it today.
From there, I wandered down to the Ferry building, battled some crowds, got annoyed by the crowds, and looked around.
The Ferry building, with the Bay Bridge peeking from behind.
I've never investigated this awesome fountain before.
I found Pier 14, which I honestly didn't know existed, and walked out to the very end of it, getting some great pictures and another panorama video.
The western span of the Bay Bridge.
Random rocket sculpture.
Helicopter (Coast Guard)
The Ferry Building clock tower and Coit Tower.
In this shot, you can see the Trans-America building, the ferry clock tower,
and Coit Tower.
Still very windy...
I took another video, this time sans narration:
For the rest of the day I meandered along Market Street, stopping at a big mall to have a salad for lunch in the food court (well done, Meg!) and then spending some time in Macy's oohing and aahing over shoes, lingerie, clothes and handbags. I was ready to let myself buy one little splurge, but I didn't fall in love with anything, so I came home empty-handed, only having spent money on Bart fare and lunch. Still, it was a marvelous day.
Some people need EVERYTHING spelled out for them.
The diagonal streets may make me crazy driving,
but they make for some great corner buildings!
Random sculpture
Another corner building.
Only in San Francisco can you get creme brulee from a street vendor.
These last two sign pics are indicative of how hungry I was by
this time.
Angry Birds!!
These were at Crate and Barrel. Awesome!
Great sign in Berkeley as I drove home (don't worry,
I was stopped at a red light when I took this!).
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