Location 
San Francisco
Distance Walked 
36.2 km
Dates 
29th November 2017 – 2nd December 2017
Missed the first 4 days of our trip?
Hollywood | Venice Beach & Santa Monica
Welcome to the next leg of our trip; San Francisco!
San Francisco, you little legend of a city. Full of your quirky Sea Lions, huge bridges, electric buses and calf burning hills. We landed in San Francisco, and to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting a lot. I thought it would be just another nice city with touristy things to see.
We stepped off the plane and into weather that made my nose run and my cheeks pink; a mild change from the shorts and singlet weather of Los Angeles. Our Uber climbed up and down the steep, sloping hills of San Francisco, the streets lined with cute terraces, all different, yet somehow still perfectly cohesive. We arrived at The Zephyr Hotel and got to check in early (yaaas) and begun our next adventure in a new city.
Pier 39 & Fisherman’s Wharf
Our hotel was only a couple of blocks away from the beach side, which made it an easy walk to Pier 39 & Fisherman’s Wharf. The aroma of freshly caught fish swirled through the air, and different shops offered unique takes on seafood menus
As we wandered closer to the boardwalk, the smell of fish became more pungent and the sound of dogs barking echoed in the distance. I soon found out what I could hear was not a dog, but a huge number of blubbery, lazy, loud Sea Lions… I want one!
We browsed through the different gift shops, went for a visit to the Aquarium, and through the Mirror Maze.
Credit to Mele for the heads up on how amazing the creamy Clam Chowder bread bowls are!
Oh my god, that’s my favourite place to eat Clam Chowder! – Mele
I even managed to convince Jae to try some, which he actually enjoyed (told ya so).
note* the seagulls are intimidatingly large.
Lombard Street
After the hike to the Hollywood sign, I vowed to never walk up hill again. Unfortunately my protest fell on deaf ears, and to my dismay, we walked uphill to Lombard Street. It wasn’t really that far, I’m just a whiner.
It’s such a beautiful, unique street in the middle of steep chaos.
CBD
We headed into the business district one day to have a look around. We wandered through the Westfields and got a taste of working life in San Francisco. I wouldn’t mind being employed over there – hint to people reading this blog.
Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island was a surreal experience.
We got up at the crack of dawn so we could be the first group on the island for the day. As we approached the small island, we could still hear the sounds of hustle and bustle from the city. Despite being so close to one another geographically, Alcatraz Island and San Francisco city are definitely two worlds apart.
To walk through the gaol and think about the number of people that spent years behind bars for committing unspeakable crimes kind of irked me a little.
The audio tour was amazing, so detailed and interesting. It guided us through the different parts of the gaol and explained why certain aspects were so significant in the history of Alcatraz.
Definitely a must-do if you visit San Fran.
Golden Gate Bridge
We visited the Golden Gate Bridge twice because we loved it so much the first time!
We decided that we’d be able to walk from our hotel to the Golden Gate Bridge. Turns out that, although a very scenic and beautiful walk, it was a lot further than we anticipated. We ended up finding a nice park that over looked the water and the bridge.
The second time we visited, we got dropped at the visitor centre and walked along the bridge. The weather was amazing, clear blue sky and crystal blue water, no fog and relatively warm. We are always spoiled by Mother Nature!
Next time
We’ll be back San Fran, there are still a few things we want to tick off the bucket list. We want to experience the beauty of Yosemite and feel tiny in The Muir Woods!
It is not goodbye, just see you later… Next stop New York!
