[SF Trip] Downtown San Francisco in less than 8 hours

Afternoon already, we have no much time to explore The City by the Bay.
We didn’t even have enough time to find and buy some souvenirs nor have a proper dinner :( So lets go through the checklist then.

1. Union Square
   The area got its name because it was once used for rallies and support for the Union Army during the American Civil War, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark.There is a wide variety of hotels, cafes, bars, restaurants, shops, etc., that are unique to San Francisco. In Union Square you will have a mix of locals, business travellers and vacationers. It’s like a transit area. Transportation is quite easy in here because you have subway or bus stations around you.It’s also an expensive area. You can see famous brand stores/restaurants in every corner. It’s like a collections of department stores, upscale boutiques, gift shops, art galleries, and beauty salons in the United States.And what we did there was … enjoy the afternoon, when the sun is calming down, warm with cool breeze, watching the activities around the square.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   After that, @Rara79 need to find a post office to buy postcards and stamps. So we go to Macy’s coz it has one. Nope, we didn’t buy anything, see the keyword “expensive”. Need to save more bucks for other things he he he he.Chinatown actually is about 1-2 blocks away, perfect place for hunting souvenirs in a budget. But like I said, we don’t have time to go there.

2. Cable Car
   This is a must have attraction my list. So we took one next to Macy’s down to the Fisherman’s Wharf. It’s nice ride actually, but since the cable cars was kind of full, i only got a place at the rear. The best spot at the front and side of the car have already been taken :(

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   There are some souvenir shops around here. It’s cheap, sort of. Well you could have 5-7 postcards for only $1 before tax. Some key chains and many other stuff. I’m sure you’ll get cheaper and more options in Chinatown.

3. Fisherman’s Wharf
   Fisherman’s Wharf gets its name and neighborhood characteristics from the city’s early days during the Gold Rush when Italian immigrant fishermen settled in the area and fished for the Dungeness crab. From then until the present day it remained the home base of San Francisco’s fishing fleet.It’s getting dark when we arrived, so basically we spent very short time here. Just walking around the corner, we miss the chance to see the sea lion, only watching the Alcatraz (closed due to the government shutdown).In addition we (me actually) also need to catch the time to take photos of the golden gate bridge at sunset. Since we taking bus will take forever to go there, just missed the sunset taking a taxi was the only option.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

4. Golden Gate
   You are not in San Francisco if not visit the Golden Gate . That’s what we did, visit the 76 years old bridgeNobody warned us that the wind around the bridge was so cold. I should have known about that when I was at same situation at Eiffel and The Great Wall.So, my camera remote were basically dead coz the battery was too cold to operate. It also needed a moment to set up the gear for long exposure shot properly. I just couldn’t stand the cold wind and it made everything worse since i have to push the shutter manually with my trembling cold hand :(Don’t have much time since the taxi meter is still running.

   

   

   

   After spending about 15 minutes around the bridge, I’ve got nothing worth to be published :( With a huge disappointment, I ask the taxi driver to take us to Pier 39.

5. Hard Rock Cafe SF at Pier 39
   I went here because one of my colleague asking me to buy a city tee for his collection. Bought some souvenirs also for people at #Room41. It’s dark, it’s windy and we’re hungry. Dinner around here is quite costly, so we took Finnan suggestion to go back to fisherman’s wharf.The food stall mentioned by Finnan was closed already, so we pick random restaurant.Geez, the American food portion is crazy!!I ordered normal pasta (well just look the menu and it seems to be face for me to eat) with a shrimp salad as appetiser. Haven’t finish it yet when the pasta came.
   OMG, the plate is like 30cm long (no, not you @naivee) with 2 chicken fillets size of my palm each. It’s for 2-3 people here!!

After dinner, me @Rara79 and @Eriskatp back to the Caltrain Station to get the last train back to Santa Clara. It’s a day that we spent most of the time on foot. I hope my lil sis Eriska was not feeling tortured. Well this is the way we enjoy the new place. Sorry sis, but I’ve warned you before he he he he.

Moral of the story:

• Start explore downtown SF early in the morning since most of the place are nice to be visited before night time (IMO).
• Try to be the first cable car in queue, so start from the Market Street, pick the best seat.
• Better rent a car to go to Golden Gate area and spend enough time there specially for composing the photograph you want.

as usual you can find more photos in my [button color=’pink’ size=’small’ link=’http://flickr.com/photos/nuri_abidin/’]flickr[/button] account :).

Also feel free to leave your comment here ^_^