Our cruise finished in LA and we were straight on a plane to San Francisco. Ruthie wanted to wear some flowers in her hair but I think the hippies of the 60’s are gone, replaced by drive by cars with their doof doof volume turned up. The hotel wasn’t anything flash but was close to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was Sunday 17 March 2019 and we were straight off to pier 39 for some crab. Being a Sunday (and St Paddy’s day) and being a beautiful day coming out of winter, the crowds were out and about. All the cruises to Alcatraz were booked out and we could only do a sail by. Our skipper told us that there had only ever been 1 successful escape. Although, these prisoners are listed as missing, probably drowned, there have been reliable sightings. These 3 escapees built a raft from many accumulated raincoats over time. The San Francisco Bay is full of sharks and has strong currents. The water temperature in the middle never reaches double digits and no one would last more than 20 minutes in the water. This was enough to deter most wannabee escapees but their plan was ingenious. We also sailed by a navy destroyer named the Jeremiah O’Brien which was a rare survivor from the D day invasion. It still takes passengers about 4 times a year. The engine room scenes for the Titanic movie were filmed here as it is an close replica of it. There was lots of busker activity along the pier. The one that got us was a homeless man. He was sitting down and had cut 2 leafy branches to hide himself. As we harmlessly meandered down the pier, relaxingly taking in all the sights, he would suddenly part the branches away from his face and give out a loud roar. Ruthie and I jumped about 10 feet into the air, he scared the crap out of us! I don’t know if he was getting too much in his collection hat but he certainly had a lot of screaming victims.

The following day Ruthie had the map out and had marked everything for us to see and do. The thing is, she hadn’t taken into account the hills of San Francisco and the steps! Ruthie was sad that we didn’t get to the “Full House” house but the climb had us beaten although we did get to the park where they played with their dog. The colourfully painted housing architecture here is very different to anywhere else we’ve been and has to cope with the very hilly terrain. A beautiful walk through the Andy Goldsworthy woodline where there were coyote warnings as well as gumtrees. It led to The Presidio, an old military base now open to the tourists.The Golden Gate Bridge was in the background and being enveloped in fog which made for an awesome sight. Navigating the part of Lombard street, high up and down on a hill with 8 hairpin bends in a short distance was challenging. It is the crookedest street in the world. We finished the day off with the trolley tram and Chinatown. At the end of the day, my poor sea legs had had enough. There hadn’t been a lot of homeless people around the tourist area we were in but on our transfer back to the airport, we certainly went through skid row where they were sleeping back to back. This was a sad ending to San Francisco and again made us appreciate how lucky we are to be doing what we are.