I generally prefer to explore a city on my own. But in the case of San Francisco, this presents some special challenges. Specifically, the hilly terrain makes exploration on foot quite a tiring affair. Secondly, while the city has a pretty extensive public transportation system, it consists of quite a few different networks of transportation from buses to streetcars to cable cars to trains to light trains.

I decided the best way to see the city's sights within a very short amount of time is to join a day tour. From Fisherman's Wharf, I joined Grayline's deluxe city tour. The bus took us through the downtown district which was very interesting. I wanted so much to get off the bus and actually walk around as San Francisco has some pretty interesting neighbourhoods.

  • [38] SFPD Barricade (Union Square)
  • [39] Cheesecake Factory (Union Square)
  • [40] City Hall

Driving through the city also gave us a very up close view of the heightened security in place. This security was due to the commencement of the second Gulf War as well as to control mass pro-peace demonstrators which have been carrying out civil disobedience activities for the whole week. We saw SFPD out in force through the city as a barricade to protect the shops and public places [38].  

We passed Macy's in Union Square which also holds my favourite restraurant chain (sad as it is !) in the US. The Cheesecake Factory is on the top floor of Macy's [39] At the end of the tour, I went back to Union Square to grab a bite at the Factory but it was so packed that I had to wait for an hour to get a table. It was worth the wait. :)  

We also drove by San Francisco's City Hall which takes its inspiration from St Peter's Basilica in Rome [40]. That's real gold on the dome.

  • [41] Painted Ladies
  • [42] Haight-Ashbury
  • [43] Downtown View from Twin Peaks
  • [44] That's me !

Before joining this day tour, I thought San Francisco's architecture was quite drab and unimpressive. But as we drove through neighbourhoods such as Haight-Ashbury, the more colourful side of SF became more apparent. We drove past the Painted Ladies, a group of Victorian terraces that features regularly in movies and TV series [41]. The funky moire patterns that you see in some of these photos are patterns in the bus' window that the camera has picked up. Photo 42 is another example of some interesting buildings in this area.

Twin Peaks is the highest hill in San Francisco. We were treated to an impressive 270 degree panoramic view of the city. Photo 43 shows the downtown district of San Francisco. The main street (Market Street) is clearly visible. And just to prove that I was really in San Francisco, Photo 44 is one of me with the city landscape in the background.

  • [45] Golden Gate Park
  • [46] Golden Gate Park

Our next stop on the tour is the Golden Gate Park. Our tour guide and bus driver kept referring to this park as "our magnificent park". In fact, he must have mentioned it at least 7 or 8 times in his narration. But the park didn't really grab me. The Golden Gate Park is a huge 1000 acre of parklands and various grounds for sports. It has the Pacific Ocean as one of its borders. I think they thing that didn't really endear me to the park was its immense size. For me, a park should be some place that you can comfortably walk through. The park has so many roads running through it that it felt more like a suburb than a park to me.

The park has two really nice features that we came across. At one corner of the park is huge Dutch windmill which was used to draw the water to irrigate the park because at the time, the city's water system did not extend that far. The second feature is the Hagiwara Tea Gardens which was built in 1894 for the California Midwinter Exposition. There was an entrance charge to actually enter the Garden. There wasn't time on the tour to explore the Tea Gardens but I peeked in from outside and it looked quite impressive. There was a flowering cherry blossom tree at its entrance [45]. At least I think it is a cherry blossom tree ...

  • [47] Music Pavillion
  • [48] Statue from Expo 1894

Across the road from the Tea Garden is the Strybing Arboretum or the botanical gardens. I found the botanical gardens to be quite disappointing. Perhaps I didn't explore it fully given the short timeframe. However, I did find another cherry blossom tree [46] ! My obsession with cherry blossom trees is that I will not get to see them during my upcoming Japan trip so seeing them in bloom here in SF is a great bonus. I'm assuming of course that these are actually cherry blossoms ...

Near the Tea Garden is the Music Pavillion [47] and a statue built to commemorate the Exposition in 1894 [48].