Where to start? Food of course!
Today a stroll along The Embarcadero on the edge of the Bay. A glorious day taking in the sights from the towering supports of the Bay Bridge to brown pelicans cruising overhead to honey bees and humming birds feasting on the nectar of the many flowers along the water front. We checked out the San Francisco Ferry building and ‘food hall’ and then flopping down in a quiet restaurant for bubbles, fresh fruit juice and grilled peach panzanella for a very late lunch. Our body clocks are totally out of whack so eating and sleeping are still completely random.
The mighty expanse of Bay Bridge
Built in 1898 the San Francisco Ferry building survived both the 1906 and the 1989 earthquakes with little damage except the famous clock stopped! Until the completion of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges in the 1930s, the Ferry Building was the second busiest transit terminal in the world, second only to London's Charing Cross Station.
Today there is a marketplace and restaurants on the ground floor in former baggage handling area.
A spotty teenage Californian gull waiting on the make!
No significance just pretty
This little guy wasn’t lifting his head out of this tiny flower for anyone. Happy creature! Among the stattice.
Poor shot but this is a wee humming bird (Anna’s humming bird Lindsay tells me). I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a large insect whirring around these flowers - yes gorgeous yellow WA kangaroo paws! It was gone on a trice but it was quite a thrill to see the darling little thing.
Yummy food with a view
Perfect for lunch!
Yesterday we made the mistake of taking the Hop on-Hop off bus. It’s the 4 July holiday weekend here! and the city streets and ‘attractions’ are chockers. Say no more BUT I did get to have clam chowder on Fisherman’s Wharf and we then rode the quaint street cars back downtown.
The view from Cafe 8 Fisherman’s Wharf.
Clam chowder. Sadly not as good as I remembered it. Very little seafood in it but it’s all about the experience right?!
Everyone is after the seafood along the Wharf
Many of the cafes had huge cauldrons of clam chowder bubbling and streaming outside. A real touristy thing.
Once the streets and wharf areas of San Francisco echoed with the clangour of the street cars and cable cars producing a kind of contrapuntal symphony in the growing metropolis.
Historic Street cars follow two routes. The cars come from all over the US and other countries including a green rattler tram from Melbourne.
Market street street car. They are all different but rather gorgeous. Very retro.
The once busy street car routes went underground decades ago but they seem to have a terrific bus system plus trolley cars.
The iconic cable cars of San Francisco. This is at turning circle at the Market Street end of the Route which runs down to the Wharf area.
Couldn’t resist this shot. The guy is completely lost in a world of sound and rhythm he is creating from his various pots and pans.
And so this journey begins. Tomorrow we board the Californian Zephyr bound for Chicago but before we do ..........
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