San Francisco and Transportation Options

We had been warned that driving in San Francisco is difficult, and that might be an under-statement. Locals told us that they always take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into the city, rather than driving. In spite of the warnings, Mark thought driving our car into San Francisco was our best transportation option. Even though we would head into the more touristy areas later, our first stop was in a residential area. We can see the taller downtown buildings in the distance, but those are a few miles and many hills away from us now. San Francisco was built on 43 hills on this little peninsula of land that is saturated with buildings and people.

We are in the neighborhood to see "The Painted Ladies." That's the name for the seven famous Victorian homes in the residential area that surrounds Alamo Park. The park is closed for renovation, but that didn't keep people from sitting on the grass in the work zone to stare upon these San Francisco icons on a nice Sunday afternoon. These homes have been backdrops in 70 different movies, television shows, and commercials. Most famous for being the house featured in the opening of the sitcom "Full House," that painted lady recently sold for $3.1 million dollars. Not a bad investment for the guy that bought it in 1975 for $65,000.

The only thing worse than driving in San Francisco must be parking there. We should have taken a picture of Mark's beautiful job of parallel parking at the Painted Ladies stop, as he shoe-horned our car between two others. He has the added distraction and length of our bike rack that is attached to the back of our car, so this is no easy job. It's also done on a 30-degree angle, as all the streets are ridiculously steep. We took a picture of the tightly parked cars, all with their front tires turned to hit the curb if the parking brake slips. We were warned by another tourist that you will get a $63 fine for not turning your tires. He knew because he got a citation.

As handy as it is to have a car to get to different sections of the city, we decided to park it centrally and then walk. The good news about visiting on a Sunday afternoon is that the parking meters are turned off that day. So we found a rare open spot, and Mark masterfully parked us for free for the rest of the day. Then we used our second mode of transportation, as we set out on foot for our next adventure.

Denisa wanted to try a new form of transportation--the cable cars. We walked down Market Street to the main boarding station and bought our tickets. We could see the cable cars as they approached and then stopped on the circular platform you can see in the the foreground of the picture below.

When the cable car enters the circle, it is rotated by man-power until it turns 180 degrees back in the other direction. The picture below shows the car in mid-rotation. It also shows the line we are standing in to hitch a ride on one of those cars. It stretches from the right hand side all the way around to the group you can see on the left.

We were in that line for almost an hour on a nice Sunday afternoon. So we appreciated the entertainment in the market square as we waited. There were food vendors, as well as these dancers that brought their own piece of wood for tap dancing for tips.

Once it is rotated to its new direction, the cable car is then pushed by hand onto the boarding platform. Then it is attached to the underground cable that will act as the engine to propel it around the streets of San Francisco.

We had read that the best ride was the Powell and Hyde Street cable cars. We had also read that the best views are on the east side of the car. We had also read that the best vantage point would be standing on the running board holding on to the bar at the very front of the car. Guess who scored a spot on the Powell/Hyde street car on the east side hanging on the front bar?

We headed straight up the hill going up Market Street as we left the station. We are seeing more evidence of those 43 hills as we see the top of another one in front of us.

This was our view as we headed up the street. Mark is on the running board directly behind Denisa, taking pictures over her head. On the left hand side of the picture is the bar that Denisa is clinging onto with both of her hands. Mark has a similar bar that he is trying to hang onto while leaning out and snapping pictures. You can see he's not the only one with a camera, as there's a lady on the sidewalk taking our picture. We had several tourists taking pictures of the passing cable cars, so we should be front row in their travel memories.

We find that it's hard to take a picture that shows the degree of incline of the streets of San Francisco. The camera seems to make everything look flat. But we can tell you that our cable car ride was anything but flat.

Occasionally we would meet a cable car going in the opposite direction. That's when our on-board brake-man would yell to the passenger on the other side of our car, "Tuck it in!" to avoid being hit by the other car's passengers standing on the running board.

He gave the same warning to our side of the cable car as we went down some streets because the cars were so close. It would be easy to get side-swiped by a car mirror on this street. You might notice that Denisa isn't doing her spread eagle pose now.

This is our on-board entertainment, and cable car brake-man. He was the one telling us to hang on around the corners that we took surprisingly fast, or tuck in during traffic. He was near Mark, and seemed to take a liking to him. He asked where we were visiting from. Then at every intersection he would yell and introduce the waiting pedestrians to "Mark from Oklahoma." He also had the entire cable car chanting, "Mark! Mark!" over and over, with him ringing the cable car bell twice between chants.

He also alerted us as we approached the famously-steep Lombard Street intersection. We'll see it again later today, but this is the view from the top from a cable car. We are also getting our first view of the water, as we are approaching the bay.

Seeing the bay meant that we were also coming to the end of our third form of transportation today--the cable car ride. Denisa loved it, as it was a combination roller coaster and tour bus ride. It was a great way to see a little of San Francisco, and to experience the country's only rolling National Historic Landmark.

Mark took a selfie from our perch on the sideboard of our cable car. Denisa's hair is evidence that you get some serious breeze from riding in that coveted front row space. She would walk around with cable car hair for the rest of the day.

We have another photo together, as we swapped picture-taking with another couple at Fisherman's Wharf.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the tourists and locals were out enjoying the views and fun at the wharf. This picture was taken down the middle of the most famous--Wharf 39. Filled with food and shopping options, there were lines at most of the eating establishments by this time of the evening.

There was a big crowd watching the locals that live beside Wharf 39. There is a big group of harbor seals that enjoy sunning on the floating rafts next to the wharf. They are easy to find, as we could smell and hear them before we could see them.

From Fisherman's Wharf we got our first peek at Alcatraz. This famous prison was especially hard to escape because of its location surrounded by water. There are tours that go to the island, but reservations are needed because they can book up a week in advance. So this would be our only view of Alcatraz, and we didn't get to try the transportation option of boating to the island.

We also got our first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. We can't see that famous Vermilion Orange color in the late afternoon light. But we have plans for a close-up view of that bridge on another day.

San Francisco has a large population of homeless, and we saw many of them in our trip around the city. This guy, however, has found his own niche among the street entertainers at Fisherman's Wharf. He sits on the sidewalk with a couple of green branches in front of him. When he moves the branches and yells, he will usually startle more than one passing tourist. So it's good entertainment for the rest of us.

We were glad we didn't have our car when we were visiting Fisherman's Wharf. Parking is scarce near the water. We did see a couple parking lots, with a large sign proclaiming they were only $3. But when you got closer, you saw the fine print--they charge $3 for every 15 minutes you are parked in the lot. Without our car, we'll be using our feet as our mode of transportation to get us back across the city. That same thrilling ride up and down the hills of San Francisco on the cable car now means huffing and puffing our way back to the car. You can see the the doors and windows of next door neighbors are at different levels as we head downhill.

Walking allowed us to see some of the details of the city that we had missed earlier. We saw that there are a number of blooming trees across San Francisco. These sizable pink blooms were beautiful this spring. Mark did a little research and found them to be an ornamental Kwanza cherry tree.

As we walked, we saw another transportation option for tourists. This GO car is a GPS guided tour that will fit two people. It looked a little dangerous on these crowded streets, but we saw quite a few people zipping around the streets of San Francisco in GO cars.

Our walk has brought us to the bottom of Lombard Street. This is the famous street that we saw earlier from the top from our perch on the cable car. This is a better view from the bottom, where we can see why it is famous. It is the world's most crooked street. You can see the cars lined up as they make the drive with 8 hair-pin turns to get to the bottom of the block.

It's a well-known thrill for tourists visiting the city in a car. But walkers can also get up-close to the most crooked street. Denisa is standing in the pedestrian sidewalk in the middle of the block. You can see the residences on Lombard Street, as people live right on this tourist attraction. It would be a little unhandy to have to cue up in the long line of cars wanting to drive down Lombard Street every time you came home.

The reason for all the turns was to alleviate the steep grade of Lombard Street. At a 27% grade, it was dangerously steep to drive. So one resident had the idea to add all the curves back in 1922, and a tourist attraction was accidentally born. Mark climbed all the steps to the very top and braved the traffic to get this picture of the cars starting their journey down Lombard.

Just a block away, we saw a filming crew and several people stopping traffic. They were all looking up the street that lies parallel to Lombard. This street looked to have a 27% slope as well.

There was some hectic preparation, and someone yelled that he was ready. Cameras were rolling as we watched a bicycle come down that incline at full speed. Mark caught a picture of the bicyclist as he rounded the corner in front of us.

Wow! We wonder how fast he was coming down that hill. There were high fives and applause as the speedy bicyclist rode back to the camera crew. They were checking their footage as one of the guys stopping traffic at the top of the hill walked close to us. We asked, and found out they were filming a documentary on bicycle delivery riders in San Francisco. That is going to be an exciting documentary.

We got some good exercise as we went up and down a few more hills on our way back to the car. Back behind the wheel, Mark took us through downtown as the tall buildings blocked out the waning sunlight around us.

Then we slowly made our way to the edge of the city, and the entrance to the Bay Bridge that would take us home. Cars are only charged when driving toward San Francisco, so this was a free ride on the long toll bridge. The first section had our five lanes heading east underneath the five lanes that are heading west into the city.

Since we've been in the area, Mark has been monitoring the traffic patterns in San Francisco. We have noticed that the Bay Bridge was red (indicating high traffic and slow speeds) every time he checked. It was even red on a Sunday evening. As we entered the tunnel portion of the bridge, there were brake lights across all five lanes.

But when we came to the end of the tunnel, the traffic was flowing steadily. It was nice to see that the sky was still blue as the days are getting longer. The graceful lines of the Bay Bridge were a treat to see as we headed towards our home in East Bay.

It was a fun day! After going to church in Pleasanton, we made a drive all around the bay and spent a good afternoon and evening in San Francisco. Mark masterfully drove through yet another great American city. We have experienced several different transportation options today and witnessed several more. We know we didn't get to see everything, so we have another day planned for a return visit on yet another form of transportation. Stay tuned!