Fabulous and Foggy – Thanks San Francisco

There are approximately 1950 passengers and 800 crew onboard our ship. Before we can disembark San Francisco, each and every one of us must personally meet face to face with an American customs officer. It takes hours and there is certainly some moaning and groaning, but due to a fortunate early timeslot allocation, by 1030 am we have taken our first steps onto American soil and head straight for a convenient Big Bus.

It’s been an early start – we were up around 5 am to watch as we sailed under San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge, reputedly the world’s most spectacular bridge. Its cables with their 80,000 miles of steel wire, enough to encircle the equator three times are certainly a talking point alone.

Our Big Bus adventure reveals beautiful hilly San Francisco to be an absolutely fantastic city. Virtually destroyed by earthquake and fire back in 1906, birthplace of flower power and hippies in the sixties and with that vital workplace of genius nerds, Silicon Valley only an hour away, San Francisco well and truly caught me in her grip.

Using the Big Bus we visit Macys and Bloomingdales, we purchase oversize cookies and coffee from Boudins, we shop at a chemist where all the stock is locked behind Perspex and we find an original set from the sitcom Friends. If that wasn’t enough, we soberly note how many homeless people there are, we pass the house of Jimmi Hendrix on our way to traversing the Golden Gate Bridge and we discover that facemasks are sold out here (Coronavirus).

At the end of the day we end up back at Fisherman’s wharf, where on Kdock, posturing fat sea lions amuse us and a Hard Rock café offers free wi-fi.

Did I mention that we get two days here? Early morning day two finds us slurping memorable Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista café – the best Irish Coffees I have had outside of Ireland and exploring Pier 39 in the fog and rain. San Francisco, note-worthy for its fog has not let us down.

Floating on the effects of our potent coffees, mid-morning finds us boarding a ferry, destination Alcatraz Island – home to that notorious federal prison of the same name. Being San Francisco’s main tourist attraction, tickets are not easy to secure so we are fortunate to get to visit and experience what turns out to be one of the best self-guided excursions we have taken. The audio tour narrated by former guards and inmates is professional, informative and extremely captivating.

Eight miles from San Francisco and over the Golden Gate again, we visit Sausalito, a little community chock full of galleries and cafes and where some of the best views of San Francisco can be found. It’s enjoyable but a little too sterile for us; however, watching the fog roll in over the hills and bridge on our return journey makes the visit worthwhile.

There are over 40 hills in San Francisco and the higher up you live the richer you are. There’s a billionaire’s row full of Silicon Valley employees and famous authors such as Danielle Steel and it’s a fact that there are more dogs registered in San Francisco than kids. Three of the hills here are accessible by San Francisco’s famous cables car and whilst we didn’t get to experience them ourselves, had fun watching their progress.

All too soon it’s time to depart this beautiful, generous albeit foggy city. It’s been one of our best ports of call ever and is a place I would love to return too. Next stop will be Honolulu but first, we have four days sailing ahead of us.

Fun Facts – We found many of the shopkeepers here had very limited English – surprising in an English-speaking country.
Whilst aware that probably every second person I passed was carrying a gun, not once did I feel insecure – interesting.