San Francisco – Day 2

Our second day, which was our first full day in San Francisco we thought we would do any tourist-y things that would be crowded on the weekend. But before we could go have fun, we needed some groceries; namely COFFEE and also breakfast things. (Because I always kind of feel like paying to eat breakfast out is a waste of money, you know?)

Real estate is so precious in this city that nothing is freestanding – it is strange to enter a building that looks like an office building but inside there was a Safeway!

After we got squared away on groceries it was time to head out for the day’s activities.

There is nothing significant about this building – I just liked it.

First stop – Fort Point.  This military fort served to guard the bay from enemy attack.  My understanding is that nothing ever really happened there per se but it is a neat place to tour and an ideal location to see the San Francisco bridge because the bridge arches right up over Fort Point. Inside the former mess halls they now have an exhibit about the building of the bridge. It is all very interesting. It was so freezing cold up on the top though!

  

Next we drove across the bridge into Sausalito, then on up into the windy hills to Muir Woods. We have been before but I just love it so much we had to go again.  Notice how sunny it was once we crossed the bay away from the city. The weather got progressively nicer during our stay.

  

Walking among the ancient redwoods, it is so quiet and so peaceful. One thing I learned is that the very first United Nations summit was held in Muir Woods. 

 

The road coming down from Muir woods is so twisty and just one lane in either direction; there is a wall of rock on one side and a drop off on the other – in some places the drop off is only a few feet from the road with no guardrails or anything.  I especially noticed it on the way back as we were on the drop off side of the road and I was in the passenger seat. Here are views from the road as we were going back down.

 

That evening we went to our favorite restaurant in San Francisco, a little Italian place called La Trattoria Contadina.  We discovered it on our honeymoon so many years ago and were glad it was still there and  still fabulous.