Different worlds - from the Presidio to downtown

 

Sun is out for the first time on Friday morning, no fog! Staying at the Presidio for the last day, we decided to take the beautiful ocean trail and walk over to the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge (1/2 mi/8 k roundtrip) after breakfast.

On one side we had the skyline of SF in the fog (below),,,

,,, on the other the bridge. Pic below was taken while we were passing underneith Hwy. 101 with a pet cemetery underneith (what a location!?)

We would have been faster by bike, but didn't like the sturdy rental bikes.

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge which crosses the Golden Gate (bay) into Marin County on the other end.

Golden Gate Bridge Visitor Plaza with a visitor center, a café, parking and a statue of the famous bridge creator, Joseph Baermann Strauss . He was the engineer who planned the Golden Gate which opened in 1937.

 

On the way back through Crissy Field marshland, passing by Coast Guard installations:

Bye-bye Presidio, it was such a quiet, relaxing place for the beginning of our visit!

Next, a short 15 min-drive into another world: to downtown San Francisco. We moved to another hotel nearby Union Square and Nob Hill, the Julian Hotel. Below: Nob HIll and Grace Cathedral:

 

Your typical SF parking situation - parallel on steep slopes:

The Cable Car Museum - terrific to watch how the unique cable car system works! Andrew Smith Hallidie realized the idea for San Francisco's cable cars in 1869 after witnessing horses struggling with a streetcar on a steep hill. First street car went into operation in the early 1870s.

On to Chinatown, mural below was on the cover of our very first guidebook in the 1990s!

More recent mural:

Grant Street - Chinatown

Labubus and Gashapon machines - the latest hits!

Union Square, the "Heart" of SF:

Streetcar traffic

Day ended nicely with drinks and bites in the Julian Hotel's bar!

Green & Blue - Nature & Ocean

Thursday morning started out with a great breakfast at the Inn, then we checked out the new Presidio Visitor Center, adjacent to the bus terminal. By public transport (a day pass goes for $ 5,70!!!), we took a bus to Lands End, with the once famous Suthro Baths (above), a popular water entertainment park created  in 1894 by Adolph Sutro, a self-made millionaire. Former Cliff House, once part of it, is shut down and we walked on along Ocean Beach (below) on Great Highway, which is now pedestrian and bikes only and goes under the name "Sunset Dunes Park". Unfortunately, it was cloudy and a bit greyish,,,

Next stop: Golden Gate Park, larger than Central Park in NYC, but not quite as old: It opened in 1870. T the same thing happened with the JFK Promenade as with the Ocean Boulevard: closed for car traffic. In addition, this route is much greener now, with seating and decorated with different artwork like the latest, „Naga“, a huge metal snake (far below). Promenade goes through GGP and passes the Academy of Science, the DeYoung Museum, the Japanese and Botanical Gardens.  

Academy of Science and deYoung Museum above

 

Haight-Ashbury below:

Walked on to Haight-Ashbury, the former hippie, flower-power, crazy neighborhood. Still a bit crazy (see photos above)! Visited the new Counter Culture Museum (below), just open for a couple of months and focusing on the 1960s countercultural revolution. Other "chapters" are   the civil rights, anti-war, modern feminist, psychedelic, environmental, and LGBTQ+ rights movements which all blossomed here in San Francisco during the hippie era.

 

 Fort Mason:

,,, and the view from there towards Alcatraz:

From Haight-Ashbury we took a bus down to Fort Mason, on the waterfront. Not much change there, but fantastic new gardens now open to the public: The Black Point Historic Gardens. The site was developed with gardens and pathways in the 1850s by early San Francisco residents in terraces on a slope. Offering striking views of the bay and city, connecting San Francisco’s Aquatic Park (pic below) to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) at Fort Mason. Below, some views from Black Point overview,,,

,,, and, the gardens themselves:

 Further up: another fantastic garden: The Fort Mason Community Garden - no wonder, the waiting list at the blackboard was sooo long! Views alone are worth the wait for a little flower/veggie bed.

What fascinated us most today: the self-driving, fully autonomous Waymo cars (below). Mostly electric Jaguars, with no driver in the car! They operate as Uber or Lyft, picking up passengers. We walked,,, and walked,,, about 10 mi/ 16 km at the end of the day.

 

"The City by the Bay" - San Francisco here we come!

 

11 hours flight on a packed B777-200, but we made it! Visiting San Francisco for the 16th time, the U.S.A. for the 84th! Had two guidebooks on the market on SF at one point, one is left, which we are updating on this trip.

All went smooth with our flight from MUC to San Francisco, even the trains to the airport were (almost) on time! When we arrived to SF at 2:15 pm, we darted through immigration and luggage was already waiting for us to be picked up! 20 min in total! 

Took an Uber into town (photo below), or, rather to the Presidio, former military grounds and nowadays a National Recreation Area (part of the National Park Service), NW of downtown SF, and a world on its own!

We are staying at the beautiful "Inn at the Presidio" for the first two nights, surrounded by nature, eucalyptus forests, trails, historic buildings (our hotel is located in a former military building) and great views! Just so relaxing after a long flight, and, very quiet and comfy, too, in our suite, including an evening cheese & wine reception (and breakfast in the morning).

View from our porch:

We still went for a walk through the rather new Tunnel Tops Park closeby the hotel. It's a beautifully designed and planted park with trails leading to the nearby Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay, with a visitor center, playgrounds, picnic areas, trails and overviews with seating areas.

See the huge cruise ship under the Golden Gate Bridge? It's the Ruby Princess headed towards Alaska. The bridge was already a bit in the fog and it was partly cloudy in the evening, but around 70 deg F (20 C) – much warmer than what we've had it at departure! 

After our walk we enjoyed a glass of wine on the hotel's patio area, took a hot bath later, and, fell asleep (too) soon.