| from official site - Lombard Street |
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| San Francisco |
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| After that we headed back towards our hotel, so that we could see the crookedest street in the US - Lombard Street. Basically, the road has tight "S" bend curves in it all the way down to the bottom of the hill! Obviously a big tourist drawer, because there were heaps of people darting here and there with their cameras snapping the scenery. It was a great view of Alcatraz - the old prison on the rock, which has featured in quite a few movies. Full of culture with the little trolley cars rolling past all the time. I really shouldn't have been the one reading the map because I was a bit sleepy! I got the map around the wrong way at that point! We were trying to head for Fisherman's Wharf - we got there...eventually! I was prayin I can tell you! We did the scenic route!!! Anyhoo, down at Fisherman's Wharf, we caught a trolley up to Chinatown. That was a cool experience - in every sense of the word! Me and one of my friends were hanging off the side like true tourists checking out what we could see! |
| San Fran was interesting! What a crazy place to live! Steep hills, lots of right-hand-turn-only's and one-way roads make it a fun place for someone who has never really driven around it much! After checking into our hotel, we headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Can we say, "Cold"? Geez! Anyhoo, we got some great photos, and it was great to be walking on that huge bridge that I heard so much about! After we had walked about a quarter of it, we decided to hit the next place on our list - the Palace of Fine Arts modelled after a Roman forum. After making a couple of strategic right-hand turns, we were able to drive past it only to find that parking was going to be a miracle! All the houses are close together, which makes the driveways close together. It was also obviously a popular place to drive. After a while, we spotted a place for my friend's big 4WD. This place is huge, and it is really great for photos. |
| Chinatown was eerily similar to Macau in places! We walked past places that reminded me of the little places that sell dried fruit and animals that I had walked past everyday while I was serving God in Macau! They even had places with cooked ducks hanging up in the window just like in Macau and Hong Kong! Twas surreal! We walked into a little tea place where I bought 8 blessing tea and chatted in Chinese with the shop owners - it was fun! I asked one lady how long she had been in America, and she said that she had been there 10 years. I asked her if Americans were cool, she said that they were!!! After some more looking around and little Chinese trinkets, we caught the trolley back and headed to Hard Rock Cafe for din dins and then to our hotel for nye nyes! |
| The next day was all rainy - there was supposed to be a St Patty's Day parade, but it was pretty miserable. We checked out of our hotel and then headed out to try and find the church that I had found on the net. Having found it incredibly early, we decided to check out some other stuff. We drove up to Union Square, only to discover that they were redoing it! So, we continued. We found our way up to Coit Tower, and then headed back to the little inner-city church. The church was cool - it was small, but we liked it. They one young guy on the electric guitar and on the piano leading worship with a small choir behind him. The church brought out some cakes and sang "Happy Birthday!" to their pastor. Then, he got up and shared a message about finding your life purpose, which was really quite good. |
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| Afterwards, we headed for one of the oldest buildings in San Fran - Mission Dolores. A little catholic church with a cemetery on one side and a huge basilica on the other! Again, you'll have to wait for my photos! It was a cute little chapel, but very religious. The cemetery was interesting as it had graves of some of the settlers as well as memorials to the American Indians. There were 5000 Indians buried there at one time, but I believe that they must have moved them. After that, we headed out again to try and find the last place that we wanted to look at - the Winchester Mystery House. After a bit of a detour and a stop to ask directions, we eventually found it! Can we say, "Wierd"? It was a nice house, but the history behind it was just a bit too icky for me! To read more about that, please click here. |
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| The traditional houses of San Fran |
| Golden Gate Bridge - click on picture for more |
| Trolley on Hyde Street looking out to the famous prison at Alcatraz |
| above: from official site - Not quite the real thing, but close enough! China Town below: typical China Town back streets with fire escapes |
| garden cemetery of Mission Dolores |
| Mission Dolores click on picture is more |
| The wierd Winchester House |
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| Palace of Fine Arts - click on picture to see more. |
| Daniel, Sarah, and me on the cable car. |
| Coit Tower - taken by Sarah |
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| Cable car ticket |