San Francisco: Our second "Bay City"

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." -Samuel Clemens

Apparently Mark Twain didn't even say that, but the sentiment is true nevertheless. No one told us that San Francisco can be freezing cold in July! Sacramento was beautiful, but as we drove into San Francisco, the cloud cover increased slightly, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

First view of the city while crossing the Bay bridge from Oakland

The city is beautiful, though, and we had a great time walking around the Marina District (where our hotel was located) and then down to Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf.

The Marina is an area down by the Golden Gate bridge that has some stunningly beautiful homes. Since I have no shame, I asked a woman going into her house how much it cost. She was VERY nice (and glad I asked...I think), and told me that most of the homes go for $3+ million. WHOAH!

The Marina District
Picture taken right in front of our hotel--the aptly-named Marina Inn. The hotel was on the corner of Octavia and  Lombard--Lombard being the famous "crookedest street," which I will show later on.

Marina Beach Front Homes

One of the entrances to CHOCOLATE HEAVEN...if you like that sort of thing.

She likes that sort of thing.

I can see why San Franciscans are said to hate Fisherman's Wharf. Even as a tourist, I was bothered by the shear magnitude of other tourists swarming around the shops and street vendors. It was an experience, though. Where else can you see a 3 year-old drumming street performer next to a group of "spraypaint artists" that were, themselves, spray painted silver from head to toe? (Probably New York.)

The epicentre of tourist land.
(You may notice that I look pale. Have no fear--it was the $1.99 SPF 50 sunscreen I bought from one of the vendors. Hey, I didn't get burned!)

Please click on this photo and magnify it so you can see this little rock star just rockin' the kit.
What a dude! (He was pretty good, too.)

Court haggled like a champ with some Asian woman and got three prints--which were $7 each--for 12 bucks total!
You GO girl!

We did not ride any of the overpriced cable cars, but we did get this gem of a picture on the one parked next to the  road.

 So, we got to see some pretty cool San Francisco sights on our first day in the city, but we had to cut the tour short so we could go out to eat for our one-year anniversary! Woohoo!

Go us!

 Here you go, Neilson. EJ in San Fran.