I just got back to Seattle after a lovely 4-day visit to San Francisco! SF is almost 50(!) square miles, but I got to see a lot of it. The flight to and from Seattle/San Francisco is gorgeous over the mountains - and I got to see these cool salt ponds! (See picture). The colors come from a high concentration of algae, which forms in these highly salinated artificial ponds. How cool?!
I stayed in the Castro for a few days, and enjoyed the lively, hip, up-beat environment. It's easy (and familiar) to walk everywhere, and we had delicious coffee, pizza, and dinner. The Castro Theater is a great, old movie theater - like old, European theaters. The weather was foggy and chilly - as Mark Twain once famously remarked, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." The sun did come out later in the week, though. We shopped in downtown SF and visited Union Square. Day 2 we visited the city hall, San Francisco Opera, and San Francisco Symphony Hall (Davies Hall). It's my goal to see the country by all of its major symphony halls. Michael Tilson Thomas is at Tanglewood this summer, so there weren't any concerts to speak of while I was there. We had lunch at Fisherman's wharf and visited the lovely Ghirardelli square. We then took a boat ride to Alcatraz and toured around there for about an hour -a wonderfully kept historic landmark! We drove crooked street, visited the "Full House" home, toured Haight-Ashbury, saw the Golden Gate bridge, and shopped on Union Street.
I found San Francisco a lot different than Seattle, and also a lot different from the other Californian cities I've visited. A most unique city, for sure. Thanks to my tour guides for a great week!
I'm back in Seattle and will be boarding the Celebrity Infinity early tomorrow morning. See you in Alaska!
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