Tag: San Francisco

San Francisco – Day 2

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

It’s another cloudy, windy 55-degree day with a wind chill of 38 degrees. So much for sunny California.

We had a room service breakfast because we needed to meet our HAL tour at 8:30. I ordered a bowl of cereal for me and a bacon and egg breakfast for Chuck. They brought the bowl of cereal and two bacon and egg breakfasts. I guess they thought the bowl of cereal was just an appetizer. I put the cup of milk in the refrigerator and the bowl of dry cereal on a shelf for later. I ate the bacon and egg breakfast.

Our HAL tour today was titled: Muir Woods and Sausalito

ABOUT THE EXCURSION – Cross the spectacular Golden Gate Bridge en route to visit one of the few remaining groves of virgin coastal redwood. These world-famous trees are among the tallest and oldest of their kind.

The nature trail at Muir Woods leads you into the heart of the cathedral-like grove of trees. Take a moment to enjoy the serenity of this majestic setting while learning the fascinating history of the giant redwoods.

The artist colony of Sausalito features winding roads, cliff-side homes, and houseboat havens — it’s one of the quaintest parts of the San Francisco region.

Enjoy some free time here to explore the many art galleries, boutiques and quaint shops. Don’t miss the spectacular San Francisco skyline view across the bay from this picturesque city on the water.

Notes: Wear comfortable walking shoes.

Our bus was comfortable and the guide’s talk interesting as we crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and made our way on a very twisty road to the Muir Woods.

Once the guide gave us our tickets, we were free to walk the trail at our own pace. It was very level but wet and kind of muddy in some places. He advised us how far we could go on the trail to be back in an hour.

We were able to go as far as Bridge #3 and back which was a one-mile loop trail without having to hurry. There were plenty of benches, if needed, to just sit and breathe in the fresh air and listen to the birds.

Banana Slug – Symbiotic relationship with the Redwoods
Dark-eyed Junco posing for his photo

We really enjoyed our stroll through these peaceful woods. Back on the bus – our next stop was the town of Sausalito.

We only had 25 minutes here and some people were disgruntled. It is a pretty seaside town with many pastel buildings, art galleries, restaurants, and shops. We were fine just strolling along the waterfront and park, but others wanted to shop and eat. Since our ship was not departing until 9:00 pm, they decided to stay in Sausalito and either Uber/taxi back or take a ferry. We came back to the ship on the bus.

View of our ship from Sausalito

We ate a late lunch in the Lido and then spent the afternoon sitting in the sunshine around the pool. Still too chilly for me to get into the water.

We were not hungry for dinner, so we decided to go see the early show on the world stage. Tonight’s show featured comedian Jose Sarduy. We thought he was very funny.

We stayed for the last two sets of the Rolling Stone Lounge band and then called it a night.

We came back to the room and found the Canadian Customs Declaration form that would have to be completed and turned in by noon tomorrow. Sigh

I decided that the bowl of cereal I saved from this morning would be a perfect bedtime snack and it was.

Tomorrow – Sea Day

San Francisco – Day 1

Monday, March 31, 2025

My very first visit to San Francisco was in 1972. We were fortunate to have relatives that lived near San Francisco and didn’t mind being our tour guide. I can remember going over the Golden Gate Bridge, taking a cable car ride, driving down Lombard Street, eating lunch in Chinatown, and visiting the Japanese Tea Garden, the Ghiradelli Square, and Fisherman’s Wharf. I also remember how cold it was.

I just didn’t remember that we visited in August of ’72 until I found these photos that my Dad took, and the dates were on them. Maybe, if I had remembered, I would have thought to bring more warm clothes since we are now visiting in March/April. But I didn’t.

Alcatraz as seen from Ghirardelli Square
Walking in China Town (I’m the tall girl in the bottom right)
Japanese Tea Garden
Japanese Tea Garden
Waving to Dad from the Cannery’s outside elevator at Fisherman’s Wharf

So fast forward to 2025. I woke up at 5:00. Didn’t sleep great. The seas were especially rocky last night. I heard a lot of clanging noises coming from the Lido deck above. Not typical.

At 7:00, the Captain opened the bow for the sailing into San Francisco. It was too windy for me, so I went to the Sea View area where the wind wasn’t as intense.

It misted rain for quite a while but by the time we finished breakfast the sun had come out.

We were docked at Pier 35 at Fisherman’s Wharf. We decided to walk down to Pier 39 looking at the shops and making our way to the sea lions – a staple of Fisherman’s Wharf since 1990 when they arrived in droves after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and just made themselves at home.

We stayed quite a while enjoying their antics of circling the docks and trying to jump aboard. I just couldn’t understand why they didn’t spread out. There were plenty of docks.

We then strolled back to the ship and had lunch at the New York Deli.

It was still sunny, so we decided to take advantage of it and go to the Sea View. Chuck even went swimming. I wasn’t brave enough for the water.

Suddenly, we all heard a huge bang. We looked over the side of the ship to the pier and saw that one of the moorings holding the ship in place had broken on the pier snapping the line. The ship had to deploy its thrusters to keep from banging against the dock. Then the whole gangway fell away. It was so lucky that there was nobody on it at the time.

People coming back to the ship couldn’t get back on the ship and people wanting to get off the ship couldn’t leave. Took 2 hours to get the gangway fixed. Had to call in a tugboat to help keep the ship in place. All this was caused by high cross winds. Crazy.

We enjoyed the time at the pool until it turned cool again. We got back to our cabin to find our laundry was returned, and candy had been delivered from the Casino.

We had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. The rotating menu had some Mexican-inspired dishes. But, we chose our main course from the regular menu – lamb chops for me and filet mignon for Chuck. Meals were excellent.

Tonight’s world stage show was Humanity by the HAL singers and dancers. We’ve seen it previously on other ships so decided to skip it. The Casino was closed because we were in San Francisco overnight. We went to the second set of the Rolling Stone band and then called it a night.

Tomorrow – San Francisco

Travel Trivia*

San Francisco’s Chinatown is one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia and the oldest Chinatown in North America.

The Beatles held their final show in California performing at San Franciso’s Candlestick Park (now Oracle Park) in 1966.

The U.S. Navy originally planned to paint the Golden Gate Bridge black with yellow stripes. The Navy thought this would make the bridge easier to see through the fog, especially while under attack. The “International Orange” color, the current hue of the bridge, was intended to be a sealant—not a color option—to protect the steel, but during transit, it caught the architect’s eye and became the official color.

San Francisco’s cable cars are the only moveable National Historical Monument. The cables that pull the cars run at a constant speed of 9.5 miles per hour.

Philo Farnsworth invented the first electric TV in 1927 in San Francisco. 

Chinese fortune cookies were invented in San Francisco by a Japanese resident named Makoto Hagiwara. As the story goes, he was the landscape designer for Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden and served the treats in the tea garden, popularizing the fortune cookie in 1909. 

*provided by the California.com website