Epic Trip 5 - 🌆 San Francisco - show us your sunny side ☀️ A Travel Diary

Hi fellow Steemies!

Finally. The continuation of our big trip through the westcoat of the U.S.:

City view from the Coit Tower

This was our first full day in San Francisco, we stayed for 3 nights to explore this wonderful city.

That morning we were taking the bus into the city. It is my first time riding on a public bus in the U.S. besides a school bus when I was living in the U.S.
To be honest, I have not heard many good things about public transportation. What I’ve heard and kind of experienced myself years ago was that buses can be uncomfortable and even scary at times. I do see why that could be the case, it wasn’t the case for us this time though.

Metro by the piers

The bus was pretty old in comparison to what I know from Germany but the people on it were nice and we got to the city very quickly. For us it was a much better option than taking our car since we would have had to find parking – and that is no fun in a city like San Francisco.

Good Morning from the piers in San Francisco

Our first stops are the piers. Pier 39 in particular. It is the pier with a bunch of seals on floats right by the pier and you get a wonderful look at them. They are piling up on top of each other and some are fighting for a good spot... Geez, can’t they all just get along!? 😉

Seals at Pier 39

Cuddling seals 😋

After having a quick look around the pier and its shops we went right to one of my all time favorite places just a little further of pier 39 – it is a museam but not just any museum.

Shops on Pier 39

There is even a merry-go-round on Pier 39

This place is called 'Musée Mécanique’.
It basically is an arcade museum where you can look at the original first arcade games from the 1800s. But that is not all – you can actually use them, too! So get your dimes and quarters ready. They don’t take credit cards 😉
The entrance is free and they have a moneychanger so you will be able to use a few of the machines if you want to.
It was good fun!

The Entrance to Musée Mécanique

Puppets in Musée Mécanique

We wandered around the city on the hunt for a place to have lunch and a coffee. We got lucky in Little Italy. The warm bagel with different toppings and the coffee were really good. That restaurant did not take credit cards either though – that was a first for us in the U.S. But as Germans of course we did have cash on our hands 😜 (if someone doesn’t get the hint: Germans are known to like their cash rather than any kind of cards)

Quick stop for ☕️ in Little Italy

We then made our way to the Coit Tower. We actually walked the whole time because we like to experience the city and wander through the streets. You can definitely call an uber, cab or take the bus to get around San Francisco if you prefer.

Streets of San Francisco

Walking in San Francisco

Those cute houses in San Francisco

By the way... did I mention that it smells like weed everywhere? I never smelled as much marijuana anywhere in my life other than on the California coast between L.A. and San Francisco. As far as I know it wasn’t legal at the time.

The Coit Tower is a must in my opinion. You get a beautiful view of the city from up there.

Me enjoying the view from the Coit Tower

Alcatraz from the Coit Tower

And then of course there is this windy, very popular street called 'Lombard Street’. Yes it is windy, yes it is pretty with all the flowers and yes a windy road especially in the U.S. is unusual. But I am not quite sure why people love to drive down Lombard Street. There is so much traffic that the city has to hire security to actually manage the traffic around that area. I feel like it’s a bit much. To each their own I guess. 😊

Us in front of Lombard Street

View from Lombard Street

The Union square wasn’t that far so we went there again by foot, rested a little and watched the buzzing city.
They had a little jazz concert going on and people were dancing. I really enjoyed the experience of other people joining randomly 😃👯

Chillin' at Union Square

Back in Potrero Hills we had dinner at a Thai restaurant called 'Sunflower’. A very small place and very delicious food.

Entranc stamp for the Coit Tower - I heart San Fran

As you can imagine we had a very full and exciting day. We were happy to fall into our most comfortable bed ever 😊

Good Night. 😴

XOXO
TabeaLouise

Catch up on my previous posts of our 'Epic Trip':

Day 1 - ✈️ Preparations + Getting there
Day 2 - Santa Barbara 🌴 + Morro Bay
Day 3 - Highway 101 + Big Sur 🌊
Day 4 - Graveyards 👻 + San Francisco