San Francisco, Saulsolito and Muir Woods

Today we were up early to head down to Fisherman’s Wharf to meet up with Dylan’s Tours. We began with a drive through the various and individual suburbs of San Francisco. We drove through North Beach, little Italy and then China Town, which is small in size but densely populated. We then went past the Fairmont Hotel, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Lombard Street, The Tenderloin district, Civic Centre, Hayes Valley, Lower and Upper Haight, the Marina, The Castro and Pacific Heights, which is known as billionaires row. We saw the beautiful City Hall, Opera and Ballet precincts. We were able to stop in the Mission District, and walk down a laneway that was covered in magnificent street art. We stopped in lower Haight for a snack, and I went and looked at a couple of interesting stores - one a music store, and one a clothes and accessories store.

We were then treated to several views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a drive through the Presidio, and a drive up to Twin Peaks, where we had great views of the city, surrounding suburbs and the Bay. We then got to see some of the “painted ladies”, Alamo Square and some great examples of the variety of housing styles in California.

After this, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to Saulsolito for lunch, and then headed up towards Muir Woods where we had the opportunity to stroll through the forest of beautiful giant redwoods. After leaving Muir Woods, Charles took us up to Marin Headlands to view the Golden Gate Bridge and the city from another perspective. Great views, but it was very very windy.

This evening we had dinner with the Green’s at Mel’s Diner, not far from our hotel, and then we walked through the Yerba Buena Gardens to look at the Martin Luther Memorial.Read more