San Francisco

Here is a selection of our San Francisco photos, heavily biased toward the Golden Gate Bridge. It does catch your attention from all angles. But firstly a rainbow seen from the air as we came in.


The bridge from the air as we came in.



From the water.


And from the ground.



The Bay Bridge is nearly as impressive as the Golden gate Bridge. Not so keen on the giant spider sculpture though.


We (and a lot of other people) were fascinated by the cable cars. It was surprising to see that to turn them used muscle power only with no mechanical help.


Loading was stacks on the mill with four spaces allotted to hanging on the outside. This couple werent so sure they were going to last the trip.



It is worth reading Wiki on the Cable Cars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system

The Gripman/Brakeman needed considerable strength to heave the levers. One of our conductors was a virtuoso on the bell and could churn out an impressive tune.

There was a further tram system (keeping in mind SF main industry is tourism) which ran on the flat. It used superannuated trams from systems elsewhere in the world. This was from Birmingham. Others were from Italy and other European countries. A nice touch.


Finally, the food. I lost 2 kilos on the trip. Apart from a classic western style Chinese meal in Charleston and a superb seafood meal in Indianapolis, I found eating out a good way to lose weight. I confess the Outback Steakhouse experience was fun though. Breakfast down the road from the SF hotel (no meals supplied) was a three egg omelette with some potatoe strips. Having used up your egg allowance for the week, its tea and Special K for the rest of the week.