I’m pretty sure Chicago owns the title of “The Windy City” so flip – it must be windy there if it beats San Francisco!!!! We knew our arrival was coinciding with rain storms so our first day we checked into a hotel in San Bruno (near the airport) and waited for the horizontal, torrential rain to cease. We caught the BART underground to town and visited the cable car museum to understand how the cable car system works with the cables running underground. A great free museum!
Next a walk up the “crookedest street”, Lombard Street (luckily they run straight footpaths up the side so you can straight line it and miss the zigzags).
Then another heavy rain shower enforced an ice cream and chocolate brownie break here – yummy!
And then some cable car spotting and riding!
Pete chose to hang off the front while I huddled for warmth inside.The following day the weather forecast was dry and windy so we took our bikes on the tube and cycled towards Coit Tower. To get to the tower we had to climb a few sets of stair cases through lovely gardens right in the middle of the city. Like a tropical oasis. At the tower we found a queue and a very slow lift so time was ticking for our Alcatraz tour time slot. We dashed about the top of the tower peering out of windy windows and taking photos.
Five minutes later we were in the queue to go back down. It was like an Asian bus tour visit! We ran down the thousands of steps and cycled like the fury to Pier 33 where our trip time slot was being called. Phew – we made the boat with minutes to spare!
We were on our way to Alcatraz Island. The audio tour around the prison was great and the views from the island weren’t bad either.
And then for a bike ride, past the sea lions on Pier 39 and to The Golden Gate Bridge.
We cycled over the bridge to Battery Spencer on the Marin Headlands. The crossing was a bit dicy with a strong crosswind from the sea – it reminded me of cycling along Douglas Promenade on a bad day. But the view was amazing, especially watching the Disney Cruise ship just pass under the bridge and give a little toot of a Disney tune on its way!
We also drove over the bridge as we left town the following day so Fred could be in a photo too.
