San Francisco Walking Tour; Day 6

Today we'd agreed to meet the girls at 10am and walk this fine city. 

It was another absolutely magnificent day in San Fran - blue, clear and hot.   

Our first stop was Lombard Street, the famously crooked, steep, one way street. It's a huge tourist attraction, with many tourists standing in the middle of the road. I wonder what it feels like to be a resident there - to continuously have people lining the street! It's a beautifully manicured street, with lovely gardens lining the road. 

Down dale and up hill again to Coit Tower which offered expansive views of the harbour. There was a long line to scale the tower, so we made do with ground floor views. 

We found a staircase that took us down to the Embarcadero (waterfront area) where there was a bike race going on. 

The architecture here in Frisco is incredible. Mostly quite old and ornate, and sturdy. There are no overt signs of earthquake damage in even the oldest buildings. The houses are large, and built on extremely challenging slopes. Cars are parked at 90 degrees to the hillside, on such an angle that we were all amazed they didn't just roll off. 

We arrived at a diner just as the lunch service started, so we were lucky enough to be seated outside to soak up the excellent views of the harbour while we ate. We tried fish tacos, chowder and crab and shrimp sandwiches. All excellent. 

After lunch we strolled down past all the piers, which house interactive museums, ferry terminals, and the Marketplace, which looked like a great place to buy cheeses, herbs and other groceries. 

I then went to look at the shops and cool down, and Dom and the girls walked around to AT&T park, and then to the 21st Amendment microbrewery up 2nd Street, for some refreshing ales. We all walked back to our lodgings - me through the length of Chinatown. 

We met again for dinner and drinks, first back at Bartlett Hall which was full to capacity with football fans, and then to Hard Water, a whiskey bar at the waterfront we'd walked past earlier. Both were great choices. We sat at a table on the sidewalk at Hard Water and watched the world go by, drinking fine Californian Zinfandels and tasty American whiskeys, eating cheese sticks and boudin balls.