San Fran and the Bay

Had a busy time in San Francisco this last couple of days. Got a 7 day pass for the MUNI public transport here (great - its only $24 and can use the cablecars, streetcars and buses) so have been on the cable cars a few times. They're just like the photos - ride up steep hills no problem! Its a really nice place but there seems to be lots of homeless people around, much more than I've seen in the other US cities.

Golden Gate Bridge!

Been to Alcatraz Island (Prison) and down to Fishermans Wharf and saw the Sea Lions at Pier 39. Walked across the Golden Gate bridge, then the next day I hired a bike and cycled across it to Marin County to some of the small towns over there and got the ferry back - got sunburnt! Its quite foggy here most days for a few hours so you don't feel that warm but the sun still seems to get through. Been up to Cois Tower on Telegraph Hill and got the cablecar up Nob Hill today for some good views.

Today I went along to the cablecar museum, it was really good - this is apparently the only city in the world with cablecars. The cable runs continually under the streets with the cars and when a car needs to get pulled along the driver has to pull a lever so the car "Grips" onto the cable and then it gets pulled along until he undoes the grip.

Been to a Park called the Presidio which was very posh - it is where George Lucas has his studios for the Star Wars stuff so saw that - and a Statue of Yoda! Planning to go out into Silicon Valley tomorrow see Google and Apple HQ's (Mountain View and Cupertino) and the Computer History Museum. No other plans yet, looking into a day trip to Yosemite National Park and I've seen a tour of the Wharf area on a Segway which looks good fun! Got my photos up on flickr (Got a bit carried away with taking photos of the Golden Gate Bridge!)

Cablecar on Calfifornia St