Monday 12th May
We then walked on to the Wharf area to pick up a boat for a short cruise around the bay. The weather was still wonderful, sunny and warm but not too humid. Even out on the water it wasn't necessary to have a coat on. We sailed out under the Golden Gate Bridge, where the sea picked up a little, but it was never an issue.
We turned and headed back over past Angel Island and around the back of Alcatraz.
Finally we got back to port, cruising past one of the biggest cruise ships we've ever seen which was moored on a nearby pier.
This was the Star Princess which according to t'net is quite an old super liner, launched in 2002 and has 17 decks, with spaces for 2600 people.
Once back on dry land, we swapped over to a hop-on-hop-off bus to take us around the city. As it was such a nice day we just wanted to be out and about in it.
First bus was quite busy, so we got off at Union Square.
Yes, those are outdoor plugs for your iPhones (which all the Americans seem to have here) when they run down and you're sitting out on the grass in the main square. Pretty much every tree had a plug near it. :)
Back on the bus we headed out to the Civic Centre.
Then up through the 'beatnic' area, popular with the hippies in the 60's. The vibe is still here it seems.
Then out to the Golden Gate Bridge again.
And finally back through the ex-military area (there used to be a big Army camp in San Francisco) called the Presidio. It's all rented apartments now.
We then swung back into the Wharf area, past the loooong line of people wanting tram rides (and this is on a 'quiet' Monday)
Back at Pier 39, we decided it was ice-cream weather and decided to head over to the main Ghirardelli building to sample their wares. We ended up with a Sea Salt Caramel Sundae each - very enjoyable!
Then is was back to the hotel for a couple of hours before we went out for dinner at the Hard Rock, back on Pier 39. The place was pretty much walk-in, compared to the scrums of the weekend. Even the Rainforest seemed half empty as we walked past.
By the time we left, the sun was almost set, so I set up my mobile to capture it's last rays. It's my first holiday time-lapse using my phone and it went OK, considering the phone was just resting against a bench where I was sitting.
Finally, we walked back to the hotel and did some early packing ready for our move tomorrow.