Monday, 9 May 2011

Second Day in San Francisco

San Francisco - 8th May

We were again up early to catch the sun rising over Bay Bridge, before embarking on our excursion for the day entitled Redwoods and Artisans. Our coach took us again over the Golden Gate Bridge out of the city to an area in Marin County entitled Muir Woods. Here we spent an hour and a half walking through a valley surrounded by enormous giant Redwood trees, some 250 feet tall. A very spectacular sight with Geoffrey admiring the grandeur of the trees and Doreen spotting the small wild flowers, such as Triliums, Smilacena and others. All too soon we had to leave and drive down to Sausalito, a charming Mediterranean style village popular with artists.

We spent a further hour and a half walking around town – Geoffrey looking at the scenery and Doreen checking out the shops.

On our return to the port we decided not to immediately board the ship, but walk along to an area known as Pier 39. This area is popular with the tourist and has a thriving community of sea lions. Here we found a nice restaurant overlooking the Bay and Alcatraz, where we had a lovely lunch – including Clam Chowder and Sea Food Bisque, before returning to the ship.

We have been lucky with the weather in San Francisco, where it has been dry and sunny, but with a biting cold wind, so on our return to the ship we went up to the Crows Nest for hot drinks and warmth, where we waved goodbye to San Francisco as the ship sailed for Seattle and a much needed day at sea.

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