The plan for an action packed day required to get up a bit earlier then usually.
Peaking out of the window it looked already very promising and when I reached
the downtown SF Embarcadero Station the sun was out on a blue sky. A lite breeze
and temperatures around 68-70 F made the day very pleasurable.
First item on the agenda was a boat trip on the San Francisco Bay. In bright sunshine
the ship “steamed” towards the Golden Gate Bridge which appeared in its full glory in
front of us and not like the previous very drizzly day partly hidden behind fog clouds. Opened for
the traffic in 1937, the bridge was until 1964, the longest suspension bridge main span in the
world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m). Surely one of the most photographed bridges on the world.
Steaming back alongside Alcatraz the ship also made a brief stop at the SF Cruise Terminal
where two cruise ships anchored. Having sailed on the QM 2 and comparing her with these
two ships I definitely prefer a true ocean liner like the QM 2. Much more majestic !
Walking along the piers I stopped at the Boudin Sourdough Bakery I enjoyed a steamy Clam
Chowder for lunch. Delicious , served in a sourdough bread.
Unfortunately the whole length of the SF piers including Fishermans Wharf have mutated in a
gigantic tourist trap and lost the little old charm which I remember from first visit same 8-9 years
back. Still, like the Boudin Bakery, there is at least another institution one has to visit. At least I
have to: the old Ghirardelli factory. They used to produce chocolate and ice-cream at this place
which houses now one of their shops and various other businesses. The company dates back to around
1840 and belongs since 1998 to the Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli. Ghirardelli is the only US
chocolate maker who controls the whole process from roasting of the beans to the end product.
And that is what one can really tast !! Hershey’s is …….. ( excuse my language ).
After the Clam Chowder a nice ice-cream was a must, sitting on the stairs in front of the building and indulging
the ice-cream and the view.
With now new gained strength a used the cable station close by and was pulled over the hill the Mason/Market
Street, did a bit of window shopping to catch later, somewhat exhausts, a BART train to Hayward.
Lets see what there is in store for tomorrow.
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