More San Francisco - The Bike Tour

Yes. I gave up on the blog...at least for a while. It was very time consuming so what I'm planning to do is to do is post some great photos of the great city while still fresh in my memory. Well kind of.  It's already been over a month.  Let's see how well I do.

Back to Vesuvio by City Lights Bookstore for some indoor shots.

Photo of Jack Kerouac. The funny thing is that I've never ready any of his books.  I did see a 60's movie called the Subterrraneans about couple's bi-raical relationship during that time. Unfortunately they changed the characters to have caucasians play the part. I would still like to see that movie again.

Bill sitting in a booth. Lots of art everywhere.

BIKE TOUR
The next day was our big bike tour. We were early for our bike tour so we decided to walk though Fisherman's Wharf at pier 39 where the famous seals hung out.

We walked to Bike and Roll to pick up our bikes and our helmets. Pricing was okay but we get to keep the bike for 2 days. Since we had some time before our tour guide showed up. we ended up getting something to eat across the street: pizza by the slice which sounded good for a long ride.

  

  

We began our tour at 2:00 and our luck it started getting cloudy. The area below was near the wharf past the Girardelli chocolate factory and on Marina Blvd. There is the view of the old prison.

The views of SF and Fisherman's Wharf. Oh why oh why did it cloudy???

Our next ride was through a park going to the Palace of the Fine Arts.  I forgot the name of park but it great view of the surrounding area.

The Palace of Fine Arts - beautiful grounds surrounded by new homes made to look art deco style.  During the summer months, they hold concerts and many a wedding photo have been taken. It was quite picturesque and something out of a book.

Off to Golden Gate Bridge. I wasn't looking very forward to it because it had gotten quite cool, chilly and it was slightly misting. But in the end, it was the best ride I ever had.  Below were the photos I took before we started our trek up the hill to the bridge.

This was the big hill to get to the bridge.  As you can see, we had to stop here for a bit to take a breath.

This was one steel girder of hundreds that held the bridge together.

The fog envelops us slowly as we ascend toward the top of the bridge.

Where's the sky?

Lots of people on the bridge.

Guess who?

We finally made it over the bridge and looked over to the hills to see the fog lifting and the sun shining bright.It was such a beautiful view that I forgot all about the fog.

Once we crossed the bridge, we had to get on an actual road to Saucalito. I was worried that traffic would be bad. No problems there and it was a nice long downhill after the torturous climb we had earlier.

WELCOME TO SAUCALITO!!!
One of the most expensive cities in the state with homes ranging from the low $800K - $2 Million. Yes, may I have one of those homes please!!

One my favorite photos was the fog coming over the hills like live smoke. Just incredible.

 

 Once we made it to the main street, it was clear as anything.

It was pretty late in the day the shops, galleries and restaurants were closing up early. We did manage to get some refreshments and sat outside.  I forgot the name of this place but it was quite small.

We decided to take the ferry back since I didn't really want to ride all the way back over the bridge. That would have been another 10 miles and I was pretty tired. Below was the bike line to get to the ferry.

Finally got on the ferry and parked our bikes. There were many bicyclists on the ferry.

View of SF and Alcatraz

Great view of the SF as we were coming near to the pier.

Gosh I look bad here!!

Alas, we arrived to the pier. It was a glorious day and we had a short ride back to the hotel.

At this point, we dropped off our bikes at the hotel, went up to change and decided to have sushi for dinner at the restaurant right next door. It was the best decision we had made. The sushi was outstanding.

To be continued ....