A short trip on the bus brought us into the Golden Gate Park. The bus driver had told us to go up the Art Museum tower to get some fantastic views of the bay (and it is free he told us at least 3 times). He was not wrong! The views were stunning.
From the tower we walked through the park, seeing a very good statue of Robert Burns. Leaving the park we walked along colourful Haight Street which is the centre of the Hippy Community. Lots of down and outs many looking very stoned! The shops were a very eclectic mix.
We were both more comfortable when we finally left this area.
Walking North towards Alamo Square we were directed by a policeman onto the other side of the road. There was some filming going on, but they did not need us as extras. One of the crew let Linda look at what had been filmed. There were three of the San Francisco Giants in the back of a car! Not too sure what that was all about.
We both enjoyed a sit down in the Square, which is actually a park, and then Ian took some photos of an American Robin. Linda saw a hummingbird but it was too quick for her to take a photo.
Leaving the Square we took a lot of photos of the Painted Ladies. These are a few of the beautiful Victorian and Queen Anne Houses that we had enjoyed seeing yesterday.
Down a very steep hill to Fillmore street which we followed into an area called Japan Town; actually it now a predominantly Black area and we were conscious of being in a small minority of white faces. We found the Fillmore Hall where many famous bands, including The Who, Cream and other great names of the 60s had performed.
We then walked in the sunshine, noting that the blossom was already much in evidence at the beginning of February, towards the city civic centre admiring the grand buildings and sculptures. We took some photos at the memorial for the '49 gold rush and spotted an open air market where we could have purchased sugar cane but instead bought some apples from a stall manned by a very hippy-looking character - much appreciated nourishment after our walk. A short distance later was a hop-on point for the tour bus and as we walked across the road, Ian spotted one coming so hailed him down mid-traffic (a good move as the next one would have been 40 minutes later). We took the tour (same driver as in the morning - very humourous commentary) for a while into Union Square where all the designer shops are located. We alighted again and resisted Victoria's Secret (in a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building), opting for Border's Bookshop (they have'nt gone bust!) where we had a sit down for a welcome coffee. Refreshed, we walked through Chinatown to the next hop-on stop at The Hilton. We guess we had just missed a bus as we had to wait some time. Although it was now 5.00pm the sun was below the buildings and the temperature was starting to drop. The bus finally appeared with our second driver of the day (pleasant African-American who again repeated everything 3 times - Welcome everybody, welcome everybody, welcome everybody!.....at least we could not complain we did not hear what he said) who took us back to our start point.
We walked wearily back to the hotel where we downloaded memory cards before going out to a local seafood restaurant for a very enjoyable seafood platter. It will now take all night to recharge camera batteries with a dodgy adapter!
We both
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