San Francisco, Day 2

Corry @ Pier 39 - San Francisco Awesomeness!

It has been another rather beautiful summer’s day here in San Francisco and we’ve managed to get out and enjoy it thoroughly!

After some uhm-ing and ah-ing about where to go for breakfast, we instead took the time to go to Gay Mecca, also known as the Castro.  Brightly coloured rainbow flags flapped in the wind as wandered aimlessly along the streets, just enjoying being out in the street and seeing what was to see.  

Riding the bus back into town, we then went out to Golden Gate Park.  Set amongst beautiful gardens are a number of attractions, including the California Academy of Sciences, the de Young Gallery and the Japanese Tea Garden.
 

The Academy is pretty amazing.  Starting from the T-Rex in the front entrance, the space features a vast range of exhibitions including a giant globe with a rainforest built in and the Planetarium.  Having never been to a planetarium before, this was particularly spectacular – an audio-visual immersion.

Then off to the de Young Art Gallery – if you are in San Francisco any time shortly, there is an exhibition on Jean-Paul Gaultier which is fantastic – the items walk the line between clothing and art like nothing I’ve ever seen.  Highly recommended.

Then another bus trip back into town and onto the Cable Cars.  While there’s quite a large queue (especially in the middle of summer apparently), it’s worth grin-and-bearing purely for the unadulterated touristy goodness of the experience.  Big smile on my face!

Dinner at Fisherman’s wharf, then back to the Hotel.

SF Tip of the day:  Ensure that you book Alcatraz well in advance – when we got there it was fully booked out for three weeks (D’oh!)

SF Tip of the day 2:  Coffee.  Corry need coffee.

Tomorrow:  Golden Gate Bridge Walk, Cartoon Art Museum, SFMOMA.  Should be a good day!