Tourist for a Day

 "It's an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world"

~ Oscar Wilde

A little while back a friend of mine was visiting California who had never been to San Francisco before. In fact, it was just their third trip to California ever. I thought with a little bit of my knowledge of The City I'd be an alright tour guide.  Show him the things that I thought were the highlights of the city. Driving over the Golden Gate of course is one of my most favorite things time and time again; as I have said before, but to a person who'd never seen it, imagine how much more exciting it was for him!! Once we were in the city, finding a place to start he suggested, being from another tourist city that we go on the San Francisco Duck Tour. "Okay" I thought, "that sounds fun", you get to see the city a little bit from the bay and also driving smack dab in the city, something that I'll be the first to admit give me the worst road rage ever!! So, after we found the ticket sales booth, we hopped on, got our duck bill...and we were off!  There were parts of San Francisco that I'd never seen before, and a few times I had my mouth wide open in amazment at some of the neat places.

Our tour guide was amazing, recounting a lot of the city's history, how it came to be, did you know that you are only in Authentic, real, old school San Francisco if you are on a hill?!  If you are on a flat road...that wasn't there when S.F was founded.  Also, did you know that the city used to be sold in lots off of the water.  The lots sold for $20.00 and then once San Francisco started growing (and fast) if you wanted to sell that lot you could sell it for $200.00 6 months later!  And there is only one building that was purposely saved during the fire of 1906, it is on the waterfront and the reason that it was saved was because it was the Firefighters' favorite Pub.  And one other thing that I thought was interesting, and may or may not be to you, was that in S.F. you can paint your house any color you want.  I'm in love with history, local and across the globe.  But if you put me right in the middle of it, I'm all ears.  If you are ever in the bay you should catch a duck boat, or a bus and have them tell you stories and deal with the silly traffic.  I'm so glad I did. Enjoy some of the pics!!

A little bit foggy.

Oh Hey

Creepy Silver Man

Alcatraz

Washington Park

A Part of China Town. Which by the way was one of the first parts of SF to rebuild after the fire!!

AT&T Park from the water

View from our Duck Boat

 They serve garlic with everything....they even have garlic ice cream. NO THANKS

Yea..that's me driving the boat.  Look out! As my friend said "We're doomed."

Pictures courtesy of Jeff Hall.