Day 21 - A bit of up and down, and then up again....

Up bright and breezy, we decided to walk to the 'crooked street' which, according to the map - was only about 6 blocks away. We had unfortunately, forgotten about the famous hills that resided in and around San Francisco - we nearly died walking up the hill to get to the top of the street - and then to rub salt in our wounds - a tram pulled up right at the top of the street! - doh!

This street really is crazy! I am not sure the Buick would make it down here without putting passers by in certain death defying danger.

This was the hill we walked up - ouch!

After going down the crazy crooked street we had to again scale a large hill to get to the 'Coit Tower'. (named after the Lady that paid for it) This is the highest point in San Fran and a great viewpoint of the whole city. Some great views captured below....

Another down trip followed as we made our way down to the coastline and then along the various funky piers that line the San Fran waters edge. We found the famous 'Pier 39' which has a raft of sea lions chilling out in the isolation of a harbour between 2 piers - they were very noisy and smelly!! - but quite funny at the same time.

One thing that took us a bit by surprise is the quality of gardens and plants that are all over San Fran. We caught some plants by surprise before they realised we were there and ran off...

Tearing ourselves away from the botany of San Frans gardens, we made the 5 mile walk to the base of the wondrous Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge itself is probably not the most significant piece of engineering ever constructed but, there is something prestigious and awe inspiring about seeing an icon that has implanted itself in so much of the influential media that we have grown up with. Whether it be TV (Starsky and Hutch, Nash Bridges) or movies (Big Trouble in Little China, X-men, 48 hrs, Basic Instinct, Dirty Harry, Bullitt, Star Trek: The Voyage Home and A View to a Kill) the bridge itself is quite simply one of the most memorable things we have ever seen....

We were going to hang around the bridge for the sunset but there was so much haze and it was getting very cold we strolled back to the motel. Along the way we had time to stop past the Explatorium Palace of Fine Arts - the place was closed but the exterior was very nice - especially as the sun set behind it....

So a pretty busy day! We probably walked close to 10 miles today - which is not a huge amount - but being as we have been sat on our butts either driving or eating for the past 3 weeks it was tough on the feet.

On a side note - I still haven't had a hair cut or a shave since arriving in the US - check out me scaring the sea lions to the furthest away raft below!

There are some benefits to this though - everyone seems to be scared of me, so those annoying people that try to get you on boat trips by hassling you in the street - or want you to sign up to something when your in a shopping area - well they leave us well alone - ha ha!

Its off to Alcatraz tomorrow!