Pictures From California

Here're some of the pictures from San Francisco, California.

We went to send papa off to Minneapolis and then a week later, my dad went to send me off to San Francisco. It was 7+ in the morning and the children were still asleep. So we had to sneak out quickly and quietly but Phoebe woke up looking for her missing one sock. She has the habit of wearing socks when she sleeps at night. My mum attended to her immediately to distract her while we sneaked out quietly.


This was our hotel room, small but cosy and nicely decorated. Warwick San Francisco Hotel, we paid about S$1100 for 6 nights stay. The next picture was taken in Union Square, which was just five minutes walk from our hotel. Union Square is the hub of shopping, very much like our Orchard Road.


My cousin, Lisa. Her family lives in San Francisco for almost all their lives. They were previously from Hong Kong. Sight : Golden Gate Bridge

Palace of Fine Arts, apparently, many couples like to take their wedding photos here. The next picture, Lombard Street aka Crookedest Street. There are people living in both sides of the Crookedest Street and they are the ones maintaining the flora and fauna on their street. See the cars coming down the street in a zig-zag manner?

Chinatown. We ate Tim-Sum there. This is a view of the North Beach. The blocks of houses are very neatly arranged. In the background is the Coit Tower, the tip of the tower represents the nozzle of a firehose.


We also took a ferry to the ever famous Alcatraz, a federal state prison for notorious criminals. I thought the prisoners were treated well, no torture, no starvation. They had proper meals with good nutritional value and welfare. Maybe the only unbearable thing was loneliness and strict routine. But of course, if they misbehaved, such as, instigating fights or quarrels, then they'll be locked up in a small dark solitary cell, in their bathing suit, for up to 2 weeks. The next picture was Fisherman's Wharf.


In the Alcatraz, we put on the headsets for the guided tour. After Alcatraz, we visited Fisherman's Wharf to enjoy our lunch, Fish and Chips and Seafood Platter.


Fisherman's Wharf is just next to Pier 39. We stopped by Hard Rock on the way to buy some T-shirts :)

Each shop in Pier 39 has a theme and they're very attractively decorated.

We went to a souvenir shop with the Alcatraz theme. They have Alcatraz prisoners' "clothes" for adults and kids. A real novelty but we didn't buy any of these. Haha. And from the window of that shop was a beautiful view with yachts and sailing boats.


At Pier 39, we see Sealions, basking in the California sun and swimming freely at the pier, lazily "parking" themselves at the berth to sunbath. The next picture was taken in Castro, a place where the gays and lesbians like to congregate. We took a tram to Castro and the sky was getting dark, so we only walk around the station to look at the rainbow flags. I didn't dare to venture any further than that.


On the last day, my cousin's husband, David came to fetch us to the airport. It was very kind of him. While on the way to the airport, we droved passed by the Civic Centre. I quickly snapped a picture of the building when the traffic lights were red. In the next picture, papa was surfing the net during transit in Seoul, Korea. We were only about 6-7 hours away from home.

This is a must-ride when go to San Francisco. We took a Cable Car from Pier 39 back to Union Square. Each ride is US$5 per person. It was a fun ride, even more fun if you stand at the side and hang by the poles :) The Cable Car station is in front of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory. We sampled some yummy free "Pumpkin Spice" chocolates, which was their latest flavour, in line with Halloween.