Day 2, Pier 39, Grace Cathedral, Chinatown, Cable Cars

Home Plate

Keith and I drove over to Lombard Street to have breakfast at Home Plate. Son Brett discovered Home Plate when he was a law student in San Francisco. Eddie and I ate here many times the last time we were in San Francisco. It is almost directly across the street from Mel’s Dinner.

Home Plate

If you think this place looks like a hole in the wall, you are absolutely correct, but this guy can really cook. You are given freshly baked warm scones, and even if you do not like scones, you will love these. You are also given delicious apple/carrot pancakes, and I was served the sweetest fresh orange juice I ever have had. There is a full breakfast menu and Eddie tried many dishes and loved them all. A note: Eddie and I stayed at motels three times on Lombard Street, which is a good alternative for a place to stay if you can’t get good rates at Fisherman’s Wharf. One block up are the shops and restaurants on Union Street and one block in the other direction are the shops and restaurants of the Marina District. The Marina is a nice walk from Lombard Street and you can also catch a bus nearby to go to Fisherman’s Wharf (much cheaper way to get there as the parking rates at Fisherman’s Wharf are skyhigh).

Home Plate

San Francisco Trolley

Keith drove me back to the Sheraton and then left for a full day of meetings, so I was on my own for the day. I started out at Pier 39. I took this photo of an old San Francisco trolley that runs along the Fisherman’s Wharf.

San Francisco Trolley

Pier 39

Entrance to Pier 39 with the Hard Rock Cafe at its entrance. Eddie and I had eaten here––He bought a Hard Rock Cafe beer glass. He wanted also to buy a Hard Rock Cafe T–shirt to add to his famous T–shirt collection, but I don’t think they had one that he liked.

Pier 39

Pier 39 and Its Marina

View of Pier 39 and its marina.

Pier 39 and Its Marina

Pier 39

Another view of Pier 39. If you like souvenir shops, you will love Pier 39, but it also has some very good seafood restaurants.

Pier 39

Looking back to the city skyline from Pier 39. You can see Coit Tower and the triangular–shaped TransAmerica building.

Pier 39

The carrousel and entrance to Bubba Gump.

Pier 39

Pier 39 Sea Lions

The famous Pier 39 sea lions are really what I came here to see. I followed the arrow to find them (you could really easily find them by just listening to the noise that they were making).

Pier 39 Sea Lions

The rafts on which the sea lions have made their home. There are two movie clips of the sea lions on this site . Go to Movies, United States, San Francisco, “Pier 39 Sea Lions–1 and –2.”

Pier 39 Sea Lions

Another photo of the sea lions.

Pier 39 Sea Lions

Another view of the sea lions.

Pier 39 Sea Lions

Alcatraz Island

Approaching Alcatraz Island. There is a slide show on this site of our boat trip around The Rock. Go to Slide Shows, United States, California, “San Francisco: Alcatraz Island.” Alcatraz Island was a military fort before it became a prison, so many of the buildings you see on the island are the old fort buildings.

Alcatraz Island

Pier 39 Sea Lions

More of the sea lions.

Pier 39 Sea Lions

Pier 39 Sea Lions and Sea Gulls

The sea lions and the sea gulls hang around together on the rafts.

Pier 39 Sea Lions and Sea Gulls

Sea Gull and Alcatraz Island

I took this photo while still on Fisherman’s Wharf but after leaving Pier 39.

Sea Gull and Alcatraz Island

Cable Car Ride

From Fisherman’s Wharf, I walked a couple of blocks to the Powell/Mason cable car turnabout at Tyler and Bay Street. There are movie clips of my cable car ride on this site. Go to Movies, United States, San Francisco, “”San Francisco Cable Car Ride–1, –2, and –3.” Note: The Powell/Hyde line starts at the other side of Fisherman’s Wharf. Tourists seem to prefer this line as the hills the cars go up are steeper, but unless you get on the cars very early in the morning, expect an hour or more wait to get on.

Cable Car Ride

Nob Hill

I got off the Powell/Mason cable car at California and Powell. This is where all three cable car lines meet and you can get on another of the lines. Note: You can get an all–day ticket for $9 to ride all day (I don’t know if the ticket includes buses as well) or else it is $3.00 per ride. I now had two block to walk very uphill to my destination––Grace Cathedral––on top of Nob Hill. Several expensive hotels are in this area, one being the Fairmont in this photo.

Nob Hill

View of the square from Grace Cathedral.

Nob Hill

Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral is the cathedral church, or Bishop’s seat, of the Episcopal Diocese of California and its building was inspired by the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. It very much reminded me of Notre Dame. Building of Grace Cathedral was begun in 1928. I had not visited Grace Cathedral on any of our other trips to San Francisco.

Grace Cathedral

Grace Cathedral Doors

The central doors to the cathedral are bronze replicas of the Doors of Paradise made by Renaissance sculptor Ghiberti for the Baptistry of the Florence Cathedral in Florence, Italy. They depict Old Testament scenes.

Grace Cathedral Doors

Close–up of the doors.

Grace Cathedral Doors

Another close–up of the doors.

Grace Cathedral Doors

Grace Cathedral

Side view of the cathedral.

Grace Cathedral

Side and front view of the cathedral.

Grace Cathedral

Inside the cathedral. The Gothic arches remind you of the cathedrals in France.

Grace Cathedral

Inside the cathdral.

Grace Cathedral

The Rose Window.

Grace Cathedral

Another view of the inside of the cathedral.

Grace Cathedral

I was in the cathedral at about 11 a.m. and caught the reflection of the sun through the stain glass windows. Very beautiful.

Grace Cathedral

Wall art, quite different scenes than you see in other cathedrals.

Grace Cathedral

More wall art.

Grace Cathedral

Stained glass windows.

Grace Cathedral

St. Francis statue.

Grace Cathedral

The Chapel of Grace.

Grace Cathedral

The Labyrinth floor tapestry. This is based on the medieval pavement design at Chartes Cathedral in France (Britt and I were there last year and I don’t remember its pavement design). Walking the labyrinth is an ancient pratice and the single–path design represents the journey of the soul and is walked for spiritual insight and healing. I walked the labyrinth along with other visitors. It was full of optical illusions as you kept thinking you were at the end of the path but then were turned around to start a new path (journey).

Grace Cathedral

Design in the middle of the labyrinth. The path does not lead into the center.

Grace Cathedral

Mormon Center Mural

I left Grace Cathedral and started walking down the four very steep blocks to Chinatown. I passed this interesting mural on the way and was surprised to find that a new U.S. citizens swearing in had just occurred at the Mormon Center.

Mormon Center Mural

New Voter Registration

Both the Democrats and Republicans were out in force to register our new citizens. Arnold in 2006? But I was happy to note that I didn’t see anyone registrating at the Republican tables but a few at the Democratic tables. I should hear from a few of you about this remark.

New Voter Registration

Campaign Poster

Poster to entice our new Chinese–American citizens to register Republican.

Campaign Poster

View Down California Street

You can see the bay at the end of California Street. This would be around Market Street.

View Down California Street

Cable Cars Meet

I wish the lighting here was better because I really like the scene. Cable cars meeting at California and Powell. All three cable car lines cross at this intersection––the Powell/Hyde line uses the Powell/Mason tracks here. I put on this site a movie clip of a cable car coming up the hill on California. Go to Movies, United States, San Francisco, “Cable Car on California Street.”

Cable Cars Meet

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral

This cathedral is on California and Grand, right at the entrance to Chinatown. It is celebrating its 150 year and is California’s first cathedral.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral

Its clock tower bears the inscription, Son, Observe the time and fly from evil, which was directed at the brothels that stood across from it at the time the cathedral was built.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral

Close–up of the top of the watch tower.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral

Inside the cathedral.

Old St. Mary’s Cathedral

Chinatown

I have not been to San Francisco’s Chinatown since 34 years ago (except for dinner there last night) when I took the train from LA to Oakland and met my father there. We had dim sum at a restaurant in Chinatown. Today, I greatly enjoyed my visit here––San Francisco’s Chinatown is colorful and has much energy. I have read, however, that has even more energy early in the morning when the street vendors are on the sidewalks. There are two movie clips on this site that I took this day in Chinatown. Go to Movies, United States, San Francisco, “San Francisco’s Chinatown” and ” Chinatown Street Musician.” There is also a slide show on this site. Go to Slide Shows, United States, California, “Chinatown Store.” Here is a photo of Chinatown.

Chinatown

Bank of America building in Chinatown.

Chinatown

Another colorful building.

Chinatown

More buildings.

Chinatown

Still another colorful building. These buildings were on Grant Street, the main street in Chinatown, and also on some of the side streets. About this time I became hungry and stopped at a Chinese deli and ordered Kung Pao Chicken and Rice––it was very tasty.

Chinatown

The banner in the photo says: Grand Palace Voted the Best Dim Sum in Town. $1.28 to start. Sounds good.

Chinatown

Chinatown street scene.

Chinatown

More colorful buildings.

Chinatown

I think this must be a clothing manufacturer.

Chinatown

A very colorful bank building.

Chinatown

Cable Car Conductor

From Chinatown, I walked back to California Street and got on the California line cable car. I told the conductor that I wanted to go to Lafayette Park and he said I should walk one block over and take a bus there. I didn’t feel like doing any more walking, so I stayed on the cable car. It took me to Van Ness and California––the end of the line. I like this photo and wish it had come out better, but you can see from it that San Francisco’s cable car conductors are friendly to tourists and seem to like having their photos taken.

Cable Car Conductor

Lafayette Park

I should have listened to the conductor––when I got off the cable car, I had one level block over to walk and then two very very steep hills to climb. The bus would have dropped me at the top of the hill. I came here because my San Francisco guidebook said there were many old Victorian houses in this area and there were. I have put them on a slide show along with other photos I took the next day of houses around Alamo Square and the day before on Union Street and in the Marina District. Go to Slide Shows, United States, California, “San Francisco: Victorian Houses.” The house in this photo is the Spreckels Mansion, built in 1912, and is now the home of the famous writer Danielle Steel.

Lafayette Park

View from Cable Car

After walking around Lafayette Park, I walked downhill back to California and Van Ness to catch the California line cable car and took it to California and Powell. Here I caught the Powell/Hyde line and took it to the Ghiradelli side of Fisherman’s Wharf. I took this photo of San Francisco from the cable car.

View from Cable Car

Line for Powell/Hyde Cable Car

Here’s the line to go on the Powell/Hyde cable car from Fisherman’s Wharf. This line doesn’t seem to operate as frequently as the other lines and these people will be waiting quite awhile to get on the cable car.

Line for Powell/Hyde Cable Car

Maritime Museum

The S.S. Balclutha is part of the Maritime Museum at the Hyde Street Pier which is across from Ghirardelli Square. It was launched in 1886. It can be visited, but I just took a photo of it, with Alcatraz Island in the background.

Maritime Museum

Ghirardelli Square

By this time, I was totally exhausted from my San Francisco cardiovascular workout and I went to one of the Ghirardelli Square restaurants to have some recovery food––coffee and a hot fudge sundae. I didn’t go to the famous Ghirardelli ice cream parlour here as we now have one in Pasadena and it isn’t any longer something different to do. But I really went here to take a movie clip of the guy who oftentimes is out front of the square––he talks to all the visitors and can sing in at least five languages, but it seems that he had taken his act somewhere else as this was not tourist season in San Francisco. Photo of Ghirardelli Square––which has a collection of stores and restaurants.

Ghirardelli Square

Ghirardelli Square Restaurant

This photo is for my son Brett––he worked at this restaurant while he was in law school in San Francisco. Elsewhere, this chain is called McCormick and Schmick.

Ghirardelli Square Restaurant

Fisherman’s Wharf Street Musicians

I walked from Ghirardelli Square back to Pier 39 and took a movie clip of these street musicians. Got to Movies, United States, California, San Francisco, “Fisherman’s Wharf Musicians.” Back to the Sheraton and a long nap––I deserved it! Keith went out for dinner with a friend, but felt somewhat guilty leaving me to get my own dinner. I told him not to worry about me. It gave me a chance to see how well I would do on my own. I joined the crowd at Pier 39 and had dinner by myself at a very nice restaurant and I didn’t feel uncomfortable doing so. I know that other women go out to dinner by themselves often, but this was a first for me and I did very okay with it.