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After taking the CalTrain and
BART to SF, my dad and I instantly found ourselves next to the
Villancourt Fountain, which basically faces the Ferry Building.
Never really saw this up close before during daylight hours,
so we went here first. |
  
Aside from the Ferry Building across the street, it's literally next
to the Embarcadero, some of the tallest buildings in the
whole city. In the leftmost image, you can see me standing on the
statue.
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The fountain sure spits it out!
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The Ferry Building, right at noon.
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Inside the Ferry Building, it is sooo crowded,
it's literally a sea of people, moving slow as sludge. Need
bubble space! |
   We
chose to eat at Mijita, a Mexican restaurant on the backside
of the Ferry Building. We lucked out by getting what was
probably the only remaining available table outside -- so
crowded! Here, you can see some of the views we had while
waiting, including a ship with passengers exiting at the
dock.
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Tugboat under the Bay Bridge, alongside Treasure
Island. |
   There's
this one spot once we started walking toward Coit
Tower where
you can see the Transamerica Pyramid squeezed between two
buildings, but if you walk a 10 or so yards in either direction,
the Pyramid is already hidden again. It's also the first
view of Coit Tower we had.
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This is the closest holiday-related pic I got
out of Valentine's Day, if you consider the arrow. It's in
direct alignment with the tower, and its red color could be
symbolic of Cupid... |
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Once we crossed the Embarcadero
and were ready to head toward Coit Tower, we came upon a place
called Levi's Plaza. The entrance looked like it was from a storybook! |
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Here I am reviewing the
place, with one of the many fountains at the plaza in the background. |
  
The buildings there were quite geometrically shaped, with
a sort of repeating pattern that was somewhat stimulating.
Coit Tower was visible, too. A light rain had begun, but we
had umbrellas.
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A patriotic view of Coit
Tower. |
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In this panoramic collage,
I am seen at the foot of Telegraph Hill, with Coit Tower in the
distance. Now, you can see the height one has to climb to reach
the tower if you choose not to drive there. I wouldn't drive there,
after seeing so many cars in an immobile line... |
  
More views from the stairs, including the flares.
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One thing I found interesting about the route up was the immense
vegetation. True, there was a barbed wire fence along part
of it, but in a city as dense as SF, I suppose it's only necessary.
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All those veggies are only
prep for what people really come to see... |
  
The wild parrots of Telegraph Hill! This was truly wonderful
-- whoda thunk you could see wild parrots in an urban city??
Apparently, there were easily nearly 100 that we passed on
the stairs, and maybe some 300 in total population. They squalk
quite a bit, but they were generally nice, eating the flowers
on the tree branches. Amazing.
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Even the dogs were watching! |
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I still can't get over
how much ivy was there... Simply beautiful. |
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Gettin' closer to the top.
I didn't expect to see a palm tree! |
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Saw many awesome houses
along the way up (and snapped many a pic of 'em), but this one
was worthy of display, if only for its "No on Prop 8" sign. |
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By seeing an official Coit
Tower sign, we knew we were almost there! |
 
At the foot of it! Notice my smile; it's because a ton more
parrots were in the trees there. I tried to take pics of them,
but they were too camouflaged to notice. Onward ho to the elevator
(no stairs inside the tower unless emergency). In fact, the elevator
itself is rather old, and must manually be stopped by an employee!
|
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Ah, the top. No roof? Perhaps
we were now on the roof. This view looked kinda like the
Roman Colloseum. |
  
Steps onto the roof, which were vividly red-orange in color.
Tons-o-people were up there, so you had to be quick about where
you chose to be if you wanted to see out of a window.
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This was an awesome view,
with the city rolled out like a carpet over its hills. |
 
A particularly excellent view of the Transamerica Pyramid was
available from one of the windows, in part because of pointing
the camera somewhat downward so as to see the other angled buildings
in comparison, and in part because of the lighting that occurred
for the moment. Much of the day was simply overcast, but for
the moment we were up there, the clouds parted.
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Dad took this backlit shot. Nice. |
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Despite being on the other side
of the glass, quite a few coins rested along the windowsills. The
windows must have been open at some point, because too much effort
would be needed otherwise to get a mere penny onto the other side. |
  
More glorious views of SF (not called "Frisco,"
FYI...), including the Golden Gate Bridge, Ghirardelli Square,
Alcatraz, Pier
39,
and the Harbor.
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I have no idea what this circus-looking
thing is, but it looked interesting. |
  
Here are individual shots of my dad and I, with a look back
down at the route we took up to the tower in the middle.
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Back to the elevator... The young Chinese
man at left was operating the elevator at the time. I think between
the ground and the top, it goes just over 20 floors. |
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In the gift shop back on the ground
floor, I found the names on the mini license plates, but can never
quite find it spelled exactly like mine... |
 
 Murals
are painted on all of the walls, including these ones, with such
scenes as the Gold Rush. Notice the "Men at Work" sign; it is
a theme in a later picture. In the rightmost pic, a statue of
Christopher Columbus is at the
entrance
to the
tower,
in the
middle of the
circular parking lot.
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We took a different route back, this
one including stone steps. |
 Only
in San Francisco... Isn't it cool to have such access onto the
roof?
|
 
Views of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, first from the parking
lot of Coit Tower, and then from the park directly across the
street. I believe each of the twin towers is named for one of
the saints.
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Awesome cross, and not-so-awesome pidgeons.
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Though we didn't photograph our journey
on a MUNI, it took us pretty much the rest of the way back to the
SF CalTrain Station. There is a "Men at Work" sign shown here! |
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View inside the station. Nice architecture.
Sayonara! |
