San Francisco - Day 3

Wow, what a switch from the last 2 days.  Today was 60ish, foggy and windy.  The 2 days prior we wore no jacket and were wishing we were in shorts and sandals.  Today we both had to buy a fleece jacket to put under our windbreaker. It was a good day to take the "hop on hop off" bus tours and see different areas of the city tho!

We had breakfast at this really fun restaurant called Lefty O'Doul's.  It is decked out with baseball history and pictures and what not on every wall.  There is even a life size model of Marilyn Monroe.  She married Joe DiMaggio in San Francisco at city hall.  You would have really liked this place mom.












We walked around Union Square - they are starting to put up their holiday decorations.  Was really strange to see this

on one side of the park and this

on the other.










This is an ice rink they set up every winter in Union Square.

Yummy
Oops, how did this picture get here??? I was going to show you a picture of our breakfast. Hmmmm . . .  oh well, this is on the front of Macy's - and it is 5 stories tall!  ya, like I said, yummy!

Also, went to see my BFF Penny.

 These are  beautiful Victorian houses that have been re-stored.  They are just the most amazing homes to see.  They are tall and close together and have very little yard of any type.  Most I think are multi family dwellings.  A lot of them have businesses along the street level.  I cannot imagine living that close to the traffic.

San Francisco

The city of San Francisco, California, due to its mild climate and its social programs that have provided cash payments for homeless individuals, is often considered the homelessness capital of the United States,^[97] together with Los Angeles. The city's homeless population has been estimated at 7,000-10,000 people, of which approximately 3,000-5,000 refuse shelter. The city spends $200 million a year on homelessness related programs.^[98] On May 3, 2004,^[99] San Francisco officially began an attempt to scale back the scope of its homelessness problem by changing its strategy from cash payments to the "Care Not Cash" plan. At the same time, grassroots organizations within the Bay Area such as the Suitcase Clinic work to provide referrals for housing and employment to the homeless population. In 2010, a city ordinance was passed which will disallow sitting and lying down on public sidewalks for most of the day, from 7am until 11pm.^{[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States#San_Francisco}

I found it really sad to see all the homeless people in San Francisco.  It does appear that they have a lot of programs (Kylie told me about this when I was wondering why there were so many homeless).  A  lot of stores leave their trash such as cardboard etc in front of the store for pick up.  I also saw lots of supplies being brought into the downtown stores by smaller carts hand pushed to the stores.  I am assuming that there are not alleys etc to collect garbage and deliver goods.  Many of these homeless people gather up the paper and the cardboard and push grocery carts stuffed full of these items all around the city.  This morning we saw cardboard boxes made into little covered/sheltered beds.  People sleep huddled up against the shops and under a tree or where ever the spirit moves them I guess.  A real shock to see this but I haven't really been in that many huge cities where it would be warm enough to live outside all year round.

 ^{They have these toilets out every few blocks.  There was no way I was going to try this but it is not that easy to find a washroom sometimes and we read the sign posted on the outside of the building.}

<sup>Well, I hope you can read this - but basically it self cleans after every person uses it.  I was thinking - whoa  great idea, ima gonna get me one of these new fangled toilets for my RV.

It was still disgusting!</sup>

 These pictures are from the Golden Gate Park area.  There are beautiful gardens and a Science Centre here.  We were too wimpy to walk in the drizzle and check it out.

 Unfortunately these are the best pictures I could get of the bridge because of the fog. And this was at 1 in the afternoon.

^{This is the Palace of Fine arts in the Presidio Area.  This is close to Bakers Beach.}  

 All of these pictures are from Sausalito.  Believe it or not the houses here are twice as much as San Francisco.  Man of these homes are up on stilts on the hills.

<sup>You can't really see much of this house from the street, but it is a 1200 square foot "studio"  - the asking price
1.5 million







OOps . . .  I almost skipped lunch</sup>

This is Clam chowder from Boudin's bakery.  They make such beautiful breads in every shape and size.  She was making cute little turtles when we were watching today.

 

^{This has been our mode of transportation to and from San Francisco every day.  We discovered if you get to the BART (bay area rapid transit) station around 7:30 AM you can actually get a parking spot. We hopped on the train and were in San Francisco by 8:30 - 9.  No driving in the crazy traffic, no parking and at 11.30 a round trip - a really great deal.
It is very entertaining watching the people on the trains.  Apparently in San Francisco this is where you do your best grooming. Yesterday I saw a young girl fix her hair, pluck her chin hairs and do her make up - all while riding the BART.  She even put on eyeliner.  Really wanted to ask if she had ever poked herself in the eye - but she didn't really look like a morning person.
This morning I saw a lot of ladies putting on their make up, saw one eating grapes faster than Kylie's dog wolfs down her canned dog food.  On the way back tonight one guy kept on falling asleep, he would slowly start tipping over and catching himself just as he was about to whack his head on the side of the seat - seriously he must have done this 20 times. Lots to see so the trip goes pretty fast but I am glad I don't have to do that every day.}