Exploring San Francisco
April 15
Since today is our last day with the rental car, we want to make the most of it with a driving tour of the city's most important sights. We start our route at Alamo Square, which offers a wonderful view of the Painted Ladies — the image that adorns countless postcards. The Painted Ladies are seven Victorian row houses and villas painted in different colors, dating from the late 19th century.
From there we join the Scenic Drive at the Japan Center (simply follow the signs: blue sign with a seagull — the official starting point is at City Hall and the full Scenic Drive is 49 miles long). We head through the Theater District toward Chinatown, which has existed since the mid-19th century. The entrance, marked by an oversized ceremonial arch known as the Dragon Gate, is impossible to miss. We continue through the upscale residential neighborhood of Nob Hill — also nicknamed "Snob Hill" — past the Cable Car Museum and on to Telegraph Hill. At Coit Tower (64 m tall), a monument to the fire department funded in 1929 by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, we make a stop and take the elevator up to the observation platform.
Our next stop is arguably the most famous street in the world — or more precisely, the most crooked one. With eight hairpin bends, Lombard Street climbs from the bottom up to Russian Hill. It was redesigned in 1922 with a length of 400 m to allow cars to manage the 27% gradient.
We continue along the Scenic Drive past Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39, on to Ghirardelli Square and the Marina district. We make another photo stop at the Palace of Fine Arts before passing through the Lombard Gate and entering the Presidio — a park-like area containing several historic buildings and the Walt Disney Family Museum.
Now we head toward San Francisco's most famous landmark: the Golden Gate Bridge, also nicknamed the "Red Lady in Steel," which connects San Francisco with Sausalito. Our first stop is Fort Point, situated directly beneath the bridge. From here you can admire the bridge at close range and fully appreciate its enormous scale, before we drive to the parking area at the bridge itself and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge on foot. The highlight of the day!
A few facts: Until the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge held the record for the world's longest suspension bridge for 27 years, with a main span of 1,280 metres. The total length of the bridge including approach spans is 2,737 metres. The suspension bridge itself has a total span of 1,966 metres and towers rising 227 metres high. The 27.4-metre-wide roadway deck carries 6 lanes of traffic. Each of the two main cables has a diameter of 0.92 metres, and if you were to lay all the individual steel wires end to end, they would stretch a total of 1,290,000 km. The bridge, by the way, weighs a hefty 887,000 tonnes.
It is getting late and we continue along the Scenic Drive past Baker Beach, from where you can also catch one or two glimpses of the bridge. Via Lincoln Park we reach Seal Rock, before heading through Golden Gate Park toward Twin Peaks for one final panoramic view of the city.
Time flies and we have to return the rental car. And the evening? To be continued...
