| We took the ferry in a
second time to meet a friend who lives in San Francisco and had offered us a
guided tour. |  |
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The Transamerica Pyramid is the 31st tallest building in the US at 260m. It
is an impressive building. It was built in 1972. |
| The Coit Tower is an
older attraction, built on the top of a steep hill and giving tremendous
views of the Bay which we saw last time we were here in 2005. |  |
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One of two Dutch windmills built almost on the ocean at the end of Golden
Gate Park to pump water for irrigation. |
| We went to a restaurant
for fish and chips and a beer tasting. Some were not bad. The small tasting
tankards are about 5 or 5 fl ozs, so if you drank them all you really didn't
ought to drive home again. |  |
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There is not a lot of building in San Francisco that pre-dates the 1906
earthquake and subsequent fire, so much of the 'older' architecture is of a
similar style. However there are many interesting architectural details to
be seen. Rounded windows were a feature in many cities in the mid 1900s.
They are almost unknown today. |
| This group is known as
'postcard row' although we did see other impressive groupings. |  |
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The detail on some buildings is wonderful. But they are very expensive to
maintain. I expect they have the equivalent of listed status in the UK. |
| Everywhere there are
little points of detail that show these are much cared-for homes. |  |
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We made our way up to the top of Twin Peaks (227m)for the spectacular 360º
views over the Bay and the city. Market is the road running at a diagonal to
the main grid of roads. It is the major thoroughfare and ends at the ferry
building. |
| A view more to the north
showing that there are trees even in the heart of the city. |  |
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There are some impressive buildings. This is probably a cathedral of some
denomination. I've never seen so many different churches as there are in
this city. |
| A closer view of the
business district showing just how tall some of the buildings are. |  |
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The same view from further away. City centres are rarely very large. |
| Our thanks for an
interesting tour of parts we might not have otherwise seen. |  |
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Behind us are the transmitters for TV and radio - from up here they easily
cover the whole of the Bay area. |
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