Last day in San Francisco

Time passes just as quickly here as at home, and so it's already been the last full day in San Francisco.

This morning we spontaneously decided to rearrange our plan and instead of taking the bus, we were able to use a cable car to our destination 'Lombard Street' after a long wait. The street is one of the steepest in the whole city, originally with a gradient of 27%, but slightly less due to a redevelopment with switchbacks. People drive across the city and expect long waiting times just to be able to drive down the street with their own car. Our exit from the cable car was right at the head, so we could enjoy the entire street downhill.

A short walk then took us to Pier 39 and on to our stop for the hop on/off bus. So we covered the whole tour at least once. We got off at Union Square for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Pizza and great pasta - yummy. For a proud price of 50 dollars (including tip).

Food and groceries are really expensive here, just like renting an apartment. All prices are always given without taxes and without tips. So in the end there is always an additional 8.5% tax on the price and a variable tip of 15 to 22% of the net price, depending on how much you liked the service. Rents range from 1500 dollars outside the city to normal 4000 dollars internally per month for an average of 2 rooms. Just a reminder, 1 dollar is 96 cents €.

After lunch, we continued our hop on/off tour, because it's the fastest way for us to get back to the piers, where our Alcatraz tour is supposed to start later.

The weather god was kind to us today, so we were treated to a sunny drive across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Due to the heavy traffic, we were late at the stations. So we got off earlier to cross 10 crossroads in a run in order to be able to arrive in time for the departure to Alcatraz. We managed that completely out of breath.

The boat trip was just great - a lot of wind and movement on the ship, and since we were standing right at the railing, we even got cold water splashed by the waves as a refreshment 😅. The view of the Golden Gate Bridge in front of the island was simply indescribable.

Every day, 5000 visitors are drawn to the island. For us, the money we invested was definitely worth it. There is a lot to discover and the 45-minute audio tour (headphones with German language) let us be live witnesses as wardens and inmates talk about their daily lives and escape attempts. Just great.

Then we went back - aboard the ship - crossing - getting off - off to the bus for the panoramic night tour. This takes you through small areas of the city again and ends with a crossing on the eastern bridge on 'Treasure Island'. The wind whistles loudly when you race over the bridge on the open-top double-decker.

We were rewarded with a breathtaking sunset with a view of the two bridges and downtown San Francisco. A picture-perfect ending to our days here. Tired and exhausted, we were dropped off just before the hostel.

The weather here is very atypical for California. Warm air from inland flows over the land and meets the cold air from the Pacific here. This means that it becomes foggy very quickly as soon as the sun is gone, and it is very cold in the mornings and without sun anyway. Although it's 18 to 20 degrees Celsius, it feels very cold.

Tomorrow is a travel day to Las Vegas. We will get our rental car at 8 and then head east towards Nevada. The driving time is about 8 to 9 hours. But we can expect pleasant 45 degrees Celsius. Wohoo 😬🌞🔥 No more freezing ☃️😅