Cable Car, Fisherman‘s Wharf und Castro

Monday, October 2, 2023, Day 2

Due to the jet lag, we were awake at 2:30 a.m. and drank coffee in bed for a long time and watched Netflix series on our tablet. After it got light outside, we quickly set off, first to the PhoneShop and each got an American SIM card so that we could have a US phone and, above all, mobile internet. We then queued for the cable car and got on after a quick 45 minute wait. We drove along the “streets of San Francisco” (some remember the legendary crime series of the 70s) to the Bay. From Fisherman's Wharf we went to Pier 39, had our fill of smelly sea lions and then went for a midday snack feeling very motivated. True to tourist style, we took it in the sun at Fisherman's Wharf. A legendary and typical clam chowder in a bread bowl (creamy clam chowder made from clams in a bowl made from a sliced oversized roll) and some fish and chips was exactly the right choice. Afterwards we took the F Market line along the piers and the Ferry Building to the Castro in a historic tram. We got out at 17th Street and Castro and took a walk through San Francisco's legendary LGBT district in bright sunshine. It was impressive to see the expressiveness with which LGBT people draw attention to themselves there, even more so than in Cologne. not as a tourist magnet, quite the opposite, but as an established matter of course. By the way, that's how I remembered it from 25 years ago.

From there we walked further and to Mission Dolores, the origin of San Francisco, so to speak, where the Franciscans founded the mission when they flowed north from Mexico to establish Catholicism on behalf of the Spanish crown. The old white building is still historically impressive, next door there is a large church that doesn't seem quite as old.

Overall, we did a lot of walking, so we ended up with over 15,000 steps, our daily goal.

Late in the afternoon we took the N Judah tram to Cole Valley and met friends for dinner. It's still so warm in the evening that we were able to sit outside on the sidewalk.

We treated ourselves to a taxi on the way back and were so dead tired when we returned to our hotel that we even forgot to update this blog. That's why day 2 today was a little late and held a grudge, not a grudge.