Day 20: San Francisco

Today was our last full day in San Francisco. We didn't have any booked tours, so we didn't have to wake up early. Our goal for today was to do as little walking as possible but still see a lot. We started by going to Mel's Drive In for breakfast. It was so crowded and took so long that I spent my time taking selfies and fooling around. But the breakfast was perfect. There was one important thing left to do today, which was riding the Cable Car. I realized in San Francisco that it's only a tourist attraction and no San Franciscan actually uses this tram. So I didn't really feel like riding it, but unfortunately, the line at the turnaround point at the pier was so short that I couldn't give Uli a good reason not to ride it. So we waited for a bit and unfortunately only got seats in the Cable Car. It was crowded, tight, and it was impossible to take good photos. But at least now I can check riding the Cable Car off my to-do list. At the end of the ride, we arrived at Union Square. The line here was soooo freakin' long - I would never have stood in it. It's unbelievable how popular this attraction, which is only used by tourists in the city, is. By the way, the ride was included in the 3-day Muni Pass, so I couldn't even use the excuse that 7 dollars for this short ride was way too much. But I don't need pity now ;-)

Up at Union Square, there were only fancy shops and my friend Jessie had her sign up there. We decided to take the F tram (from Lisbon) back to Pier 39. The tram was packed and Uli revealed her secret plan to me. She wanted to go for a little boat ride. I couldn't resist, as I didn't want to walk much anymore either. After a short visit to Pier 39, we checked the boat rides and promptly at 2 p.m., we went for a one-hour ride past the skyline (photos weren't good enough), past the highlight and underneath - the Golden Gate Bridge, past Alcatraz, to the Oakland Bridge and back to Pier 39. After an hour, we docked and where did we go again? Pier 39! Here, after a few errands, we took photos from the upper deck and then just let ourselves drift. We slowly headed towards Fisherman's Wharf, where we then boarded the bus back to the hotel. The bus threw me around when it started (only my knee still feels it) and Uli got a hit when it braked for our stop. That was the sign that we probably shouldn't use SFO's public transportation anymore. Alright, we used the 3-day Muni Pass so intensively that we don't want to ride anymore! Now that we understand everything, we can continue on. For dinner, we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant near our hotel. Even the Vietnamese hardly put any vegetables in the food for the Americans. What's wrong with vegetables? Well, I'll just accept it.

Today, I still managed to take 14,000 steps. I actually liked San Francisco quite a bit, but considering the hype around the city, I expected a lot more. It was nice (and exhausting), but I don't need to visit SFO again for now.

Tomorrow, we're going to Monterey to see the most beautiful coastal road in the world. Tomorrow, we'll already drive a small portion of Highway Number 1. Due to a big fire in the area, some parts of the highway may be closed, but it looks pretty good now. Julia Pfeifer Burns and Big Sur are unfortunately closed because of that, but we'll just take it easy and let the firefighters do their work.