San Francisco (Western USA Road Trip Part 1)

We flew from New York to San Francisco with 'United Airlines'. This airline is not recommended: the flight took about 6 hours, but there was no included food and not enough drinks. So we arrived thirsty in San Francisco and were happy to find free water in the water dispensers at the airport... Unfortunately, it was not drinkable, although a local later assured us that this was the best water in the States. For our taste, it tasted too muddy. :(

So we were glad when we arrived at our hotel and could start exploring the city.

After the first steps, a sweet scent filled the air, which we would frequently smell in San Francisco...

We walked through the Financial District and then continued to 'China Town', where we admired many lucky cats and Asian souvenirs in a colorful hustle and bustle.

China Town

On our way back to our hotel, we passed the Episcopal Church on Nob Hill.

It was already getting dark and against the warnings of the hotel staff, we found ourselves in the wrong area in semi-darkness. We encountered some strange characters, but we still managed to return safely to the hotel.

The next morning, we took a historic streetcar to the harbor, where we visited the 'Seals' at Pier 39 (we are still wondering what the correct translation is for sea lions...)

For the many tourists, there are numerous restaurants and a small information center about the sea lions, where we could at least learn the English terms...

During our walk along the promenade, we also saw Alcatraz. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit because we realized on-site that tickets need to be purchased in advance.

Alcatraz

So we continued and admired the Golden Gate Bridge along the way, which was actually visible without fog that day. :)

We had planned to take a 'Cable Car', which is so typical for San Francisco. However, we decided against it because we could easily reach everything on foot during the approximately 1.5-hour wait in line...

Cable Car

So we walked past the waiting tourists towards Union Square, where we wanted to try the restaurant 'The Cheesecake Factory' because we had seen it so often on 'The Big Bang Theory'. Unfortunately, Penny didn't serve us and we had to wait for quite a while because all the tables were occupied. When we were finally led to a table by a waiter, two other tourists had already taken our free table because they didn't know (or ignored) that it was assigned to us.

Eventually, we got a table and enjoyed our lunch on the rooftop terrace. In the end, we also had cheesecake for dessert. :)

We then took a bus to the 'Golden Gate Park', which was located right by the sea and where we could take a leisurely stroll.