Seeing the Sights of SF

We began our day in the sunshine waiting for the 'hop on, hop off' bus in Union Square, just below our hotel.   Whilst in chilly Washington the famous cherry blossom is still awaited , these trees were covered with flowers - although whether cherry or apple I wasn't sure.  They looked good against the backdrop of the palm trees.  Azalea are also in bloom in the Square.

Our bus trip crossed the bottom of Powell Street where we are staying and headed off to the Civic Centre.

We then travelled on through hilly streets lined with trees which grew so close to the houses that they must have blocked the light.  Many of the streets also have electric cable car wires running through them.  We were encouraged not to stand up on the bus!

We decided to leave the bus at Golden Gate Bridge so that we could walk across but first we had to take the 'selfie'..

.. and a few other pictures of this iconic view without us obscuring it..,

We had coffee in the garden by the bridge where there were more flowers.

..and a little bird, like a 'mini' Grackle , waiting for crumbs..

Before crossing the bridge we walked under it and photographed the view on the seaward side..

We had anticipated that walking across the bridge might be rather windy but in fact it was very pleasant in the sun and quite busy.

We were intrigued to see what initially appeared to be dark lines of current in the water but which turned out to be line after line of birds (geese?) flying all in the same direction under the bridge , just above the water and out to sea.

Looking back across to downtown San Francisco the view was rather hazy..

David took some abstract shots of the bridge..

Back on the bus we had an extremely windy trip back across the bridge and headed along the shoreline then through Pacific Heights and Chinatown and down to the ferry terminals, piers and  Fishermen's Wharf.

At Pier 39 we spent some time watching the famous sea-lions basking in the sun on their wooden pontoons, occasionally arguing a little or shifting to make room for a cold, wet newcomer straight from the sea..

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the bay and sampled the Clam Chowder.

After lunch we walked along the wharf where there was a view of Alcatraz..

We then rejoined our bus for the trip back to Union Square through the Financial District.

Tomorrow David is attending a conference in the hotel (our excuse for being here) and I am hoping to visit several sites.