I am really looking forward to today. We are going to the de Young Museum to see the ‘TUT’ exhibition.

The story of  mystery and magic surrounding the life and death of the boy king ‘Tutankahem’ has always been a favorite of mine.

We head into Union Square and then down to the Visitors Information Centre to find out how to get to the Golden Gate Park.

We had missed the 10:30am hop on hop off bus which only goes twice a day to the park.

An elderly gentleman behind the counter casually waved in some direction and said catch the 5 or 21 Muni (bus).  I find that a number of Americans in the service industry are hopeless at giving directions to someone who has absolutely know idea of where things are.

So we head of along Market St looking for something that resembles a bus stop for either the 5 or 21 bus. While I am walking I am reminded of our time at the Grand Canyon when the receptionist told us the bus left from the bottom of the stairs. We assumed she meant the hotel stairs but she actually meant a set of stairs, that weren’t signposted, quite some distance from the hotel.  I always think of the Denzel Washington statement in one of his movies, talk to me like I’m a child. Because when I don’t know where I am and what I should be doing, that is how you need to explain things to me. (okay rant over)

Well we stumble upon the bus stop and for the sum of $2.00 for adults and .075c for seniors, we travel out to the Golden Gate Park.  Now the man at the information booth had told us to get off at 8th avenue, but the bus driver out of the blue says ’8th avenue for the California Academy of Science’ , next stop for the de Young Museum. So we stay on the bus and get off virtually across the road from the museum. Bonus, less walking.

The de Young is a beautiful building and before long we have our tickets and are ready to enter the exhibition at 12pm.  There are only so many people admitted at a time so the ticket times are staggered. We stand in line for about 25 minutes and then it is our turn to go down the stairs to join the next queue.  I ask Val if he wants to do the audio tour but he declines and as I am pretty much across the life and times of Tutankhamun I don’t bother either.

On entering the exhibition there is a short video narrated by Omar Sharif (the perfect person to do this narration). I off course am right at the back so I can’t see anything anyway and wait patiently for the film to finish and the doors to the exhibition proper to open.

Unfortunately I can’t share any of the exhibition with you as photos were not allowed. Suffice to say it is awesome with lots of artifacts such as funerary jars and if you get the chance to see it – Don’t miss it.

And because there is so much mystery surrounding this young king thing such as his ancestry line are preceded with wording such as “These may have been Tutenkhamun’s ancestors’ or ‘Tutenkhamun may have been buried with his two stillborn daughters’.

Nevertheless if you are interested in Egyptian antiquity this exhibition is a must see. I am quite enthralled by the fine craftsmanship on the hand beaten golden boxes and jewelery.

I have to have something to remember this exhibition by, so as much as I wanted the book and dvd I think of the extra weight to carry around and so I settle for a tee shirt.

After leaving exhibition we go through to have some lunch and stroll the art garden.

Sphere

Apples

Minuteman

After strolling around the Art Garden we head off to look around the Japanese Garden.

Being gluttons for punishment we continue to drive around San Francisco on an open top bus in the freezing cold and after arriving back at Leavenworth St we catch the downtown loop bus to as we were going to go and see the Tutankhamen exhibition at the De Young Museum in the Golden Gate Park.

But in the end we changed our minds and will do that tomorrow. Our tour guide was so interesting we preferred to stay on the bus and hear what she had to say. Plus I was looking forward to driving through the Haight – Ashbury area – the site of the hippie movement back in the 60′s.

The free medical clinic still operates to treat victims of drug overdose, and it is at this clinic that the singer Janis Joplin was treated (before she became famous) when she OD’d.

The smoking of Marijuana is legal in San Francisco but you need to be issued with a Cannabis Card, which apparently is very easy to get.

The San Francisco Park Loop leaves from Union Square and on the way to the Park the drive goes past St Mary’s Cathedral, Japantown – San Francisco is the sister city of Osaka in Japan, Alamo Square and past the beautiful Victorian and Edwardian houses that include the famous “Painted Ladies” Victorian houses which were used in the opening credits of the TV series Full House. These beautiful Victorian houses are at 712–720 Steiner St. which borders Alamo Square park, and people come from all over to take photos.

Although the Painted Ladies were uses in the TV series the actual red door that the family used to come and go from the house, belonged to a house a couple of blocks over.  Ahhh the deceitfulness of the movie world.

The Architecture changed after the 1906 earthquake when the city was ravaged by fires for three days. Being unable to contain the fire, Firemen had to clear a large number of the Victorian style houses to create a fire break to try to stop the fires from spreading further.

The ‘Painted Ladies’

The Golden Gate Park

The Golden Gate Park was developed by John McLaren (1846-1943) who created an area that is enjoyed by millions of people today. The park is near the Haight – Ashbury district, know for its hippie culture and where the phrase ‘Psychedelic’ was coined.

McLaren disliked statues, which he called Stookies, and whenever the city fathers would erect a statue, McLaren would quickly surround it with groves so that it was quickly hidden from view. There is a  statue of Mclaren himself which was unearthed, like many others, after his death.

His vision was that there should not be and “keep off the grass” signs, the park was to be used by all, a place to lie on the grass in the sunshine and a place for children to run and play.

When he reached retiring age of 60 and refused to retire the city government received thousands of letters supporting McLaren and when he turned 70 he was exempted from retiring  and lived out his life until the age of 96 in Mclaren Lodge.

McLaren Lodge, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Once you enter the Golden Gate Park you get to see the De Young Museum which currently houses the TUT exhibition, there is a glimpse of the Japanese Tea Gardens from the bus and the new, multi million dollar California Academy of Sciences which features an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum and a living roof plus much more.  We intend to spend tomorrow in the park visiting these attractions and I will give you all an update tomorrow.

Then its back to Union Square and a quick trip back to Fisherman’s wharf where we stop off for Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl, at Bodums. Yummy delish and quite warming after freezing our butts off all day.

Scenes to and around the Golden Gate Park

The De Young Museum

The Conservatory of Flowers – Golden Gate Park San Francisco

The ‘Legs’ in Haight St

Tie Dyed Dresses in Haight St

Colorful Architechture in Haight St

Contrasting styles

Beautiful Victorian and Edwardian Architecture

Our Fantastic Tour Guide and More Architectural Delights

More tomorrow when we go to the TUT exhibition in the de Young museum, Golden Gate Park.

While we were in San Francisco we decided to stay at Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites San Francisco Fishermans Wharf (This hotel is not to be confused with the Holiday Inn Hotel – Fisherman’s Wharf which is right next door.)

We actually got a great deal through Hotwire which included return airfares from Las Vegas and 5 nights accommodation for $376 each. This is the first time we have booked through Hotwire and the process was quite simple. The only drawback is that you don’t know your flight times until after you have booked and paid for the package. So after booking we found that the outbound flight was leaving Las Vegas at 7am (which meant we had to be up at 4.30am) and our return flight was leaving at 9pm. Not the best times but then it was worth it for the cheap deal.

We got a door-to-door shuttle to our hotel from the airport which cost $16 each and it took about 30 minutes or so to get to our hotel.

When we got to the front desk we found only one person behind the counter so we had to wait a few minutes to be attended to. The girl at the reception desk was very competent and quick and even though it was only 9.30am and well before check-in time we were given a room. This may have had something to do with the fact that we are Priority Club members. However, during our entire stay we found that the staff at the front desk were very helpful and friendly to everyone who approached the reception area.  This same friendly manner and professionalism was also displayed by the staff at the Holiday Inn in Tusayan when we visited the Grand Canyon recently.

On the way to the lift to get to our room we notice the clean, modern lobby area and the eating area where people are still eating breakfast. The hotel has a nice feel about it and appears to be well maintained from what we can see at a first glance.

When we get to our room we are pleased with what we see. Our room is big enough to accommodate two people comfortably and looks clean and fresh.

Our room is a double room on the 2nd floor (#268) with two double beds, a TV cabinet with a 26in(68cm) TV and a table with two lounging chairs.

Next to one of the beds is a closet with hanging space. It also contains an iron and ironing board and a fold up luggage rack. There is also a safe in the closet which is large enough to hold our 14in laptop. The safe uses a key rather than the digital keypad password that you see in most hotel room safes these days.

There is adequate storage with closet hanging space and the three drawers in the bottom of the TV cabinet.

Lighting is fairly good. There are ceiling lights in the entrance way but the rest of the room is lit by lamps – one between the two beds and a standard lamp next to the table.

The beds are very comfortable with padded mattresses and clean fresh linen. Each bed has four pillows with each pillow slip embroidered with either the word ‘soft’ or ‘firm’.

The view from our room is not what I would call a view. We can see what you might call a courtyard and we look across to another room. Subsequently we keep the net curtains closed for our entire stay.

The bathroom is not huge but it is bright and clean and actually looks like it has been recently renovated. There is one sink, a toilet and a bathtub with shower.

The water pressure from the shower is okay. It’s not really strong but it’s pretty good. The showerhead also allows you to adjust the flow to suit your preferred spray type.

The towels are plentiful and are soft and clean.

The bathroom also has a 2 cup coffee maker and the hotel provides both tea and coffee. This is something we really missed when we stayed at Caesar’s Palace and The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. After there is nothing quite like sitting down with a nice hot cup of tea after a day of sightseeing.

The air conditioner in the room does the job although it was a little noisy. While it was on we had to turn the TV up in order to hear the programs.

Just near the lifts on our floor is a room with an ice machine and a vending machine which sells drinks. To get into the room we needed to use our hotel key.

As we need access to the internet in order to run our business we love staying at Holiday Inn hotels as the internet is free – at least it has been in the ones we have stayed in so far. The connection is wired. To connect just open your browser and it will connect to a screen where you just need to click on a link and then you will get immediate access to the internet.

While we were here we took advantage of the coin operated laundry in the next building which is also part of Holiday Inn. To get to it, exit at the front of the hotel and turn right. Keep walking and cross over the first road you see which will get you to the other Holiday Inn. Walk through the lobby until you see the lifts and take the lift to the “G” (garage) floor. This will take you to the parking garage. Walk straight ahead and turn to the left and you should see a room against the wall which will be the laundry. Make sure you have plenty of quarters. The laundry powder was $1.50, the washing machine was $2.00 and the dryer was $2.00.

This hotel is located in an ideal position. It took us around five minutes to walk to Fisherman’s Wharf, around 10-15 minutes (uphill) to walk to The Crookedest Street and about 5 minutes to get to the pick up point for the hop-on/hop-off bus.

There are also plenty of restaurants and cafes close by. Denny’s is actually in the building itself and there is a bar and grill across the road but there are plenty of other restaurants and cafes within easy walking distance.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay here and would definitely come back again.

Our Rating of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites San Francisco Fishermans Wharf :

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4.5/5
Price 5/5 (Based on our Hotwire package deal)
Cleanliness 4/5

We booked this excellent package through Hotwire, where you will also find great deals.

St Patricks day is being celebrated with a parade down Market St. So it’s down for an early breakfast and off to catch the cable car in Powell St. The Powell-Market and Hyde-Market cable cars run North/South across San Francisco.

This is Paula’s first time on the cable car. After yesterday I am now an old hand. It doesn’t take too long for the men to turn the cable car around so that it is facing in the right direction and we are off.

We clatter our way up and down the steep hills, and because it is such a nice day we sit outside so we have a great view as we head to Market St. The parade is lots of fun with only a couple of annoyances when people walk in front of the video while I am filming. Not that it matters much as we have now found a great editing program – Microsoft Movie Maker.

We still have to go to Circuit City to buy a digital voice recorder. CIircuit City is on Van Ness St so we need to catch the California line cable car which runs East/West across San Francisco. Because of the large crowds waiting for the Hyde St cable we decide to walk to California St. Only undertake this trek if you are fit or take frequent rests on the way up the really steep hill. By the time we reached California St my legs were a bit shaky and it was with relief that we arrived.

The cable car was full so we both had to stand on the outside holding onto the outside rails. A young German tourist offers me his seat but I graciously decline as standing on the outside is part of the attraction of riding the cable. It takes about 5-10 mins to walk from the cable car drop off to Circuit City and before long we have purchased the Olympus digital recording device for $59.99 and set off back to the hotel to experiement with it.

Later we go for dinner at a cafe on Fishermans Wharf and well I have to say it is the most disappointing meal we have had to date. We order fish and chips – the fish is white cod and is coated in a heavy batter that tastes slightly burnt and unappetising.  However, the young waiter is very friendly and efficient and well worth the tip.

There are some interesting characters in San Francisco. How about this for instance – dress to match your dog.

San Francisco has some great views and architecture and many of the buildings have an attractive facade.