I love San Francisco!

We arrived in San Fran on Monday. First we actually visited Bittersweet Cafe in Oakland and the UC Berkeley campus but I'll post those photos another day. We are staying at the Donatello where Paige's mom has a timeshare and graciously let us stay here. It's really nice. We got in and went straight to the jacuzzi! The next morn we picked up our Wharfpass (comped) which includes several different tours you can choose from. We first went on the "red & white" boat tour of the San Francisco Bay. It includes headsets that tell you what you are seeing as you cruise the Bay for an hour. This is me and Savi by the Golden Gate bridge - not surprisingly covered in fog! Notice our matching ROXY hoodies. :)
Paige and I on the boat!
I really wanted to do an Alcatraz tour but alas it wasn't meant to be on this trip. We did cruise around it and get a little history on the boat tour though. It's known as "The Rock" and is quite close to San Francisco really. About halfway through our hour-long boat tour, the cloudy sky cleared making way for a gorgeous sunny (but not too hot) day.
A closer view of the buildings and prison on Alcatraz.
Oh no! An escapee from the Alcatraz psychiatric unit is on the boat! I think she's in the photo!
Next we went to Boudin Bakery right next to the boat dock (in Fisherman's Wharf) and got the classic San Francisco lunch - clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Yum!
Then we walked down to Pier 39, famous for the sea lions! I was here last year also when I had a day in SF before heading to the Bering Sea/Dutch Harbor Alaska. I could watch them all day! They were pushing one another off the docks, it was pretty humorous. Then we walked around the shops in the Embarcadero, let the boys play in the Arcade ($3 in tokens is one of the items in the Wharfpass) and then we went to this Ultimate Log Ride 4D adventure theater, also right there next to the Arcade. It was pretty cool. Lu and Paige went to the Wax Museum instead of the 4D theater which was an option.In the afternoon we got on our 2-day CitySightseeing Doubledecker bus. At first we didn't have seats upstairs for everyone but there was one, so I went. The kids didn't want to! I thought they were crazy! It is sooo much better on top where you can see all the buildings that are super tall and all the sights in the breeze. It was late afternoon so getting chilly but they even provide blankets. Finally after a couple stops, seats opened up and I got everyone on top with me. Lu, Paige, with Wylder and Sam in the seats behind.At first it was just me and Lu on the top part of the bus. Lu was all the way in the back, and the tour guide was super anal about standing up or putting your hands outside the bus. Lu had his teddy bear and he must have lifted his hand up because we all heard the tour guide say "Put your hands down or the Teddy Bear is mine." Paige said they were all cracking up downstairs. :)We left from Fisherman's Wharf and then took a loop around the city back to Union Square where we got off. It is a couple of blocks over from our hotel. This is a shot of the sun behind their City Hall.
Union Square is surrounded by 4 artistic heart sculptures. Each has different painting on it. Pretty cool.
And Levi's were invented in SF and their headquarters is here.
The bear's gonna jump! Ha! After the us tour, we hopped off at Union Square and went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory which is on top of Macy's building. This is Lu and his bear he bought after the morning boat trip. We ate outside and it was freezing! But fun! I had this totalllllly delicious Nutty Monkey (?) milkshake with Nutella, Marshmallow, Frangelico a something else. Mmm soooo good! Plus I had some Thai lettuce wraps and stuffed mushrooms for everyone to share. PS Apologies again for the crappy photos - they are from my point and shoot because I didn't want to take my good camera around the city.