← All articles · United States · 15 June 2013

San Francisco

Three days in San Francisco in June 2013: cable cars over the hills, the Golden Gate on foot, a sobering trip to Alcatraz and shrimp at Pier 39.

We gave San Francisco three days in June 2013, which was enough to fall for it completely: a city where the public transport is a fairground ride, the scenery keeps photobombing, and the most popular attraction is a prison.

Ride the running boards

Cable car tracks running down a steep San Francisco street between shops and trees towards downtown towers — Cable car tracks doing their best rollercoaster impression.

View from a cable car passing the Gothic towers of Grace Cathedral, with another cable car approaching on the tracks ahead — Passing Grace Cathedral, with the next car climbing up to meet us.

Looking down California Street from a moving cable car as the tracks drop between office towers towards the bay — California Street falls away towards the bay. Hold on is not a suggestion.

Inga smiling aboard a cable car beside the yellow fare sign reading six dollars one way — Six dollars one way in June 2013, and worth every cent.

The bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge spanning the strait with cyclists on the path below and the Marin Headlands behind — The classic view from the southern overlook, and not a wisp of the famous fog.

Inga and Dileep posing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on a clear June day — We queued for this spot and would happily queue again.

Inga reaching up to hold the suspension cables on the Golden Gate Bridge walkway, with traffic alongside and the bay far below — Out on the deck, personally testing the suspender ropes. They held.

The Rock

Inga standing beside the rusted Alcatraz Island sign of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area — Checking in at Alcatraz Island.

Two open prison cells with green walls, numbered 112 and 114, behind cream painted bars in the Alcatraz cell house — Cells 112 and 114. Home comforts not included.

Inga leaning on the bars from inside an Alcatraz prison cell — Inga got five minutes for excessive souvenir shopping.

Black menu board in the Alcatraz dining hall dated 21 March 1963, listing dry cereals, steamed wheat, scrambled eggs, milk, fruit, toast, bread and butter — The dining hall board still lists the breakfast of 21 March 1963, the morning the prison closed for good.

Pier 39 and the damage report

Dileep standing beneath the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co sign at the entrance to Pier 39 — Lunch at Bubba Gump on Pier 39: shrimp done every way the film promised.

Inga holding several shopping bags outside the lit Macy's storefront at night — The Union Square damage report, filed outside Macy's at closing time.

Three days, one city, and the firm conclusion that we had underbooked. San Francisco earned every bit of its hype.