We had to be down at the bike place by 9.30am for our guided tour across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. We set off at 8.30 so we’d have plenty of time for a coffee.

San Francisco is largely laid out in a grid pattern and the bike place is on Taylor St down at Fisherman’s Wharf. Taylor intersects with California, which is where our hotel is so we (I) thought we’d walk up the 3 blocks (actually 5) and then all the way down Taylor. Well the map is flat and SF is not. We knew it was up hill to Taylor but hadn’t appreciated just how steep it was. Still, we had a little glow of achievement having reached the top. Little did we know that Taylor is a bit like a roller coaster with a super steep climb before it actually descends down to the harbour. Taylor goes through a suburb called Nob Hill and I can only assume that’s because rich people live/d there. The buildings are large and grand in a shabby chic kind of way. I wasn’t stopping for photos and we only just got there at 9.30 but still managed a quick coffee before setting off at 10am with 16 others including 3 from Auckland. Mike got some good photos along Taylor and will insert them later from his camera.

The bike place was disorganised to say the least but the bikes worked well. Our guide was Hannah and she gave some very basic safety instructions and then set off at a reasonable pace. We were travelling along the streets at first and if you stopped for pedestrians or stop signs you’d lose the group – and several of us did along the way.

We came down to this marina area where Hannah pointed out some landmark buildings. I don’t have photos of the landmarks but do have some historic piers with bridge in the background. Try and imagine landmark buildings ?Then we headed around the coast and down the road to this amazing dome place that looks like its straight out of Greece. It is called the Palace of Fine Arts but is evidently now a bird and plant sanctuary. It was built for the 1915 World Exhibition and was then demolished and later rebuilt as a permanent structure. It is surrounded by some rather large and lovely homes. Just nearby is Crissy field which lies beside the sea and was used as an airfield for years. They had an air show from there for the 1915 Exhibition and there are big old photos on the hangers showing early aviation scenes.

The entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge is in the middle of Presidio National Park and is a shortish climb up from the coast. On Saturdays the left hand footpath is just for use by cyclists. Of course the regulars that are training or just being ‘special’ hoon along yelling out “on the left” as they go flying past. Seems to me they can see what’s happening in front a lot easier than the plodders who are being passed but guess patience is not much help if you’re training.

The bridge is an amazing structure. It’s bright red and has the 2 big spans. It’s way shorter than the Bay Bridge which is evidently the busiest in the US. We got no information about the Golden Gate Bridge. Don’t know why it was built or when but the road on the other side winds fairly steeply down to Sausalito which is a pretty coastal tourist town that is built along the hillside and waterfront and faces south. We ended our tour in this park where we were told where to find the bike racks and where the ferries go from and that was that. You have to padlock the bikes to the actual racks and will get ticketed if you try to park next to a parking meter or fence. We found some racks along the street a bit and then made our way to this quaint Mexican restaurant called the Salsalito. It was very beachy and had great food. We had shrimp ceviche with avocado to start and then mixed chicken and shrimp fajitas. Totally yum but loads of food even if it was the first we’d had (not counting the donut we shared with the coffee ?) all day.

We decided we’d walk back to the bikes and check out the ferry. Neither of us could face the very steep haul back up to the the bridge and it was boiling hot. Thank goodness we had water and sunscreen. We just missed a ferry and queued out in the open with all the other cyclists for nearly 40 minutes getting thoroughly crisped. When the ferry came they loaded all the bikes and riders first. They just stack the bikes together standing up in two lines down the middle of the lower deck. At the other end the pedestrians go first and you just unstack your bike in reverse order. The boat trip itself was very pleasant and there is a great view across to the shore. When we got back we returned our bikes and decided to walk up to Coit Tower which is a monument on top of this hill with amazing views. We stopped en route for beers at this great pub by a park at the base of the hill and then made the climb. It was shorter than Taylor but steeper and in places had stairs. The people that live along there must be mountain goats. We watched a group of guys skateboard down almost from the top. They were on regular skateboards but some are electric and go up hills. Funny!

We had a long wait to go up the lift to the top but the views were excellent and Mike took some great photos. The landscape shots are too much for the iPhone to handle though.

We then made our way back down the hill and up the other side to Chinatown where we found a restaurant for dinner. It was full of Chinese people as well as some tourists. The waitress helped us order and we got a spicy beef dish with rice and baby bok choy. It was a Szechuan restaurant and the spicy beef was very spicy but yum. By the time we left it was after 8 and already getting cold. Only a short walk mostly downhill to the Omni and then a nice bath. We will sleep well.

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