SAN FRANCISCO

TUESDAY, 28th JUNE.

We made an early start from Santa Rosa this morning, heading for Larkspur on the northern shore of '"The Bay" for the 9.15am, half hour ferry ride to San Francisco with the idea of being able to visit the city without the parking hassle as we could not book in to our motel until 3pm.  It cost us $10.50 each for a return ticket and as we had passed both Angel Island and Alcatraz and had a good view of the Bay Bridge, though could only see either end of the Golden Gate Bridge (the middle was shrouded in fog), we decided against the planned $36 each, 1.5 hour bridge to bridge cruise which offered no more than the ferry ride had.  On arrival at the ferry terminal, we took a tram ride for $1 each senior price to Pier 39 and wandered in and out of shops, had coffee and a snack, then caught another tram to Fishermen's Wharf, did some more wandering, checked out the cable car, decided the queue was way too long and we'd try again tomorrow, trammed into the city, still on our $1 tickets, walked around a little, then went back to the ferry terminal in time for the 3.00pm ferry back to Larkspur. 
Having collected the car from the ginormous car park at Larkspur where we'd parked for the princely sum of $2, we returned to Highway 101 for the drive into San Francisco, travelling across the Golden Gate Bridge which was still not completely visible, to our motel in the quaintly named Tenderloin district.  The sun is shining brightly and it is very warm so we're hoping for much the same tomorrow.