Hokay, here goes. The whirlwind US holiday. So after settling in at our hotel, the next day’s itinerary was jam-packed with activities.

We set off pretty early to take a walk down Fisherman’s Wharf, but nothing much was open. Walked pass the USS Pampanito, a World War II submarine. Had a glimpse of the Alcatraz from Pier 39 and spent some time checking out the sun bathing sea lions. It’s so bizarre, these sea lions just swim into the marina and plonk themselves on to the wooden berths.

The Pier 31 was a nice stroll, lots of little tourist shops, street performers and restaurants. A bit early for lunch, so we watched a magic show, and tried on some crazy hats at Krazy Kaps.

Walking further down the street, we spotted the all famous In-n-Out Burger joint. I can’t begin to tell you how many friends have ranted and raved about this fast food outlet. They keep telling me its a must try and it’s only available in the West Coast. I think out of 10 people I spoke to about our holiday, 8 of them said we HAVE to try this burger. So we did.

With so much hype and expectations, the burger and fries DID live up to its reputation. There’s not much to choose from, it’s either a Double-double, hamburger or cheeseburger. But seriously, it’s so good, that’s all they need to serve.

By the way IN-N-OUT Burger is California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand.

After lunch we decided to take the City Sightseeing tour bus around the bay and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We went through the Marina district, a brief stop at the Palace of Fine Arts, continue on to Pesidio which is the area for the rich FILTHY rich, then it was a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.

A bit about the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s not red by the way, it’s actually International Orange! Here are a few ‘did you knows’.

After the bus ride, there was still time to fit in another very San Francisco experience, riding on the cable cars!

The San Francisco cable car system is the world’s last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system, and is an icon of San Francisco, California. The San Francisco cable cars are one of two moving National Historic Landmarks. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, their small service area and premium fares for single rides make them more of a tourist attraction.
credit: Wikipedia

It was a cool experience, and definately a very touristy one. Wayne looked like he was having fun hanging out of the sides of the cable car.

To finish off the day, we walked back to the Fisherman’s Wharf to have dinner. Apparently, you can’t go to Fisherman’s Wharf and not try their clam chowder and boiled crab, so we had both. After such a long exhausting day, we retired happily and snuggly under the cold sheets of our hotel room bed.