The Filbert Steps, San Francisco

One of my friends is flying to see her daughter in Berkeley, California, this week, and will be sightseeing in San Francisco while she is there.  I was telling her about my trip to San Francisco this past summer (you can read about my trip under my blog's California label), and I realized I never had a chance to blog about the Filbert Steps on Telegraph Hill.  So let's leave the snow and cold of New York City for this post, and return to the bright blue sky and water of the city by the bay.

Telegraph Hill is one of San Francisco's forty four hills, with an elevation of 275 feet, and it is primarily a residential area in the North Beach neighborhood. Coit Tower is located in Pioneer Park at the top of Telegraph Hill,

The two hundred and ten foot tower was built in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the city of San Francisco. Visitors can pay to take an elevator to the top of the tower where there is a three hundred and sixty degree view of the city from windows at the top.

Above and below are some of the wonderful views that can be seen from Coit Tower.

Just as there are wild parrots in Brooklyn, New York, there are also wild parrots on Telegraph Hill, and when you visit the area you can hear them chattering in the trees, especially in the morning and evenings.

Located on  the eastern side of Telegraph Hill, the Filbert Steps perhaps one of the most famous of San Francisco's stairways.

The stairs are impressive for their length, their wonderful views of San Francisco, the well tended secret gardens on either side, and the beautiful and historic homes along the way. If you are a tourist in San Francisco it is a wonderful walk to take!

 A view of the beautiful bay from the steps.

Looking back at some of the steps and the Coit Tower high above in the distance.

My husband continues the descent down the steps.

 Some of the beautiful and unusual flowers we saw along the way.

You can see how steep the steps are at times.

A collage of more of the steps as we made our way down the hill.

As we walked down past many homes and gardens on the hill, it made me wonder what it would feel like to live in one of those homes and to have such a beautiful view of the bay outside.  It also made me wonder how it would feel to have a steep climb up and down the hill everyday, as some of the homes can only be reached by the steps.

We made it to the end of the steps on Sansome Street. This is the view looking up at the end of Filbert Steps, or the beginning if you chose to walk up. We saw some hearty souls walking up the steps, but I definitely think it's a more pleasant trip to walk down them. Of course you can drive up on a road to the top of Telegraph Hill, and back down, or take a taxi, but taking the steps can be one of the more memorable experiences you will have when you visit San Francisco. I hope this post will convince my friend to seek them out!

I'm linking this post to "Outdoor Wednesday" on Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer. Thanks, Susan, for hosting every week.

Muir Woods, California

There is so much more I could show you about the days we recently spent in San Francisco, but I'll save it for a future date. Now it's time to cross over the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County, California.  I felt fortunate to have had one day that was absolutely cloudless during our five day stay in San Francisco, so that I could get these wonderful photos of the bridge. (all photos will enlarge when clicked on, and then again)

A splice of bridge cable was on display at a look out point, that has some interesting facts about it on the sign.  I overheard someone asking why the bridge is called the "Golden Gate," when it is actually orange in color, and I found the answer on this fact page about the bridge which states: "The real "Golden Gate" is the strait that the bridge spans. It was first named "Chrysopylae," meaning 'golden gate,' by Captain John C. Fremont in 1846."

We left San Francisco in the early morning, and the bridge was shrouded in fog that morning.  It was fun to drive through the fog!

We drove to the Muir Woods National Monument, which is located 11 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.  On January 9, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt used the powers of the Antiquities Act to create Muir Woods National Monument. William Kent, who donated the land for the monument, requested that it be named for noted conservationist John Muir.

John Muir described the majestic coast redwoods of Muir Woods this way: "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world."

It was a cool and quiet place the morning we visited. We walked along the paths under the trees in awe of their size, age, and beauty.

They towered over us; majestic trees that have lived hundreds to thousands of years!

It can be hard to grasp their size from photos until you see how insignificant this one made me!

We took the time to walk on a 1 1/2 hour loop trail that wound up and around the park.

It allowed us to enjoy the splendor of the trees and the diversity of the insects, wildlife, flora and fauna in the forest.  It was so peaceful!

  "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

~John Muir

"Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky" ~ Kahlil Gibran

An information placard about the Kent Tree, which was once the tallest tree in the park. A storm damaged it and it ultimately fell in 2003.

The Kent Tree is now feeding the forest and the cycle will continue.

A slice of a tree that was 1,021 years old when it fell. The inscriptions show events that happened in history during different ages of the tree.

An interesting informational placard about the tree slice (double click to enlarge to read).

I felt very safe and loved in the shelter of this tree!  Muir Woods is a beautiful place to visit.

Later in the day we drove on to the vineyards of Sonoma County. Just look at all the luscious bunches of grapes waiting to be harvested, practically dripping from the bottoms of the vines!

Join me again very soon to see more about this area of the wine country in California.


I'm linking this post to Susan's "Outdoor Wednesday" on her blog A Southern Daydreamer, and Cathy's "Adventure Express" on her blog A Bit of the Blarney, and Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday Summer School --the color today is violet -- I think those luscious grapes qualify, don't you?  

Please visit all the blogs mentioned to see their contribution and links to all the blogs participating in the events!  Thanks Susan, Cathy, and Jenny!

Foggy San Francisco Views from Sausalito

One delightfully cool foggy San Francisco morning my husband and I took a Golden Gate ferry ride over to Sausalito to spend a few hours there sightseeing.

We sailed away from the historic Ferry Building located along the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street. Opened in 1898, the Ferry Building's 245-foot-tall clock tower modeled after the 12th century bell tower in the Seville Cathedral in Spain, and it was once the highest building in San Francisco.  At its peak, as many as 50,000 people a day commuted by ferry.

The inside of the ferry building has been renovated to contain shops of all kinds, offering everything from artisan cheeses to the freshest of local fish. Restaurants and cafes serve cuisine representing the quality and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s best chefs.

I've been smiling at comments that I've been receiving lately that tell me that I am a good tour guide.  That is such a nice compliment but in reality I am just an enthusiastic traveler and I get very excited about seeing new things! Who else would practically hang off the back of a fast moving ferry to get a shot like this?  I love to learn more about places I visit, and blogging has given me a wonderful venue to read, research and transfer the information I find to each location photo in a travel journal. I'm learning along with all who read my posts!

I loved this photo of the foggy weather that seems to hang over San Francisco many mornings and evenings during the summer months.  The city is bordered on three sides by water, between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. Summer temperatures of the surrounding cities can have temperatures easily reaching into the low 90s to low 100s F. The heat produced by inland temperatures, combined with the cool water of the Bay and Pacific Ocean, causes the air near the ground to cool to dew point temperature, causing water in the air to condense, and this creates the fog seen lying over the city.

The ferry passes the Island of Alcatraz, also known as "The Rock" It is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and contains the site of the first lighthouse and US built fort on the West Coast, the infamous federal penitentiary.  I took a tour of the Alcatraz Federal Prison on my last trip to San Francisco. It was functioning as a prison from 1934-1963, and was the subject of many Hollywood movies.  It is a fascinating place to visit, and a very popular tourist destination, so if you wish to see it order your ferry tickets ahead of time as they often sell out!

Our ferry is approaching the beautiful water front city of Sausalito, in Marin County, California. You can watch a nice video about Sausalito here.

Sausalito is also accessible from San Francisco by driving to it over the Golden Gate Bridge, which you can see in the distance in this photo.

There was still some lingering fog over Sausalito the morning we arrived but it soon dissipated.  The city is often compared to the Mediterranean.  What do you think?  We happened to be riding the ferry with a large group of Italian tourists.  When we approached Sausalito many of them exclaimed:" Che Bella!" which translates in English to "How beautiful!"

Another view of the fog blanketing San Francisco from the shoreline of Sausalito. Just a small part of the Bay Bridge that connects San Francisco to Oakland is visible on the left.

My husband and I spent  a few hours walking along the shoreline promenade in Sausalito, visiting the many boutique shops and art galleries along the way.

We sat by the marina for awhile and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful day.........

..... as we watched the sailboats drift by.

On the return ferry ride to San Francisco we saw much more of the Golden Gate Bridge as the fog had almost lifted.

In the photo above you can see some of the steep hill streets of San Francisco

The Financial Center comes into view along with the tallest and most recognizable skyscraper, the pyramid Transamerica Building.  This web site has many interesting FAQ's about the building.

We can also see the 284-foot high Telegraph Hill which has the 210 foot the Coit Tower on top. Someday in the future I'll show you the view from the top of the tower and our walk down Telegraph Hill's Filbert Steps, perhaps one of the most famous of San Francisco's stairways. I feel a kinship with Telegraph Hill because it is also famous for the wild parrots that live there.  I'm sure many people would also be surprised to learn that wild parrots also live in Brooklyn, New York, where I live,  See my blog post about them here.

We are back to sunny skies over the Port of San Francisco's Ferry Building.  It was a wonderful day, but of course dinner was awaiting ....

......and we dined in this wonderful little restaurant, that came highly recommended, called Wexler's, located in the Financial District at 568 Sacramento Street, between Leidesdorff Street & Montgomery Street.

Cozy and intimate inside, it was filled with lots of young and hip diners....

...and it had a beautiful bar area.

We were very pleased with our dinner! Everything was outstanding! Wexler's is famous for their gourmet California barbeque and they have a menu full of wonderful choices which changes seasonally to reflect what is fresh in the markets. We could not chose between the delicious sounding appetizers so we shared three of them!  I'm sorry for the blurriness of the photographs but I did not have my camera lens set correctly for low light.
From top middle of the photo collage above there is "BBQ Scotch Eggs" served with house made hot sauce and sweet tea gastrique. Next was the "BBQ California Quail" served over baby mustard greens, with a warm shallot vinaigrette and smoked blueberry-tarragon jam. Second row left is the "Smokey Chicken Liver Mousse" served with smoked onion gelée, pearl onion marmalade, golden raisins, and knead patisserie brioche.  We actually dived into the liver mousse so quickly when it was served that we almost forgot to take a photo, so it is missing an edge.
Our entrees were (middle lower photo) "Smoked Short Ribs" with summer squash aigre-doux, mashed potatoes, and (lower right photo) "BBQ au jus Cornmeal Crusted Skate" with pulled pork stuffing, savoy cabbage, whole grain mustard, and crème fraîche.  Obviously we were too full for dessert, but there were many nice selections on the menu.  If you are visiting San Francisco I highly recommend that you make a reservation to dine for lunch or dinner at Wexler's, as I think you'll really enjoy their unique and delicious cuisine!

There is so much of the color blue in this post I've decided to add it to Smiling Sally's blog "Blue Monday" event!  I hope you'll visit her today and enjoy the funny cartoons she's posted, and to find the links of other blogs participating today.  Thanks Sally!