Saturday, May 20, 2006
San Francisco, Pier 39 / Palace of Fine Arts
Saturday was forecasted to be cloudy and cold so we drove into San Francisco with the idea of hitting some of the museums. However, upon arrival, the sun was out and the weather was absolutely perfect - something hard to come by in San Fran. So, we changed our plans and hit Pier 39 instead.
Pier 39 is basically a boardwalk extending out a pier on the San Francisco Bay. It attracts a bazillion tourist every year, and we were some of them. We enjoyed brousing through the shops, watching a street performer, and trying a crepe from a local vendor. One of the famous attractions at the end of the pier are the hundreds of sea lions that congregate on floating docks. They bark incessantly....Natalie thought they were great and cried when we had to leave.
We also took the opportunity to visit the Palace of Fine Arts. Located near the Marina, the Palace of Fine Arts was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (a world's fair). It is absolutely amazing and is a must see - easy to include on a trip to the Golden Gate Bridge. Reminiscent of the structures of old Rome, it was hard to imagine we were in the United States instead of Europe. We enjoyed lazily walking among the columns and resting in the grass. Check out the pics in the May 2006 pictures in the Picture Gallery.