wise monkeys abroad

be sure to wear flowers in your hair

Posted on October 5, 2009 Updated on June 2, 2013

When you think of San Francisco, what springs to mind?

• Alcatraz? Yes
• Cable cars? Yes
• Golden Gate Bridge? Yes
• Steep and hilly? Possibly
• Full House? Hmmm….

And this is what we thought before arriving. Together with all the touristy things we look forward to, we associate our travel destinations with a song. It always happens somehow. So true to tradition we can’t help singing: “If you’re going to San Francisco, Be sure to wear flowers in your hair” in the lead up to arriving in San Francisco.

But there is SO much more to San Francisco than flowers in our hair and the famous “Painted Ladies” (or otherwise known as the Victorian/Edwardian homes) – where do we start? It’s the first US city we visit together and we LOVE it.

Do we tell you about how you can enjoy sushi train but instead of plates going around on a conveyor belt, it sails past you on a boat in water? Or how the Chinatown is the biggest outside of Asia and you  can visit the fortune cookie factory? Or that you can eat clam chowder out of a sourdough roll while watching the sea lions relaxing in the sun? The list of “fun things” goes on and on. And the fresh seafood to eat goes on and on. It is very true what people say when they say the servings in the USA are big.

We were only in San Francisco for 1 full day so we booked a Mr Toad’s tour which was a brilliant half day tour around the city. It was lots of fun zippy-ing around in a vintage car and flying down the steep hills with the wind in our hair (picture all the police chases in movies where the car flies over the crest – well that was us!)

Yes, we did do all your must-dos as a tourist here: Lombard St (the crookedest street), Coit Tower, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Mrs Doubtfire’s house…And all the other tourist traps – but how did we get suckered into “fishing” a pearl out of an oyster along Fisherman’s Wharf? Guess it happens! We ended up walking away with about 6 pearls, as after the first one, we fished out double pearls 🙂 Made great gifts for our mums!

It’s definitely a city we will have to visit again and probably for longer because we didn’t get to see much of its surrounds.

Our tip for San Francisco: travel on the cable car early in the day – queues are short or non-existent.

We stayed at King George Hotel and have reviewed it on Tripadvisor.

View more pictures from our trips in Photo Gallery