Big Four-O Trip - Adventure into the Unknown! - Day 3

[Nettings]

The Cast

Gez - 40th - Always wanted to go to Vegas for his 40th!
Me - Clarks - Liking this travelling lark!
Jack - 13 - Laid back, starting to show some hint of interest!
Ben -11 - Forgotten all about the flying bit!

This was the 2nd day of our hop-on, hop-off bus tour – the weather looked a bit changeable but armed with our trusty ponchos we seated ourselves upstairs in the open

Even though this was going to be an “all” day excursion, hence a lot of hopping on and off, we only in fact hopped off once (due to Ben ending up wearing a drink :S) – but at least the one hop-off we did manage was the Golden Gate Bridge.

As I say the weather did look changeable and when we initially arrived, even though it was clear, it was pretty chilly and threatening rain. However, once we’d got onto the Bridge itself, the sunshine appeared and our walk over was fabulous. Taking in all the views of the Bridge, the coast, the city and the little porpoises playing in the Bay – it was spectacular.

As I say, Ben ended up wearing his drink, so we decided to give up for the day and head back so he could change. We then “chilled” in the room and then went out mid afternoon and headed for Coit Tower. This is a tower built in honour of the fire service (it’s in the shape of a fire hose) and was given to the City by a thankful rescuee.

The walk was challenging – up the winding streets of San Fran but the view once we’d reached the top of the tower (luckily reached via an elevator! ), was fantastic. A 360 degree view of the whole City and Bay including views over Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge.

After our visit here, we walked down into China Town to join the Chinese New Year celebrations.

The neighbourhood was heaving and bustling and we found a spot to wait for the parade. It was a long wait, but we finally got to see some of the fabulous “dragons” and demi-god costumes made famous by such parades.

I must admit we didn’t stay until the end, because by this time the boys were frozen and (to be honest) once they’d seen a couple of dragons, it all became the same for them :S So I met up with them and we walked from China Town into the Italian District (they are right next to one another).

We found a restaurant called Calzone’s and had a meal here – it was a lovely, Italian themed restaurant and the food was excellent.

[Iloveflorida]

Loving all the pictures.

[welshwiz]

Another amazing day!

[JoJo88]

Brilliant day Shame the spilt drink stopped your tour in it's tracks but looks like you filled your day up anyway

[mrsbigbeak]

Nice pics x

[WileyCoyote]

Another brilliant day - your trippy is SO making me want to be there now - love the Chinatown pics and wow, that walk to Coit Tower , how did your legs cope ?

[Nettings]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Another brilliant day - your trippy is SO making me want to be there now - love the Chinatown pics and wow, that walk to Coit Tower , how did your legs cope ?

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Well... I used the excuse that I had photos to take, so kept stopping to "take photos" and luckily inside Coit Tower there is an elevator! Tho it is a snug fit...

[Guest]

More great photos

[Guest]

Great day and fab photo's

[TinkTatoo]

Another great day and having just recently climbed up the Monument in London I am delighted to hear that Coit Tower has a lift