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    <tr><td class="DateDiv">November 24, 2006</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="TitleDiv">Walking in San Francisco</td></tr>
    <tr><td class="StoryDiv">

<p>Van Ness Ave seems to be one of the main streets in San Francisco, but walking from the hotel to the shore was not very exciting. It ended in the Aquatic Park, which is a good place to take pictures of Alcatraz prison and Golden Gate Bridge or with them in the background. I wasn't very impressed with Ghirardelli Square (a shopping center built in a former factory). While eating clam chowder in a bread bowl at Boudin (very good bread, but that was about it), I kept wondering why Fisherman's Wharf was so famous. In my opinion, taking a cruise is the only good reason to visit it. At this chapter we were not in a very good shape: due to booking problems on the <a href = "http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/">Alcatraz Cruises website</a>, we couldn't buy in advance tickets to visit the former prison and they were sold out when we got there. We settled for the next good thing and took a <a href = "http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/baycruise_route.htm">Blue Fleet cruise</a>.</p>

<p>Not only it was cold and windy for a cruise, we couldn't even hear the voice which was supposed to give us more information about what we were seeing. We started from Pier 41 (where the seals supervised our departure) cruised a little beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, turned around the Alcatraz Island (where we envied those who, for just a couple of more dollars, got to also visit the prison) and returned to Pier. The admission to USS Pampanito (a WWII Submarine), and USS Jeremiah O’Brien (which they advertise as the only unaltered operational WWII Ship) was a clear rip off, so we saw them from the outside and skipped the "opportunity" to go onboard. The Musée Mécanique (free admission), located on the same Pier (45) is a good excuse to make money with old mechanical toys and slots.</p>

<p>The Embarcadero is a nice street, with palm trees and lights in the middle. The old Ferry Buiding had the same fate as Ghirardelli: it became a shopping center. Since shopping is not what I would call a favorite activity of mine, I wasn't very impressed with with this one either. Very close to the Ferry Building there are other three blocks of shopping opportunities: Embarcadero Center. A couple of blocks away is one of the most interesting buildings in terms of architecture: <a href = "http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=transamericapyramid-sanfrancisco-ca-usa">Transamerica Pyramid</a>. From there we didn't notice anything special on the way to <a href = "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1 Telegraph Hill Blvd, San Francisco, CA&z=19&ll=37.802199,-122.405854&t=k">Coit Tower</a>, except for the increasing slopes of the streets. It was really nice to see San Francisco right before the sunset, then watch the city lights fight the night. To put a checkmark next to one more attraction, we returned to the hotel through Union Square. Amazed by the view of a sea of people, we sat down on some stairs staring at them. The tree lightning was celebrated by Macy's while its employees were on strike in front of the store. Something tells me that the media may have covered the former and payed less attention if at all to the latter.</p></td></tr>

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<tr><td class="StoryDiv">
This is part of our Thankksgiving vacation in San Francisco:
<UL>
<LI><a href = "1123.html">Driving to San Francisco</a></LI>
<LI>Walking in San Francisco</LI>
<LI><a href = "1125.html">Driving in San Francisco</a></LI>
<LI><a href = "1126.html">Driving from San Francisco</a></LI>
</UL>
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