Travelleity: Zephyr Trip: Day 7

The San Francisco Ferry Terminal

On board the Larkspur Ferry

Wanting a full day in the city, Cas & I took a ferry into San Francisco from Larkspur. Travel tip: double-check your rental car's internal clock- I ended up sprinting to the ferry because our clock was running 10 minutes behind! Weather-wise: despite a rainy forecast [I brought 2 umbrellas with us] the day turned out to be warm and sunny.

Yank Sing dumplings

The ferry dropped us off at the San Francisco Ferry Building, and we snagged a couple of transit Day Passes to allow us to maximize our streetcar/cable car rides. After hiking a couple blocks to the Rincon Center [also an old WPA Post office], we admired its 4-story indoor waterfall and then lunched at Yank Sing. The deem-sum style lunch was delicious, especially the house specialty soup-filled-dumplings!

On board Powell Street line

We caught a streetcar on our way to Union Square, and found a nearby fabric store to add to Cassie's growing collection. We took the Powell Street cable car line up through the center of town, and stopped off at the [free!] Cable Car Museum. Here you learn how San Francisco managed to keep its historic cable car fleet alive, and can see the dynamos that power the entire cable system.

The Buena Vista

After taking the Hyde Street cable car down to its turntable, we stopped for a beverage at The Buena Vista- where the Irish Coffee made its American debut. We had a good seat at the bar, near the bartender pouring entire lines of Irish Coffee. Tasty as I remembered, too.

Yum!

After getting our warmup drinks, we headed to Ghirardelli Square to grab some fudge and ice cream sundaes. We decided to wander down towards Fisherman's Wharf, and swung by the [free!] SF National Maritime Museum. Pier 39 was nearby, so we stopped to check in on the resident Sea Lions. While most were lazing about in the sun, there was one small pup that seemed to be on a mission to slither over all of his pals.

A Taylor Street cable car ride brought us near Little Italy, and we had an authentic dinner at Firenze by Night. Walking east to the Embarcadero, we caught our last streetcar back to the Ferry Terminal, and ferried back to Larkspur- hooray for public transit!