Between Christmas and the New Year, we headed to San Francisco to get a break before the start of the New Year. I previously have only been in San Francisco briefly, stopping at a few attractions whilst driving through. So, this trip allowed a slower paced opportunity to explore more of the city. We hired bikes for 24 hours to help us get around more of the city. We started the morning by visiting the Coit tower, and viewing its views over San Francisco, before heading down the hill to the Piers and visiting the Pier 39 sealions. After a lunch of chili inside sourdough bridge we cycled along the coastal parks and crossed the Golden Gate bridge and headed for Sausalito. Sausalito was a little bit of a tourist trap plus the line to get a ferry back to San Francisco was nearly an hour long, so we decided to cycle back and visit the Golden Gate Park.
Thankfully, we had our bikes for a full 24 hours so we could get up and visit the Pier 39 sea lions again in the morning before the crowds arrived. They really are a sight and noise to behold, so many of them and some of them are so big, all bathing in the sunlight and playing in the water.
On our way (going the wrong direction) to Napa we visited the Winchester Mystery House, which is situated just above San Jose in Silicon Valley. The house was built by Sarah Winchester the wife and heir to the Winchester gun company and its fortune. Being ‘haunted’ by back luck, her young daughter and husband dying, she built a house to appease the spirits. Plus, in order to support the good spirits and hide from the bad spirits she kept employing workers to built and develop the house 24 hours a day until see died. This led to a house with 160 plus rooms, which contained doors to nowhere and fake cupboards and many other interesting features. The house also had many other quirks such as low riser steps to allow Ms Winchester to move around the property with bad arthritis and many features built around the number 13, such as adding additional holes in sinks and lights on chandeliers. It was a very interesting place to visit and with a new filmed based on the story starring Helen Mirren set for release in February, it was an interesting time to visit.
Robin Bell 