9/1 Day in San Francisco

I had company from New York arrive today, so we headed to San Francisco, one of my favorite places.  It was sunny and cool, which was also very nice. Found a good parking space at Fisherman's Wharf.  Tip: if you go online, you can get a much better deal than the $12 an hour weekend rate.  I paid $30 for all day parking! 

We had clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls here.  Wish I had taken some photos inside.

Bought all-day tickets to the cable cars.  Unfortunately, it was very crowded this day and long waits for these.  Should have planned it for a weekday. 

This is the cable car museum.  

The right side here is a workshop for repairing and making parts for these very old cable cars. 

These big wheels control the speed of the cables.

There are four separate cables, one for each cable car line. Note the names of the lines on the steel girder.  Way at the other end are wheels that move back and forth and control the tension on the cables as they stretch.

One of the oldest of the cable cars. 

And just some random photos of the city.  

Our cable car got stuck at the top of a hill.  After a few minutes, this big truck with a board across the front came along and gave us a gentle push so we could coast down the hill!  I wonder if they keep such "wreckers" on call or if this one just happened along at the right time. 

We were going to eat at Pier 39, but you could barely walk through the crowds and we were worn out, so we decided to head home.