San Francisco

Of course, three days wasn't (weren't?) enough to visit a city like San Francisco but I gave it a good try, and in the process took pictures of most of the things tourists are supposed to take pictures of. The hotel where I stayed is right on the waterfront (the Embarcadero) just steps away from the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge.

The City has done a great job of beautifying the waterfont for modern use and a stroll of a mile or two from the hotel turns up what follows.

"Between the Ferry Building and the end of Market Street in San Francisco sits an unusual fountain. It is locally known as the “Vaillancourt Fountain” but the sculptor, Armand Vaillancourt, named it “Québec libre!” on the night before the inauguration day of the fountain in 1971. Armand Vaillancourt is a French sculptor, painter and performance artist born on September 3, 1929 in the city of Black Lake, Quebec, Canada. “Québec libre!” which is in French and when translated to English mean “Free Quebec!”. Armand gave the sculpture such a name to show his support for the Quebec sovereignty movement and more largely, the support for the freedom of all people in Quebec." (found on the Internet)

Among the things which surprised me about San Francisco:

* How cool the weather was for the beginning of August. I wore a jacket almost all the time.

* How friendly and helpful the people were.

* How thoughtful the public transportation system is to seniors and the disabled

*That I didn't see much really "way out", other than a tiger-man in the line-up at McDonald's
(picture to come)

The other surprising thing for me is how inexpensive it is to fly from Buffalo. I have been using Hotwire for hotel and flight bookings and find it GREAT!

I haven't quite got the hang of moving pictures yet but thought I'd post it anyway! It's "Views From The Embarcadero"".