San Francisco

Pier 39 is pretty touristy but fun place unfortunately I was too late in the season to see the thousands of sea lions who come here every year though I did spot a couple a bit into the bay.

The street entertainers were working hard to earn a few dollars for their Christmas shopping.

A pouch photographer using his pups to earn a few dollars.

Enough sweets in this shop even for me though they could have had some more chocolate!!!

Fisherman's Wharf just a bit further along from Pier 39 but as I spent so long in the sweet shop it was closed before I got there!!

Ghiradeli Square near Fisherman's Wharf had a few nice shops and the famous Ghiradeli Chocolate shop.......

The Mission District has a long history going back over 2,00o years when the Yelamu Indians lived here before the Spanish moved in. It is still a multicultural area with a strong Latin American influence and is famous for being the place Mexican food was first introduced in the USA and for it's murals which date back to the Chicano Art Mural Movement of the 1970's.

Despite it's historic appeal and rise in the cost of living here the Mission still seemed to be quite a poor area with run down houses and quite a lot of homeless people.

Mission Dolores (the smaller white church on the left in the top photo) is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco having been built by the missionaries in the 1770's for the purpose of bringing god to the Indians and now houses a museum.

The Bascilla next door to the Mission Dolores was built in 1913 and is still a functioning church.

Every neighbourhood I visited in San Francisco seemed to have it's own distinct atmosphere and that was particularly the case for the lively and colourful area of Castro. This area is thought to be the worlds first and largest Gay neighbourhood.

The shop keepers here even put out free treats for passing dogs :-)

These volunteers were out trying to encourage people to adopt these rescue dogs - as cute as they are I didn't think they would like to live in my backpack!!

In 1977 Harvey Milk was the first openly homosexaul politician to be elected to public office in California (Castro Area supervisor) before being assassinated by a disgruntled fellow colleague who had lost his job. Sean Penn played this part in the movie 'Milk' (worth seeing if you haven't already).

Enviromentally friendly transport.

I liked this sign for a local corner shop.

I climbed the hill in Corona Heights Park and ate my lunch as I enjoyed the views of the city.

You could even see back to the Mission Dolores church and the other areas I had been walking in that morning.

Not sure if this was a mole or just a big mouse it was too quick but you can see it's head sticking out of it's hole (look in the centre of the photo just left of the little mound of mud!!)

In the Corona Heights Park I stumbled accross the Randall Musuem a small Natural History museum - most of the birds in here are local birds that have been rescued which you see flying around SF.

The Haight and Ashbury areas had some nice colourful houses and quirky shops.

And lots of Christmas lovers by the look fo all the xmas decorations.

The Painted Ladies of Alamo Square - this area is a big tourist attraction due to all the colourful houses - the name 'Painted Ladies' is used to describe Vicorian & Edwardian houses that use at least 3 colours of paint to enhance their architecural detail!!

The main cause of water pollution in California comes when heavy rain causes a sewage overflowinto the storm drains picking up any pollutants there and then pushing them straight into the Ocean......so these signs are an attempt to educate people of the dangers to the ocean life.

Saint Ignatius Church which is part of SF University Campus.

Sunset from the University Campus.