This October we were lucky to go on a trip to California, our first as a family! 

Our first stop: San Francisco. We had an entire day to explore the city and kicked it off with a cable cart ride.

We took the Powell-Hyde Line from Market Street to the top of Lombard Street. As we walked down the “crookedest street in the world” we had the opportunity to see a few cars driving down, one particular pick-up truck going a bit fast (must have been a local), which was quite entertaining.

We continued our stroll through the beautiful Russian Hill neighborhood towards Fisherman’s Wharf.

Once there, we walked around and explored a few sights, like the USS Pampanito.

We also visited Pier 39 and saw (and heard) the sea lions.

After that we had a quick snack at Boudin Bakery before heading out on a boat tour of San Francisco Bay. It was glorious to be out on the water and see the sights from that point of view. We went underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, which provided a great opportunity for a closer look, and also saw Alcatraz and San Francisco’s historic waterfront.

We then headed to what was probably the most entertaining part of our day: Musée Mécanique. This antique penny arcade was a real surprise to me, I must admit I didn’t expect to laugh so hard and have such fun! We thoroughly enjoyed trying out the different arcade machines, from old, crazy looking ones, to some that we played with as kids and were excited to introduce our son to. The number one choice for our little guy was, without a doubt, Atari’s Pole Position.

When we were ready for lunch we took a street car to the Ferry Building Marketplace, where we had a delicious meal at The Slanted Door. We explored the stores inside the market, spent more time that we thought we would particularly at The Gardener (so many cool gadgets!) and then grabbed an ice cream and sat outside to enjoy the chocolate and the sunshine.

We decided to end our day at a playground nearby at Sue Bierman Park, where our little guy played happily. Finally, we took a street car back to the Market Street area. It was a busy time of day, and as we squeezed ourselves into the street car, our kid  described it best, saying: “there is almost no more room in here!”.

We walked back to our hotel amazed at how much we had done and seen in one day. San Francisco was a wonderful way to start our trip!