There’s no two ways about it: the best way to see a city is on foot. We’ve done the rest, from private car and driver to small group excursions to mega bus tours and hop-on hop-off buses. We’ve done motorized toc-tocs and pedal bikes. River boats. You name it. But if you want to get a real feel for a town you’ve gotta expend some shoe leather. 

That’s what we’ve done today, leaving the St. Francis a little before 8. As I stand here in line at Ben and Jerry’s near Fisherman’s wharf at 5 PM (double scoop Cherry García in waffle cone = lunch) we have done 20,667 steps, 8.85 miles and 180 flights climbed. We still have our harbor cruise and dinner at the Franciscan Crab at 7 yet to go. We’re going to slack off and Uber it back after dinner. 

The original plan was to hoof it down to Pier 39 to see the stinkin’ sea lions before the tourist crowds gathered and then go to Mama’s for breakfast (“You won’t have to eat for a week,” the guide blog says). But by the time I had a fix for loading pictures into the blog (ask me sometime over a beer) we decide to skip the lions and go direct to Mama’s. 

Bad idea. Mama’s didn’t open until 9; we didn’t want to cool our heels for :30. Better idea: the guy at Mama’s directed us to Pat’s a few blocks away where we had a delightful breakfast of mimosa and crab cakes Benedict. Perfect. 

And guess what? Pat’s is only a few blocks – uphill – from the famous really curvy section of Lombard street. We drove down it 30-odd years ago with the kids. I climbed up this time. Judy held down the fort at the base. 

Next stop: the Ghirardelli chocolate shop (shared chocolate chip cookie and a bag of assorted dark chocolate pieces). The park just across the street had nice views of the Golden Gate Bridge with tons of swimmers swimming from buoy to buoy in a sheltered portion of the bay. We wished Reagan was with us to give it a try. 

We sauntered up the Embarcadero, planning on reaching Pier 33 in time for our 1 PM sailing to Alcatraz. We covered the stinkin’ sea lions on the way. Not too many tourists and the winds were favorable. 

We made Pier 33 with time to spare only to figure out that the Internet entrepreneur I booked the tickets with pulled a fast one and moved us to the 2 PM departure without warning. I didn’t receive the tickets until last night, and then from an email address I didn’t recognize. Grrrr. Let’s see. With a 2 PM departure we’ll. Be back by 5. With luck we can make the 5 PM boat cruise and thus be able to make 7 PM dinner. Ok. We’ll go with it. 

Bonus: with an hour to kill I can climb Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower while Judy does ice cream. It was a hike, only 0.3 google miles but all up hill. Turns out Coit Tower is closed, which was ok by me since it meant I could claim bragging rights without having to climb the blamed thing, which we’d done before with the kid’s way back when. 

Alcatraz, which again we did before, was great. We did the iPhone-based audio tour of the cell blocks. Well done narrative carefully designed and controlled to avoid big crowds. The grounds are quite beautiful with lots of flowers in bloom and nesting gulls and cormorants. Beautiful views of the city too. it’s hard to realize we were 15 and 16 years old when Alcatraz was closed in 1963. 

We made it back at 4:45 with a 15-minute walk to make the 5:00 departure. Inspiration: I hired a bike cab guy to take us. Arrived with 10 minutes to spare. 

But the info I received last night said, in the fine print, that the voucher needs to be converted into a ticket. Shame on me for not reading the fine print. Shame on the Internet guy for sending the details so late. As much as we cursed the Internet guy we wouldn’t have been able to do Alcatraz if he hadn’t bought up tickets for resale, bundled with bay cruise tickets. Smart fellow even if his execution leaves a lot to be desired.

But bottom line, we made the 6 PM boat, had a nice bay cruise including a brief pass under the Golden Gate Bridge (it’s really rough and windy out there) and got to Franciscan Crab at 7:01. 

We weren’t seated until 7::30 (Mother’s Day diners were dawdling over their food) but it was worth the wait.  Mojito and sangria drinks to start, a shared crab salad and then a whole dinginess crab with lots of butter – five legs each. Unbelievably tasty. Look out lobster. Here comes the crab. Best meal we’ve had since Biah and Rick served us crab on their houseboat in Vancouver. 

Uber was prompt and we’re back home. Tomorrow: Napa

San Francisco? We’ve done it. Mark it off the list. 

Here are the pictures, in no particular order. Someday I’ll figure out how to sort them Not tonight; it’s too late!