Rick & Julie's Travel Blog: Day 24 - Wednesday 8/21/13 San Francisco - Sausalito

The Golden Gate Bridge

60 degrees and a bit windy today, though there were no white caps in the bay this morning so, we decided to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito where we strolled around a bit and had lunch. The roads that lead into town from the road over the bridge wind down narrow residential streets where houses are perched closely to one another and typically have a view of a small bay that's surrounded on 3 sides by the town's hills. Along the waterfront marinas, we saw many houseboats, but one in particular stood out, unique among its neighbors; we called it the Taj Mahal.

On our return after lunch to San Francisco, we saw some of the America's Cup boats out sailing and decided to see if we could watch a race. As it turned out, we found parking and after a lengthy walk to the shore, were able to watch the short (about 20 minutes), but entire race between the Kiwis (New Zealanders) and the Italians. Not surprisingly, the Kiwis won...by a margin. The boats used today are catamarans with elaborate winged keels that enable to boat to literally skate across the water on one of the hull's keels. The main sails are now rigid foils with ribs. Theses super high tech boats can reach speeds of 30 knots, but are said to be very delicate and break easily.

The "Taj Mahal"

On our walk back to the car, we literally stumbled into the stunning Palace of Fine Arts, a beautiful colonnade and rotunda that were built for the Panama-Pacific Exposition back in 1916. Read more here, it's quite interesting: Story of the Palace of Fine Arts.

That was so exciting, we had to go back to the inn for a nap!!!

Being our last night in town, we wanted to eat dim sum (many small plates of Chinese food) and drove down to the financial district via China Town, which was very crowded, noisy and dirty, just like the real China cities I saw. So, after about an hour in traffic for the three-odd mile drive, we finally found the restaurant's parking garage, but weren't in the correct lane to be able to turn in. So we had to go around the block, which turned out to be a 9 block affair because of 1-way streets and construction. Back on the right block, we now discover that we can't access the garage because of construction, which results in paying $10 for lot parking. Walk over to the restaurant, which is inside a multi-block plaza only to find that they are CLOSED!! Arggggg.

Kiwis finishing the race

We persevered and decided to hit this place called Tommy's Joynt. Perfect, old, dusty, busy, dark bar and kraut corner. Along one wall, they serve up carved-to-order roasted meats and fixin's or kraut & sausage plates for customers cafeteria style. What could be better than super tender beef brisket and a brew followed up with a couple of Irish Coffees. What a great place, one we'd highly recommend if you're ever here.

Back to the inn where we drove around the block, oh about 10 times, before we found a parking spot for the night. Bedtime.