We had three nights to enjoy the San Francisco area and took advantage of every moment to catch as many sites as possible. We not only were able to share with our San Fran newbies in the group some of the interesting sites in the city but also see some new ones for me as well.
On our first night, we decided to take public transportation from the hotel to the downtown area. We took the BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit train. The first leg of the trip required that we take the hotel shuttle to the airport. There we purchased a ticket and rode the BART to Market Street. The BART goes 80 mph. We know this because we asked the conductor.
Once on Market Street we did some sight-seeing. Actually it was more like people watching. The Gay Pride parade had ended a couple hours earlier so many people were dressed with beads and other whatnot to celebrate the parade. We were a bit amazed at what you can wear in public in San Francisco. Don't think it would be OK in Fishers to wear a man-thong in public. And, a girl with stickers covering her privates. A bit risky.
We walked to the street car station and tried to hop a street car to ride the line past all the piers. As soon as we got on, we were asked to get off because the driver was on a break. He also would not let us ride the direction we wanted. Therefore we crossed the street and waited the next street car. Guess what, same driver! Guess his break was over. We got off at Pier 39 as I wanted to see the sea lions that hang out at that pier. When it was time to go back to the hotel, we again got on a street car. This time it felt a lot like we were packed sardines. The driver crams as many people in the car as possible. He even opened the back door and had us squeeze it. Yelling the whole time at people to squeeze more people on. There is no way 1 more person could have got on that car. It was pretty funny. Good thing it was not too hot outside.
Back to the BART, the hotel shuttle, and to the conference registration by 6:00. We made it just in time to register and eat at the opening dinner. I was glad we took the opportunity to see part of the city that night. It was a crash course in public transportation. Good thing one of the teachers in my group was really good at following maps because we were on the run that afternoon and the signs were not tourist friendly.
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