San Francisco - Part 2

We hopped off the bus at the entrance to Union Square:

Macy's was right across the street.   

We went there in search of some long-sleeved shirts for Tom. (The weather is getting steadily cooler.)

From inside the store we had some great top-down views.  In fact we had a bird's-eye view of the Big Bus itself!  Whole top down, not top half up. Revenge!!

From inside Macy's we could see all of Union Square:

My iPhone camera couldn't resist zooming in on the statue in the plaza. 

All in all, we had the most "foto fun" of the day at Macy's.

I had the chance to stand right behind the "m" in Macy's storefront signage:

And also behind the "y star-apostrophe s."  Still top-half views, but definitely more fun. 

Also snapped this top-half view from the patio of the Cheesecake Factory on the roof.  (Zoom in to see that red iPhone 7 billboard! )

We hopped back on the bus and drove across the Bridge to  North Vista Point.

There we had a chance to see the Lone Sailor statue--a tribute to all who sailed, in the service of our country, through the Golden Gate Bridge, and especially in remembrance of those who never returned. 

Back on the ship, we said  goodbye to the city spread out before us:

The Amsterdam sailed away at 11 p.m. 

The full moon and the lights strung the length of the Oakland Bay Bridge made for a beautiful sail-away scene:

San Francisco

I didn't realize, when I took my first photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge, that San Francisco would be my iPhone camera's nemesis. 

I joined the early birds on the bow for the projected 7 a.m. approach and saw the iconic "international red" of the bridge in the distance. 

Not the spot for me. I went back down to our own private Deck 2 where I was sure that I would get a closer view of the bridge when we sailed under it. By that time, I figured Tom would also be awake and we could experience the big moment  together. 

And so there it was. 

But ....

The camera could only "see"  half the bridge up close.   :-( 

And the other half, of course. :-(

By the time the camera could see the whole bridge, it was nothing to get excited about.

  :-(

Thus began a day, as I look back on my photos now, where  "half" was the most we could expect from San Francisco. It was usually just the top half. 

Let me explain (half-heartedly). 

We have been to San Francisco before. We have done and visited all the touristy things like Fishermans Wharf. We wanted a non-walking, easy-going "whole city" tour. So after docking, we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off  Big Bus tour.   

We weren't quick enough to get the prime front seats on the top deck, so we saw what we could over the heads of the other passengers.  Yes, we drove through the whole city. But what we saw and my camera could capture, was mostly the top half of San Francisco. 

And, of course, on the top deck of the bus we were extremely close to the miles and miles of criss-crossing electric bus and trolley wires. 

For me and my camera, the ride was frustrating!  A couple of times I did the forbidden thing. When the bus stopped at a light, I stood up!  That's how I got this full-length, whole, entire shot of the Haight / Ashbury intersection:

Then it was back to photographing the top half of  rest of this iconic Beatnik area:

 

Uphill and down, we went. More half-&$)(%# photos. 

Somehow I did get a full-length shot of California Street.  (Notice the sidewalk's steps going up the steep incline.)

We had the hop-off option, we hopped off at Union Square. Not to walk, but to shop!

To be continued ....