Today, a lovely, if brisk, sunny day on the San Francisco waterfront. Sheila and I decided to visit Fisherman’s Wharf. We hopped on the nearby Powell Street cable car and rode it to the end of the line.

That put us at the national park end of the harbour where we were able to explore the historic tall ships – admission free today.

The ships are well kept (although not likely seaworthy) – park rangers were available to answer questions. We chose to mosey about on our own rather than take a guided tour. I preferred looking around at my own pace.

A collection of period fishing boats were moored on the other side of the pier. Fishing has been an important industry since the founding of the city. San Francisco still has an active fishing fleet which contributes to the local economy. (Notice Alcatraz in the background – you’ll see it if you click on the above photo.)

We had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the tall ship decks.  We were also afforded a view of the hardy Sunday morning swimmers who entered the cold bay waters at the Aquarium beach, swam out to the breakwater, along the inner side to the open sea end, then back again. We could identify the various clubs by the color of their bathing caps and their swimming gear (one group were wearing wetsuits – smart people!).

Seals and Sea Lions were enjoying the day as well. A group of four had taken ownership of the deck of one of the exhibit fishing boats. Quite likely the park rangers will evict them at some point during the day, a ranger informed us, because at 450 lbs each they pose a risk to the boat!

After viewing the ships we walked our way down the waterfront to Pier 39 at the other end of the waterfront but there wasn’t much interesting to see except for a couple of art galleries which we dropped into on our way back. Both were showing the work by contemporary artists in a wide range of media, some of it expensive. Fun to look at.

We caught a cable car back to Powell and Sutter where we got off. The block back to the hotel along Sutter from Powell to Mason is a challenging uphill climb. Along the way we came across this pair of abandoned shoes! Apparently a guy placed them on the sidewalk then went on his way – for the next needy homeless person perhaps.

The week-long sewing retreat begins this evening. We’ll get set up tonight and be ready to roll in the morning.

Pants, shirts… I’ve got both on my “to do” list.

The highlight of today’s trek into the Union Square district of downtown SF was our stop at Britex Fabrics. But before I get to that I’ll mention we had a leisurely Saturday breakfast, wandered over to Post Street so Sheila could stop into DSW to peruse the shoes. She did pick up a pair of Bob’s (made by Sketchers) flats. I just shmoozed. 

Second stop, the Apple Store where I bought an “old” style set of Apple earbuds. Sheila got help with several questions she had about her iPhone, then we moved on. 

Third stop: Ice Breaker – they make clothing out of a wonderful merino fabric (a very light wool knit) great to wear both winter and summer! However their women’s styles don’t work for me so although I tried on several different long sleeved T-shirts they all looked awful – I bought nothing (Sheila bought a couple of loose pieces).

Across the street we visited Gumps – the clothing and accessories are quite lovely but buying clothes there is like coals to Newcastle!

Around the corner and back up Geary we stopped at Britex!

I bought a length of Liberty print cotton to make a shirt. Sheila also purchased some fabric.

Exhausted, we headed back toward our hotel, stopping for a latish lunch and a well deserved rest. Next is Happy Hour, then a light dinner and we’ve bought theatre tickets to see a play that’s happening in the theatre here at the Marine’s Memorial Club.

Tomorrow, more sightseeing before the sewing group meets early in the evening and our week-long sewing retreat gets underway.

The day began early because both Sheila (from Toronto) and I were awake early – just the way it is when you come from so far east. Had a leisurely breakfast then headed out to shop – well window shop mostly. We left the hotel on Sutter Street, turned right at the Mason Street corner, walked a block, turned left onto Geary and walked a block to Union Square. At the square we turned right onto Powell – the Sketchers store our destination but we were still 15 minutes early for store opening so we sauntered further down the street to see what else there was to see. Just as we appoached the UniGlo store at 9:17am the power in all of central SF went out!

We didn’t know that immediately. But the shops didn’t open at 9:30. We wandered the Union Square area some more. Thought maybe we might take a street car to the Fisherman’s Wharf district when a conductor told us everything was closed there, too.

So we slowly walked back to our hotel – the emergency lights were on but the elevators weren’t working. We climbed to the second floor to use a washroom, then I SLOWLY climbed to our seventh floor room, exchanged my wool sweater and turtleneck for a lightweight T-shirt and returned to the second floor. By this time we knew about a large fire somewhere downtown and also knew it would be a while before power would be restored so we relaxed, as others slowly joined us on the mezzanine. 

Although we’d had a solid breakfast, we both started feeling hungry – that’s when we realized it was going to be difficult to find something to eat – all restaurants would be closed! However as luck would have it, the Italian restaurant on the corner of the hotel building was trying to organize sandwiches. So we went in and ate, figuring it might still be a while before we’d get anything else. 

After lunch we moseyed toward Chinatown where most of the shops were “open” – the doors were open with their usual wares displayed on the street – but the rest of the shops were in darkness – cash transactions only.

Just as we were approaching the hotel after spending time in Chinatown the traffic lights came on. Power was back on in the hotel – but no elevators. We waited until one of the elevators would operate on manual mode and one of the staff took us to the 7th floor. It was close to 4:00 pm so we went to “happy hour” in the hotel to relax, then decided to try the streets once again.

We washed our faces, and set off to see if anything had opened – our first stop – the Sketchers store. We spent a lot of time there, finally each choosing one pair of shoes. Then back to UniGlo, and finally back to the hotel, stopping for sushi before calling it a day.