Ricky Martin’s Blog

As I mentioned many times one of the things we (my wife and I) enjoy is traveling. So this is a little late going up but our latest trip was to San Francisco, this was our first trip to the city. we had been to San Diego which is a little further south in California but never to San Francisco. the trip came at a great time as the weather in Montreal has been cold and snowy for a good part of the winter, and this being our first Canadian winter back since being in the UK and Arizona we were looking forward to a break from sub-zero temperatures.

we had a late flight out of Montreal into San Francisco with a connection in Toronto with Air Canada. the flight was surprisingly full considering it was a Friday afternoon/evening Flight.

We arrived into San Francisco around 10:30 PM local time, by the time we got our bags and got to the hotel it was almost 11:30PM. We checked in with the family to let them know we arrived safe and sound and then we decided we better get to bed.

The hotel I found from hotels.com as it was one of the cheapest in the area and offered a kitchenette which we like as it gives us options instead of having to eat out for every meal. here are some pictures from the hotel room to give you an idea what it looks like.

As you can see nicely laid out place, my only complaint was you hear a lot of noise from the street below especially if you have the windows open, which we did as at night it was a little warm, and there is no A/C but realistically we didn’t mind as we were getting away from the winter back in Montreal. Other than that it is convenient we walked several times down to the pier from the hotel, navigating the steep streets but it was a great exercise.

We also took advantage of the CityPass booklet which we found for the price was a great value. it gave you Access to 5 attractions in the city as well as a 7 day MUNI and Cable Car Pass, the Aquarium of the Bay, a one hour cruise with Blue and Gold Cruise of the bay, The California Academy of Sciences, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Exploratorium or the De Young Museum which is what we chose as they had the king Tut exhibit there.

We tried to do about one attraction per day, we did the Aquarium and the cruise on the same day as it was raining when we got to the pier so we did the aquarium which was very nice.

As you can see from The shots above it is a great opportunity to see some interesting animals up close. then when we finished the weather was a bit nicer and the sun was starting to come out so we decided to take a chance and do the cruise.

With the cruise you get right up close to Alcatraz, I found for me that was good enough, I couldn’t justify paying almost $40 per person to do a tour of Alcatraz.

It also Brings you right under the Golden Gate Bridge and you get a great view from both sides of the bridge as well you get to see San Francisco from a nice distance. The only thing we found was after sitting outside on the boat with the wind we were frozen after about 30 minutes, and the water can be a bit rough.

As you can see you get pretty close, for an up close view of the Bridge I recommend walking it. We were brave and walked from our hotel all the way to the pier, along it and across the bridge and then back to the pier where we decide to take a Cable car back to the hotel. Total of the trip was about 10 Miles, which we did in about 4 hours at a normal pace while stopping along to take pictures, grab a bite to eat, etc…

you cant miss Pier 39, there are all kinds of souvenir shops and other great little spots there as well, lots of restaurants as well, with an emphasis on seafood as you can imagine.

Another great attraction at Pier 39 is the sea Lions and the Aquarium, and boat tours are right there as well.

This really was a fun trip and I can’t wait for our next adventure.