Today I left Union Square (noisy and sort of smelly) to stay in a hotel near Fishermans’ Wharf (touristy, but warm and less creepy). The new bed is bigger than my apartment (king size) and it’s fabulous. There are four pillows!

I had breakfast at the Pergamino Cafe before walking up a gigantic hill to the top of Lombard Street, “America’s crookedest street.” The walk down the hill was a relief for my legs, but I wanted to keep looking up at the amazing view (Coit Tower perfectly framed in the distance) — the shallow stairs almost made me trip a couple times.

I kept walking… and walking… and walking through North Beach, up Telegraph Hill (where I didn’t see any parrots, but I did see a hummingbird) to Coit Tower. Thank goodness: instead of climbing stairs to the top, there is a short elevator ride. I hung out for a while, just taking in the many different views down to San Francisco (my third 360° viewing of the week). I actually met someone else from Minnesota (and her traveling companion from Germany), but there were many languages being spoken at the top of the tower. If nothing else I loved how international San Francisco felt.

With time to kill, and no idea of what else to do (not enough to return to my hotel for a nap), I wandered back down to Pier 33 and had a couple drinks and very spicy eggrolls at Butterfly while waiting for the start of my evening Alcatraz tour.

Alcatraz was really beautiful from the outside — sort of sad on the inside. Click here for all of my photos.

When I got back into the city, I had dinner at The Buena Vista (and had two sips of their famous Irish Coffee — I didn’t finish it because whiskey is disgusting). Then I went back to my hotel, just in time to watch Grey’s Anatomy. I went to bed early-ish in order to prepare for a Friday full of driving.