The City Life

This day I ventured up another of San Francisco's famous buildings, Coit Tower. Named after a woman who spent some time as a volunteer firefighter in the city, Coit Tower sits atop a prominent hill in the city. From its summit, you have unrestricted views of all of San Francisco. Although I did not spend a great deal of time at the top, I did get some great shots of the city. The tower, constructed in the 1920s with an art deco motif, has a mural inside which goes around every wall. On it are depicted scenes of everyday life in San Francisco.

After coming down from Coit Tower, I spent some more time wandering the city, eventually making it to Chinatown. San Francisco has the largest Chinese population outside China and the largest Chinatown. It was filled with many traditional Chinese decorations. I had arrived in San Francisco on Chinese New Year and many people were still celebrating it.

I also made my way to the City Hall area and UN Plaza. The United Nations was born in San Francisco following an international conference there in 1945. To commemorate this, there is a plaza which leads to City Hall. San Francisco can truly be called the place where the modern world was born. Just behind City Hall is the San Francisco Opera House where the opening reception for the San Francisco Conference was held.

Towards the end of the day, I dropped in on the Drake Hotel, a very opulent establishment known for its porters who dress as Beefeaters. I then went to Pier 39 for dinner. This is a famous, now inoperative pier, which has been converted into a pedestrian mall with shops and restaurants. It is own of the main tourist areas in San Francisco and as such was still bustling with people when I arrived around 20:00. After dinner, I returned to my hotel room thinking of how to spend my last day in San Francisco.