Lombard St., known as "the crookedest street in the world", located in the Russian Hill district, is a favourite for many tourists. If you follow the continuous hedge, the street follows the eight sharp turns or switchbacks, the only way to navigate the 40 degree incline of this street from Hyde to Leavenworth streets! In our big truck...NOT! There is a set of stairs on either side without curves for pedestrians.
The Japanese Tea Garden was a wonderful and relaxing diversion from the hustle and bustle of downtown San Francisco and the Christmas shoppers. A delightful and very knowledgeable historian and biologist volunteer took us on a one hour tour of the gardens. The oldest tree, very dwarf, is 700 years old. Hard to believe! Most of the plantings originated from Japan around the beginning of the 1900's. This is what remains of the temple after most was destroyed after the Japanese internment in the 1940's. A very enjoyable afternoon! We passed on tea here, but visited the nearby DiYoung building for a tasty lunch.
Known as "The Living Roof", this is atop the recently renovated California Academy of Science that houses many wonderful exhibits of aquariums, a planetarium, an enclosed rainforest and an African exhibit with delightful penguins. The glass domes on the roof open and close as the inside environment requires. A mini working weather station is positioned on one corner of the roof. Brightly coloured fish of pink, red and blue among coral, an albino alligator, a macaw and the entertaining penguins, each in their own environment complete the exhibit. A two day hop-on, hop-off tour of twenty-one stops in San Fran enabled us to take advantage of these sights in and near Golden Gate Park.
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