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Tuesday, February 7th, 2023 Queen Victoria, San Francisco, USA

Neil Wylie

Updated: Jun 22, 2023

Last night, after returning to the ship, we found out that the itinerary had been changed – this is the second change, the first happened a few months before we sailed. The stops in Tonga and Samoa have been cancelled and replaced with two stops in Fiji – not many people are happy with this change. The weather today was fantastic for this time of year in San Francisco; a little cool but a bright, clear, sunny sky – perfect for sightseeing. Our first stop was the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park; here we took the elevator to the viewing level in the tower. The tower affords superb views across the city, the park and out to the Golden Gate. A short walk from the De Young is the Conservatory of Flowers; modeled after Kew Gardens in London and completed in 1879 this old building stands in stark contrast to the ultra-modern De Young. It was “free day”, a nice treat! Although relatively small, the Conservatory holds a large diverse array of mostly tropical plants – very well curated and well worth a visit. For lunch we visited Café De La Presse located at the entrance to China Town; over the years we’ve always found this restaurant to be a great stop for coffee, pastries or lunch in a laid-back ambiance. Our lunch today was excellent; French Onion Soup with a Croque monsieur – classic French staples and washed down with the quintessential San Francisco beer, Anchor Steam. Following a nose in the shops of China Town, our next stop was Sandra’s favorite fabric store, Britex near Union Square – this stop was at the request of our friend Christine as it had been 5 years since Sandra had introduced her to Britex. The San Francisco Shopping Center on Market Street is anchored by Bloomingdales and Nordstroms; although the store occupancy has still not fully recovered since the Covid pandemic it’s still a great place to shop. The early evening found us finishing our day with a walk down the, almost deserted, Fisherman’s Wharf to the Boudin Bread Shop where Christine had clam chowder. Later that night we watched the sail-away from our balcony and were rewarded with awesome views of San Francisco and, once again, the thrill of sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. Next stop Hawaii!




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