Perspectives of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

We tacked a few hours of San Francisco sightseeing at the beginning of our recent trip to the California wine country. That time is hardly sufficient to explore anything in depth, but as this was not our first visit to the city - just a first one in many years - we were able to hit a number of highlights and re-compose our visual appreciation of this brilliant city.

We started with the famous cable cars. It has all accoutrements of a tourist trap, but I honestly think taking a ride on either Powell-Hyde or Powell-Mason line is a must when in San Francisco. For my money, starting at the Powell/Market end and riding towards the waterfront offers better perspective than going in the opposite direction.

The line at the Powell/Market stop is almost always long enough that you have to wait until you are able to get on. Waiting definitely gets you into the mood of wanting to climb on sooner rather than later.

You can also observe the cars turned around on wooden platforms. Very little mechanization is involved in that, even in the 21st century.

I specifically aimed for riding at the front of the car hanging off its left side. When you do that, you get largely unobstructed perspectives of the way ahead. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).