Exhausted after 2 arduous days and a nasty case of sunburn, I decided to take it easy today. Since I pass Coit Tower between my hotel and the Embarcadero where all the action is, I figured I should go investigate it myself. Those of you who are fans of The Amazing Race may recall that this past season (19?) two of the things they had to do took place at Coit Tower and at Battery Spencer, both places I've now visited.
Coit Tower was built in 1933. It is 210 feet tall. The elevator ride to the top was worth the $5 if only for the photos, which you will find on the Day 8 Photos Page.
Conveniently, Coit Tower is located at one end of Lombard Street, part of which is known as the Crookedest Street in the World. In fact, it is clearly visible from atop the tower.
People DO live on Lombard Street and it IS a public road. In fact it is among the most desirable real estate in the city.
As you can see from this photo, quite a few people drive down the street. It is one-way downhill.
I decided to walk down to Lombard Street. I didn't actually go to the bottom, though, because, well, simply put, it was much easier to photograph it from far away than right up close. And besides that, after all the walking these past 3 days no amount of coaxing or cajoling would make me walk up that hill!
To give you an idea just how steep the streets are, take a look at this. If your house is wide enough the right side would be ground level and the left side two stories high.
And NO space is wasted. As seen from this photo atop the tower, most houses have roof top decks, many quite elaborate. What is missing from this city that you see in most other major cities are swimming pools. In fact I did not see one swimming pool during my visit. My hotel has one on the roof, but I did not come here to swim.
From the bottom of Lombard St, the Mason Line of the cable cars will take you right to the Cable Car Museum at Washington and Mason. This is also the building where the cars live at night when they don't run and the building where the cables are powered from.
No comments:
Post a Comment