The Last day in San Francisco we wanted to ride bikes around the city some. we also had a few last stops we needed to make, so i roughed out a plan in which we could ride to the bakery we wanted to see, and then we would ride through the golden gate park, up the coast, past the golden gate bridge, and around back to embarcadero! easy peasy, right, most of it is riding along the coast, which must mean its along the water, so there cannot be much change in altitude….
but first to Tartine bakery which noa had heard a lot about. apparently there is always a line, so it must be good, right? so we got up early and got on the bard in order to head downtown to rent bikes. from there we started on our trip, and navigated our way towards tartine. we were not disappointed. there was a huge line.
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i think we ended up waiting about an hour. but boy there were some tasty treats inside
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i of course had to try a petit pain au chocholat
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we snacked on some pastries, and waited for a grilled cheese and broccoli rabe sandwich. which apparently takes them 30 min to make. and i have never particularly liked rabe, or i have never made it well. either way, the sandwich was delicious.
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after that it was a jaunt around the corner for a taste of ice cream. and then onwards to golden gate park.
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typical street we were riding along.
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so at some point we finally get to the golden gate park, and are riding along it, and we pass a lyon st. we pass it, but then think better, and decide to take a photo of me under it. i tried to recreate a certain picture of my childhood from memory. i think i got pretty close. all im missing is a kick ass frown!
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onwards into the golden gate park! now, we had heard theres a pretty kick ass botanical garden and museum there. but i think by this point it was like noon or 1, and i was looking at the map, and the ground we still had to cover, and decided we better not stop at the moment. plus we had just had a pretty long break at tartine, so we continued on. it is pretty though. and i would love to go back to actually see the plants.
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and some people didn’t believe me when i said theres bison in golden gate state park. well here we go. they totally caught me out with the wrong lens.
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and then BAM, we finally hit the coast. another super overcast and windy day. and its at this point we see where the road is heading… ohh crap. thats not flat at all.
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but there was a nice view from up there, and then we rounded the corner, and we were confronted with the hill of DOOM! it just never stopped. i think we ended up walking the bikes up. BUT, what goes up, must come down, so i was looking forward to the eventual downwards hill. which we did get too eventually, then it over some surface roads, and eventually we hit the coast again after about 45 min or so of riding. and we had to climb another hill.
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and then we got our first real glimpse of the golden gate bridge.
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at this point i snap a picture of where we came from, and that peninsula on the right is the big hill we first saw and had to climb!
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and then there was some confusion about how we get under the highway, but then we were under the bridge, and got this amazing view. we took a break, and had a photo shoot with the bridge.
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us with high spirits after the death ride to get here in freezing cold head wind.
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but once we got past this point, the rest of the journey was indeed along the water, and this time, we had a tail wind. we felt like we were flying along the road, it was so glorious. stopped for some photo opportunities of alcatraz along the way.
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im not sure what time we dragged our behinds back to the rental place, but it must of been before 7 or something. either way, it was a long long day of pedalling. when we got back the apartment, i google mapped it, and it ended up being 20 miles, or 32km. now, i know for some people this is not a lot, but while on holiday, in one of the hilliest cities around, it was enough.
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but really, it was an amazing final day. even though the weather did not cooperate fully, i finally got to get a picture of the golden gate, we had some tasty food, and exercise. it is a pretty city after all.