San Francisco, California, USA

An iconic view of the city of San Francisco, CA, USA, behind the Golden Gate Bridge (whose construction began in 1930 and opened in 1937) with its International Orange paint (the U.S. military had wanted grey stripes on a yellow background for visibility!)

 
The graceful span of the Golden Gate Bridge arches above as ships sail into San Francisco Bay. Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County is silhouetted off the port side. The wooded greenery of the Presidio, the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts, and the brick façade of Ghirardelli Square is seen starboard. The distinctive TransAmerica Pyramid, the faceted Bank of America building, and unmistakable Coit Tower are each part of a skyline known around the world. The tallest building in the city, the Salesforce Tower, had its topping-out on April 7, 2017 and now towers over the Financial District. Cable cars still clang their way up the city’s steep hills, just as they have for over a century. The coffee shops and Italian trattorias of North Beach, the dim sum in Chinatown, and the bawdiness of Broadway are all integral parts of The City by the Bay. Serious foodies find it difficult to choose from the rich selection of stellar restaurants in the Bay Area and nearby Wine Country.
 

The view from our apartment on the ship while docked — the yacht basin between our pier (Pier 35) and the retail shops on Pier 39 with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background

The central residential districts of San Francisco, on the hills behind the Embarcadero, the major road that runs along the waterfront (taken from our ship, docked at Pier 35 on the Embarcadero)

The final beam rising to the top of the tallest building in San Francisco, was celebrated on April 7, 2017 with the topping-out ceremony of the Salesforce Tower (center) in the Financial District; the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge enters S.F. on the left and Coit Tower is on the right side of the photograph

Sunset on San Francisco, CA, USA, with the former U.S. Army’s Fort Mason in the foreground (including the piers) and the Financial District in the background (left) with the Russian Hill (center) and Nob Hill (right) residential districts

The former Alcatraz Federal prison occupied all of Alcatraz Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay (visitors can now take a boat from S.F. to tour the prison/island) – with the City of Berkeley in the background in the lowlands and hills facing the Bay

A close-up of the yacht basin between our pier (Pier 35) and the retail shops on Pier 39, San Francisco, with the Marin Headland hills visible in the background