As we’d walked to Mama’s, we noticed what seemed like a giant and loosely organized but somehow leaderless stretching session going on in Washington Square Park – by the time we finished breakfast, many of the stretchers had moved on, but a group of middle-aged Asian women had progressed in their exercising to something complicated that involved swords:

We also watched a whole pack of small children eat ice cream adorably:

This was the first of many days of epic walking – I wish I could give you accurate numbers, but suffice to say that the distance on Google Maps does not convey the way those miles felt when walked like this:

Our first destination after breakfast was Coit Tower, built in the 30s and boasting an incredible view of the city and the Bay. The tower itself was pretty spectacular. The ground floor features WPA-era murals painted as a part of the Public Works of Art Project in the 30s. The murals depict working-class Californians in a variety of trades.

It’s hard to accurately convey how unusually gorgeous the weather was for most of our trip. This is a city known for its fog, after all, but on our first day – and for most of the week – the sky looked more like this:

Amazing. We didn’t pay for many touristy attractions on our trip – including the $5 elevator trip to the top of Coit Tower – so this was as close as we got to Alcatraz, Angel Island, or the other side of the Bay.

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If you go:

Coit Tower
1 Telegraph Hill Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94133-3106
(415) 362-0808

A $5 elevator ride will take you all the way to the top, or so I hear. The free views were pretty incredible on their own. We walked, but a few buses passed us on our way up the hill, so that might be a better option.