Exploring San Francisco: Cruising, Museums and Sight Seeing, Part 2

One of the very first activities we got to experience in San Francisco was the Hornblower Champagne Brunch Cruise. I’ve been on a dinner cruise here in Vancouver and the view is fantastic, but I could only imagine how picturesque it would be sailing through San Francisco Bay.

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What I enjoyed about the Hornblower Brunch cruise was the fact it was spacious (two floors) and the surprising variety in the food spread. There were some brunch items like deviled eggs, quiche, hash browns, sausages, etc. But there was also eggs benedicts, salmon and a good balance of salad and fruit. I was eyeing the dessert table mostly though – and yes, I did try one of everything on that dessert table.

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They were all very delicious! Our server was polite and really on it, greeting us and chatting with us. On top of that, there was live music. What was really exciting was going under the Golden Gate bridge – although the waters did get a little bit choppy. You’re able to walk out onto the deck, which is perfect for a nice warm day. I had a great time and I’d definitely go again – it’s a completely different experience than what we’re used to here in Vancouver!

We took a whole day (thanks to our friends who rented a car during our time in SF) to drive around the city to check out as much as we could. We headed to Golden Gate Park and took a drive through Cliff House and Sutro Baths, checked out the Yoda statue in Presidio, Legion of Honor, and made the perilous drive through Lombard street!

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In Golden Gate Park, we drove to check out the California Academy of Sciences. Think of the California Academy of Sciences as an aquarium, planetarium and natural history museum all under one roof (a living roof, to be exact)! We spent most of our time in the aquarium area, as Brian was completely enamoured with the penguins!

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Right across is the de Young Museum – we tried to make it before they close to check out the vantage point out of the tower, but I think the tower closes an hour/30 minutes earlier than the museum so we didn’t make it! Also, randomly, there is an area in Golden Gate Park that has bison just hanging around.

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From here, we drove up to Cliff House and Sutro Baths to make it in time to check out the sunset. If you have access to a car, I’d definitely recommend checking this place out.

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The view is unreal. It’s quiet with just the sound of the waves crashing – and even though it was November, there were surfers braving the big waves.

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We continued onward to the Legion of Honor – although it was already dark when we got there (and they were closed), we had a brief moment to check out the architecture from the outside.

We then continued onto the Presidio. Presidio used to be a park and military base in San Francisco, but now houses some familiar names – like the Walt Disney Museum and also LucasFilms. We were a little lost and missed our turn, but we made it to LucasFilms. When we arrived, there was a woman at the gate and I sheepishly asked if we could take a photo at the Yoda statue. She was absolutely understanding of my nerdy needs and even told us we could park right in front of the statue!

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To wrap up the day, I was egging Brian on to take the journey down the windy street that is Lombard street. If anyone could handle crazy streets, it would definitely be Brian. Check out our random video of our experience below (there is some swearing, so beware haha).

Thanks for tuning in – next time I’ll be talking about different tours you can take in San Francisco through Monterey, Sausalito, Carmel, Alcatraz and much more!

Read my San Francisco Posts:

Part 1: Dias De Los Muertos and the Mission District
Part 2: Cruising, Museums and Sight Seeing
Part 3: San Francisco Tours: Golden Gate, Sausalito, Monterey and Carmel
Part 4: Alcatraz and Dandelion Chocolate
Part 5: Exploratorium and Embarcadero, Pier 39
Part 6: Tech City: Google, Facebook, Tesla, Stanford

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