April 12 San Francisco

Although we could have taken the bus, we chose to walk an hour to get to the Castro District where we met a walking tour. The city, through the Public Library system, offers tours of various locations throughout the city. The tour group included four from France, one from Italy, one from Germany, two Americans and six Canadians.

Our tour guide told us the history of the district, and pointed out places of interest, including many very expensive Victorian homes. A very nice, but relatively modest home now sells for over one million dollars. The Castro has become a very trendy place to live. Although it is still considered the gay capital of the USA, the population of the Castro is aging and changing so that now, rather than all, only 75per cent of homes are gay owned. The Castro became well known in the 60's and 70's as the place where people campaigned and fought for gay rights. Harvey Milk lived here, served as a district supervisor and was shot, along with Mayor Moscone in 1978. A park is named after Harvey, along with several shops and most notably an elementary school that focuses on civil rights education.

  After lunch at a restaurant where the locals eat, we chose the bus as our mode of transport back to our hotel. After a two hour rest, we set out on foot again,this time for A T & T Park where the World Series winning San Francisco Giants played their arch rivals the LA Dodgers. It was a great game with the Dodgers going ahead 3 - 0, before the Giants came alive and won the game 4 - 3. It was very cold and windy at A T & T Park tonight...a mere 45 American degrees! Even so, it was a treat to experience this famous ballpark; to see the boats in McCovey Cove and sit amongst the fanatic Giants fans as they chanted and cheered for their team. Thankfully the ride home was warm. The bus driver had the heaters on full blast.