If You're Going to San Francisco

We didn't put any flowers in our hair but we put some good food in our stomachs.

first, we got up and did a little a lot of laundry. Amy and Sarah bought some discount shoes, and we ate a light lunch at a Greek restaurant right near our hotel. Sam and Sarah both tried a gyro sandwich. Sarah liked it; Sam not so much. Then we made our way across the Oakland Bay Bridge to SF. Traffic at the toll booth was slow, but otherwise we had no problem getting into the city.

First we drove to Lombard Street, which is the "crooked" street you see in many SF movies. It twists back and forth as it descends sharply down Nob Hill.

Sarah shot a movie of our descent that I'll try to post tomorrow night.

Next we headed to Chinatown and (after some consternation with the parking system) parked the Charger.

Our first destination was the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company, which is hidden in a tiny alley in the depths of Chinatown.

I read about it in a travel blog and Sam wanted to check it out. It's a tiny and cramped place where 5 or 6 workers bake and fold fortune cookies of all shapes and flavors.

We enjoyed some free samples and bought a small bag of cookies. Then just as we left, a local group put on a show right in the alley with dragon costumes, firecrackers, Chinese drums, and chanting.

We found a tea shop and enjoyed a nice selection of exotic Chinese teas. The shop has huge tins of teas of various type and grade 

and teapots and implements for fancy traditional tea service. There were some workers boxing up mail orders while we sipped our drinks.

We wandered around Chinatown for a while, exploring stores selling musical instruments

odd vegetables

(sea cucumbers)

and live fish to buy and cook.

We made our way downtown through Union Square

to the cable cars and rode one all the way up to Fisherman's Wharf.

We played in a vintage arcade with very old games and music players.

We caught a cab back to Chinatown, to a very highly rated Clay Pot restaurant. 

The back room/kitchen was less pleasant.

but they did have a Lady Restroom.

Sam and Sarah had some different foods they'd never tasted before, and both liked them a lot. Sam had crispy noodles tofu, and squid, and Sarah enjoyed curry chicken, fermented bean curd, and Chinese brocolli.

We headed home full and tired. Tomorrow we go to Alcatraz (not permanently). Check back then (and reply now!)