Tuesday, August 7, 2012

"I left my heart in San Francisco"

I fell in love with San Francisco this last week!  This was my first visit to the city , outside of landing in the airport with layovers.

It all started with me wanting to do some kind of small trip this simmer.  My younger sister Jan had some time off and wanted to do something with me.  My sister, Jan, is like my best friend.  I only had a small window of opportunity to take a trip because of 2 weeks of classes and school starting back earlier.

We decided to meet in SF.  Plus we have a nephew who works for Electronic Arts that we wanted to visit.

Jan is a whiz at planning and researching trips so she found us airplane tickets where we would be landing in SF and leaving SF around the same time.



We both got into SF around 10 am in the morning.  We met at the BART entrance to take the subway into the city.  Then we took the trolley car up the street to the Mark Hopkins Hotel, built around 1926.



As soon as we checked in we got right back out there on the street.  We bought a MUNI pass for 3 days which included the trolley, cable car, and buses.  I have to say this about public transportation- it works well on the weekdays but not on weekends.  It is all about hurry up and wait.  Also if you don't get on at the beginning of the line chances are you won't be able to get on the trolley or cable car.








China town was only a couple of blocks down so we did that first.  Imagine Oriental Trading Company and lots of restaurants.  There was also lots of jewelry, tea tasting, and food markets.  We tasted tea and had some dim sum to eat on the street.  We had  a recommendation to eat at the House of Nan and have Spicy green beans, and a chicken dish.

By this time we were losing the sun and the wind was blowing.  It was time to put on more clothes!!!!  I had checked the weather for the week and it seemed like Oregon Coast weather.  Anywhere from 60 - 70 degrees.  I did not pack enough warm clothes.  Next time I am bringing a heavier coat, more ling pants, gloves, and hand warmers for the pockets.

The Blue Mermaid
Trolley ride down to the Wharf.

We went back to our room and put on jeans, our coats, scarves and hats.  We decided to take the trolley down to wharf and find some clam chowder.  Even with our coats the wind was whistling up the street canyons blowing through the trolley.  It seemed to take forever to get to the wharf and we were thoroughly chilled by the time we got there!  We went into the Blue Mermaid and I got to try an Anchor Steam draft.  Jan had corn clam chowder and I had California clam chowder.  ( Clam chowder with more vegetables in it.  Plus we had sourdough bread!


The chowder warmed us up but we were dreading the trolley car ride back to our hotel.We had to stand in line to get on the trolley car. It kind of reminded me of the old joke-
  "How many tourists can you get on a trolley?"

They were jamming and cramming us on the trolley.  It got us on though without too much of a wait.  We could never figure out what was the secret signal to load up the trolley car.  There would be long lines and there would be 3 or 4 trolleys just stopped.  We would wait and wait and then they would start to load.  I don't know if it was required breaks or they needed to have so many people in line before they loaded them?

Anyway we got on the trolley and made it a point to stay on.  You know- possession is 9/10ths of the law?!  When asked if we wanted to hang onto the bar outside we vehemently shook our heads "NO!".

Thank fully the ride back was a more direct route and so not as long of a ride.




Our view from the Mark.
Our room.

A hot shower, a comfortable bed and soft pillows, and we sank into a deep  sleep!  Tomorrow was Alcatraz and Angel Island!!!!

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