San Francisco

Also on the way, we passed through a town called Los Banos. To our surprise, it was a very established town. We passed by a sign pointing to “downtown Los Banos” and I thought to myself this must be the dirtiest place in the world. We arrived in San Francisco a couple hours later, no dirtier than before. We had no place to stay, and we placed a call to our lifeline, Inna. She worked her magic and got us a room in a Best Western right in Fisherman’s Wharf for about $65 a night, when rooms average about $150 in San Fran. That night all we did was wash the 4 day old cakey, crusty exoskeleton off and relax.
The next morning we woke up relatively late (10ish), figured out what we wanted to do and set off. First, we explored Pier 39, a touristy pier as all touristy piers are. I found a street vendor which was selling clam chowder poured into a scooped sour dough roll. The soup was delicious, one of the best chowders I’ve had. There was also a little area on the pier where there must have been over 100 sea lions sunbathing. We walked to a neighborhood called Russian Hill, where the famous crooked street is. Along the way we walked down a street that was very steep. We were amazed to see cars parked perpendicularly there. It seemed that if we’d nudge them just a bit, they would flip over. We proceeded to walk to other neighborhoods such as Little Italy and Chinatown. Little Italy was pleasant with cafes and restaurants. Chinatown was just grocery store after grocery store. Produce, fish, meats, dried & packaged goods galore and cheap. Eugene was in Heaven. Afterwards we walked to Japantown, where we ate noodles and rice dishes. We stopped by the 7 painted ladies (the famous houses that you’ll recognize from the Full House introduction). We must’ve spent 20 minutes just sitting in the adjacent park and looking at them. It was just very serene and relaxing. We checked out the Jazz district (disappointing) and took the old school cable car back to our hotel at Fisherman’s Warf.
The cable car is mostly a tourist transportation device nowadays, but it was one of the coolest experiences to ride it. It works by being pulled by a cable that is run underground. When it reaches the end of the line, it is turned around on a turntable by several workers. We were lucky and we got the standing (hanging off the side) spots right at the front. Being at the front, you get your picture taken a lot by fellow pedestrian tourists. It doesn’t go very fast, but that is part of its appeal. We were whizzing by mere inches from cars, hanging to the side on turns and gripping right down steep streets. At one point I was taking pictures and my legs got hit by these vertical plastic dividers in the road. Note the picture of Eugene laughing hysterically. This is a must do in San Francisco. We made plans to go eat dinner, but instead we watched TV and played video games in our room. Party onnn.
The next day we followed a 49 mile scenic route around the city. It took us by the Golden Gate bridge (which we drove on), several parks and scenic streets. We stopped at a diner by the ocean and I had some brunch (nothing spectacular). Napa Valley, here we come!