Saturday, December 29, 2018

Xmas 3: San Francisco 2: The Wharf, Sea Lions, Coit, and Chinatown

We were lucky enough to get another warm day with clear skies.  I ended up bringing my big jacket, just in case, as yesterday I ended up cold near the end.  This was a mistake, and I ended up carrying it around my waist all day.

We walked a few blocks from our hotel and hopped on a bus that took us right to Ghirardelli Square.  Stephanie navigated us for the day, as she had familiarity with this part of San Francisco.  We walked through the Square and went down near the water.  We followed the path east towards the piers.



We walked onto the very first small pier and saw what was either a seal or a sea lion.  We had assumed it was a sea lion, because sea lions inhabit the piers here.  Upon looking at the pictures, however, Stephanie noticed that it had no ears, a feature that separates seals from sea lions according to her.



We passed many seafood shops, including the corridor below.  Neither of us eat seafood, so we continued onward.



We passed quite a few musicians and even a magician.



We walked up what must be pier 40, since it is the unmarked pier on Google Maps between 41 and 39.  Here we were able to see people lined up to look at sea lions on one side and an amazing view of the city on the other.  On our way back, a pigeon posed for me.



We entered Pier 39 along the side where the sea lions were.  Some were swimming, but most were sunning themselves.  They were not bothered by massive boats going by from time to time.  We spent a while here taking pictures.



Afterwards, we entered Pier 39 proper, which was absolutely not for me.  It is a walkway with shops and restaurants on both sides, completely covered in people.  There were kitschy shops like an Alcatraz shop with a mock up of alcatraz on the roof.  I desperately wanted to get out of there.

Stephanie very much wanted to have a breadbowl, which she remembered eating when she was younger.  Most places only served clam chowder.  Near the exit, Stephanie found a place that served tomato soup. 

Next we began our climb through the streets toward Coit Tower, a tower built in the 1930s that resides atop the tallest hill in the city.  The views from the top must have been spectacular, but I had no interest in going up.  Besides, the sun was all wrong for great shots of the city.  Instead, we took some pictures around the base, looking outwards.  We got a nice view of Alcatraz.



We walked down on the opposite side, heading towards Chinatown, with the financial district on our left.  We got a nice picture of the skyscrapers, including the unique looking Transamerica Pyramid.



Our last stop of the day was the walk through Chinatown.  We stopped in some shops along Grant Ave.  At one point, we heard loud drumming coming from a side street and followed the noise.  Two women were dancing together atop raised platforms.  We recognized the dance as the dance done under a dragon costume, performed by two people together.  A couch was going over the routine with them.



Yesterday, I was asked three times to take photos of people with their phones.  I was disappointed that I was not asked a single time today!

In any case, we went one final time to Japantown to eat dinner, and look in their shops.  There was a nice lacquerware shop with some beautiful items, but I decided to wait until I go to Japan in order to buy more art.  We also stopped at an interesting Japanese book store called Kinokuniya.  Most of the books were in Japanese, but they also sold English books by Japanese authors. 

Tomorrow we fly to Vancouver, which will take most of the day, as we have an afternoon flight.

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