Day 14 - Slow Saturday

The youth hostel breakfast was very simple - coffee, a piece of fruit, and either a bagel or two toaster waffles. the coffee was actually very good, and I was quite happy with the breakfast, but Benna slept in. eventually I woke her up and she was really not feeling good. I made her get breakfast before the cafe closed, but she wanted ti go right back to bed so this is how she spent the first half of the day:

I went out for a run along Marina street. The America's Cup was in full swing. There were lots of spectators, and the racing boats were doing warmup laps. It was amazing to see the fancy catamarans zooming along, they travel so much faster than anything else on the water, and their sails have a very distinctive wing-like shape. Of course there were hundreds of other boats in the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge was shining brightly in the morning sun. Also, the homes along this road are super fancy, it is a neighborhood I have never seen before. My run took me along Crissy Field, a very pretty area. It was really great, I am only sad that I had nobody to share it with other than the multitude of strangers enjoying the day with me.

I returned after about an hour, Benna hadn't budged. Slowly I pried her off the computer and we got ourselves pointed toward the door. But first, we had to have lunch as it was now almost 1 pm! This youth hostel is MUCH bigger than any of the others we have been to, so the kitchen and dining areas are much bigger. The kitchen is set up for lots of people to cook at the same time:

What you see here is actually only half of the kitchen, the setup is basically repeated on the other side of the large room. So everything was fine until Benna realized that she could help clean up. Lots of people had left their dishes in the drying rack, and a large group was washing up, so she positioned herself at the end of the line and started drying everything, then she deputized me to put things away. This went on for about a half an hour before I insist that she had done more Thayer share and she should leave some dishes for other people to put away. 

We got out the door finally, And this was the view we saw:

We walked toward the pier where I hoped to start an actual day of sightseeing. As the walking path approaches the cable car and pier, there are vendors and street performers. Benna had to stop and check out the vendors.

I awaited patiently, enjoying the view of the bay.

I purchased two passes for us to ride all the streetcars, buses and cable cars for three days. We walked to the historic streetcar (not the cablecar...) and hopped on. The streetcar was pretty empty at first, but as we proceeded along the pier, hundreds of tourists started getting on and before long it was packed. To make matters worse, since it is a streetcar it did not move any faster than the traffic, which was moving very slowly, so after a while we decided to get out and walk to make better time. We got out right at the exploratorium, and they were just packing up from a special exhibit. This caught Benna's attention and we hung around for a while. I think she now understands what the place has to offer and is on board with going there tomorrow. (Unfortunately it is closed on Monday.)

After some tIme in the gift shop, we got moving toward Market street where I hoped to get a bus to the Mission district where I had read about a street food festival going on. At market street we ran into a large craft fair. The wares were actually pretty nice, and Benna had not yet tired of looking at they many baubles and trinkets, so more time passed and next thing I knew, the big clock tower was ringing five bells. The vendors started packing up and I remembered the words "ten to five" on the description of the street food festival. Whether or not my memory was accurate, I announced to Benna that we had missed our chance and it was time to rethink the rest of the day. Earlier, we had skipped the cable car because the line at Hyde street was estimated to be one hour to get on. From where we were on Market street, it was a quick walk to the California line, which was not crowded at all. We were able to hop right on and ride up the hill to our new destination - Chinatown!

So, I haves to admit that after spending some time here, I probably could have chosen som other destination. Nothing wrong with Chinatown, but it is not all that different from New York or Boston, at least to a tourist's eye.

One thing I don't really associate with those other cities is music on the street. Here, we saw street players on almost every block. It was cool to see just how they make that distinctive sound. This particular group had two seats in front where they encouraged people to sit and hold instruments and pose for pictures before making a donation.

At this point, after another solid hour of shopping, we were both ready for something to eat. We used reverse logic and settled on the restaurant with the smallest number of patrons, none of them Chinese. Not surprisingly, the food was nothing special. But the experience was a lot of fun!

After the food, we walked a bit until the sun set. When the sun goes down, the breeze really picks up and the fog starts rolling in. Fortunately we were very close to the cable car lines that returns us to our neighborhood, and after a short but chilly wait we hopped on board and rode up and down some very steep hills, eventually returning to our now familiar neighborhood.

That picture will irritate me for the rest of my life. We had just passed a vantage point where we could see the bridge clearly and the sun was an orange ball in the background, it was one of those postcard shots you wait all day for. My camera had turned off, and by the time I got it back on this is what I got. Dammit!

Anyway, our ride ended at Girardelli square, and this time we took a different path to the hostel. I should not have been surprised to learn that there are actually three different chocolate shops in this little mall! They were giving out samples at the door, a perfect end to our evening. Benna suggested we go in and out a few times, but I said no, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get another sample.

Now it is almost 11 pm, Benna is sound asleep. Cue the giggling German backpacker girls. I wish I could understand what is so damn funny! And, I wish they would find some other place to laugh about it. Sigh.

11:15 pm, reception desk, right outside the door of our bedroom. Tile floor doesn't help with the sound. And they haven't shut off the music. Complaint to follow.......