We spent my birthday and the day after in San Francisco. It was cold. Seriously, 62 and cloudy is not fun. This is California for crying out loud. So anyway, we woke up early in Seattle and took a cab to the airport. Our flight was delayed- something about fog. When we finally landed, we retrieved our bags and proceeded to lug three giant suitcases on an airport train, a subway train, and a historic streetcar. The streetcar part was really annoying as it was completely packed and the other people on it were not too amused by our luggage situation. I was also a bit disappointed that these weren't the fancy red trolley cars rather actual used streetcars from all over the world. We arrived at the hotel around 2:30- tired and STARVING. Our room at the Fisherman's Wharf Hyatt was not ready so we ditched our bags with the bellman and went in search of birthday food. I really wanted cake but seeings as how most restaurants do not have birthday cake on the menu, we opted instead for some seafood at Neptune's Palace. The west coast is apparently the land of dungeness crabs so, for the third time this trip, I got something crabby for lunch and it was delicious!!! This was also the point in our trip that we realized we were staying in a HUGE tourist trap.
So Fisherman's Wharf is basically a carnival geared towards cruise ships- there is a carousel and a million street performers adding to the smell of carnival food wafting through the air. Tons of t-shirt shops and discount jewelers also line the streets. I was once again attacked by a bird- this time more The Birds style- divebombing towards my face. These birds seriously do not mess around. It probably has something to do with the abundance of street vendors and all the food that makes it onto the street. After lunch, we tried to take an Alcatraz tour but they were booked up for the next five days. You could sail to the island, around the island, and maybe even under the island but not actually go onto the island until Sunday which was kind of disappointing. So we forwent that tour and instead went back to the hotel to take a nap figuring we would wake up in time to have Ghiradelli sundaes for dinner. (That is, after procuring a chocolate covered caramel apple which I spent the whole way back to the hotel trying to convince Dr. HokieKev of its healthfulness. Whatever- it was my birthday.)
Not so fast my friend! You see, Ghiradelli chocolate started in San Fran and, even though production has moved across the bay, there is still a store in the famous Ghiradelli Square- 4 blocks from our hotel. So we wake up and Dr. HokieKev takes to the internet to see when the place closes- 8:00pm...WTF!!! Are you telling me that fancy ice cream place in tourist trap town closes before most people have finished their dinner? A call to the ice cream parlor confirmed Dr. HokieKev's worst nightmare. Instead, we headed back to the overgrown carnival to find that most of the things there we closed too. We settled on funnel cake for me and a Ben and Jerry's shake for him. Not the same.
We ended up back at the hotel pretty early and pretty disappointed that the city closed at 10. Come to find out, we were just in the wrong part of the city. Next time we will know this and probably stay downtown instead of in tourist land. The next morning, we dumped our bags with the bellman and headed for Ghiradelli square- nothing like a giant ice cream sundae for breakfast- although by this point it was 11:30 so it was more like lunch. When we got to the ice cream place we saw CLEARLY marked on the door- STORE HOURS: 9:00am-11:30pm. Ummm...last night you told us you closed at eight. What's up with that? Although the sundae was a delightful breakfast, it would have tasted oh so much more tasty at 10 the previous night. I concluded that they get so busy at night from foot traffic that they tell people they close at eight to keep them away. Whatever, don't take my money. We then tried to kill time before our DUCK tour. Yes, we were the losers taking the DUCK tour to see as much of the city as we could on our one and a half day visit. At least in San Fran you get quackers....in Boston you actually have to quack at people.
We visited the exteriors of some old ships and the interior of an old arcade that had working games going back as far as 1880. Crazy some of the things that used to amuse people. We also took another look at the California Sea Lions. Some of which were still chillaxin in the marina by the carnival pier. The DUCK tour was pretty good- we saw the parts of the city that stay open past 10. Next time we will know. The water part of the tour was FREEZING!!!! Next time I will also know to bring a jacket. After the tour, I managed to convince Dr. HokieKev that a Strawberry Hazelnut crepe was a healthy dinner because it had strawberries in it- so we got one and headed back to the hotel to wait for the airport shuttle. Thus concludes our whirlwind stay in the land of Rice-A-Roni!!!
Tune in tomorrow when I reveal who I slept with the other night...that wasn't Dr. HokieKev!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Doesn't sound like the San Fran I remember but that was before children so a lot of years ago. And now you are writing previews of what is yet to come!!!!!!!!!!!! Although if I remember correctly,once you move to the state of Utah, Kevin is the one who is supposed to be sleeping with someone else! couln't resist bad mommy. love me
Post a Comment