Well we've gotten through day one of our California vacation. It was quite a long day but we made good use of it to do a lot of different things. The morning was spent sleeping in a little and trying to decide what to do with the day. Luckily we had some extra time to do this since we slept on the plane a few hours before and we had the time difference on our side. The first thing we did was walk down to the Ferry Marketplace. It's cool that this place is so close since it seems like a great place to go for breakfast or a quick bite. Some of the shops were just opening so we looked around a little and then had some breakfast - a good place called Lulu's where we got some spinach quiche and croissant.
Then we walked down Market street to the nearby Bart/Muni (train/metro) station to purchase a 3-day pass for all of the cable cars, Muni trains, and buses. Although it was $18, the cable cars we were planning on riding on were $5 a ride and everything else was $1.50 so we figured it was worth it for 3 days. Their three day pass is kind of funny - it looks like a lottery ticket. We took the bus to Pier 39 and walked around there for a while - they had some pretty cool shops and places for food. We also saw some sea lions that were laying out on one of the docks as a kind of rest-stop. Then we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and had some delicious clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Boudin's. I also called my grandfather to wish him happy birthday since it is his 80th birthday! After Boudin's we went to this place called Musee Mecanique which had a bunch of antique-type arcade/video/mechanical type game machines that you could pay a quarter to play so that was cool as well.
After Mecanique we walked around some more at the Wharf and then went to the cable car turnaround. For some reason I thought the cable cars were in the air like ski lifts but I guess not! It kind of took a while to get on since there seemed to be some kind of slowdown but eventually we got on. It was pretty cool how it stopped in the middle of intersections for people to get on/off and how the conductor was playing little tunes with the bell. It was kind of windy though but luckily we had brought some hat and gloves so those helped. At the next turnaround we were planning on getting back on but the line was so long and seemed to be moving so slowly so we just took the Muni metro and then the F bus again back to where we were. Then we got a quick ice cream shake at Ghiradelli (delicious!) and then booked it back for our Toad's tour.
Our Mr. Toad's tour around in vintage American cars for three hours was a very enjoyable ride, albeit very cold and windy at times. We were the last ones on the tour to arrive so we had to split up but I was able to get shotgun which was kind of nice since it had the windshield for protection. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Pacific Heights with all of the Victorian mansions, Haight-Ashbury, Chinatown (and saw fortune cookies being made!), and all of the places we went to earlier in the day. Our tour guide, Kathy, was very interesting and had been in SF for about 30 years (and she says she's only 29!). Laura commented that the tour was more about Kathy's opinions and personal experiences than it was about actual tour guide material but I think it helped keep the tour interesting and made the history seem more real. So, it was a trip well worth it but afterwards we had to go buy Laura a fleece (since she forgot hers at home!).
We concluded the night by going to an Italian restaurant called Albona. It was delicious food - especially since it was warm! We were stuffed by the end and were also kind of tired/jet-lagged. We did manage to walk all the way home though to work off some of the food. After we got back to the hotel, we pretty much just collapsed into bed. This morning we are once again blogging, looking at pictures, and figuring out what to do! Today will probably be back to the farmer's market, a Chinatown tour, and a picnic in Golden Gate Park!
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