San Francisco - Day 2

DH is off to his convention so I thought I'd write up a quick blog entry before heading off for my day.

We started off the day riding the cable cars to Union Square.  It's too bad the photos don't capture the depth of the hills here and the stomach tilting sensation you get when you top a big hill to find that it's just as steep on the other side.

After convention registration we stopped at the restaurant Mel's Drive in for breakfast.  I love diners.  My scrapbook room is diner themed so I'm pretty happy whenever we get the chance to see more diner decorating.  The breakfast potatoes were fabulous and the service was the fastest I have ever seen.  The omelette though - not so much.  I didn't pay attention to the menu description when it said that I had a choice of cheeses.  She didn't ask - I didn't clarify so I got an omelette filled with "cheese product".  I always thought that would taste fine to but now that I've tried it...ummm...no.

Next we caught a bus over to the Ferry building and begun to walk back along the Piers.  This is a great walk and I highly recommend it!  This view came of the Bay Bridge came from Pier 1.

There were a few shops in behind and we stopped in Sur La Table hoping to find a zombie cookie cutter.  Although I came up empty handed in that quest - I did find a cookie pan for pumpkins, ghost and skulls which I had to buy.  Halloween addicts anonymous strikes again.

Continued along the piers...Pier 7 has a great boardwalk in it.  That picture is on my camera and will have to uploaded later.

Then I got it in my head that we should walk up to Coit Tower.  I wonder if someone has counted how many steps go up this hill.  Get an idea here and then add more because we took a round a bout way.  Many panting breaths, aching muscles and dirty looks from my husband later we reached the top.

The views were worth it (and I thought the steps were fun despite their torture...cute little walkways and garden areas).

We hitched a ride on the bus back down the hill (we bought a week's bus pass which has worked out really well!) to Pier 39.

When I was here last in 1997 - all of these platforms were covered in sea lions.  Apparently because of the time of year and the fact that they have found a couple other favorite spots - this is what's left.  Not as loud as I remember them being, it could be because they have enough room to spread out and not spend their time pushing each other off to get more space.

We wandered Fishman's Wharf and a few shops inside.  Didn't shop - but might have to go back to get a couple things for the kids and to visit the Lefty Store again.

We stopped at the Musee Mechanique during our walk back to our hotel and I took great pleasure in beating my husband at car racing...twice.

At the hotel we rested our feet for half an hour while making a dinner reservation and then headed out for Chinatown.

The stores in Chinatown were fun to poke around in - all sorts of weird "treasures" to be had.  It is an experience that shouldn't be missed. Here are a few of the things we spotted in the stores:

We rounded off the night by eating at Brandy Ho's....

After eating here we decided it deserved 3.5/5.  The pot stickers and egg rolls were really good.  The peanut sauce was out of this world delicious.  The other dishes were just ok.

We stopped at a store called It's Candy on the way back to our hotel.  Cereal box size containers of Nerds, giant twizzlers etc.  Fun.

Well - off to enjoy day 3.  It's shopping day and I'm looking forward to it.  :)