Playing Tourist -- August 6, 2017

We got a late start today but we drove to Fifth and Mission and parked on the fourth floor.  We walked up Fourth Street and saw 1051 picking up passengers.  The motorman wouldn't open the front doors, and it was pretty crowded, so we decided to wait for the next one.  Unfortunately, while we saw a few cars going the other way, there wasn't another F car headed for Fisherman's Wharf.  We walked down to Third and caught an 8 bus.  My wife had never been on it before.  It was fun to ride through Chinatown, North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf.  It was sad to see the empty building that held Caesar's Italian Restaurant.  We got off at the end of the line and walked to Pier 39, which is celebrating its 39th anniversary. 

We had calamari and chips, then went to the Christmas shop.  We went to hear and smell the sea lions.  It was so crowded that we couldn't see them.  Walking along Jefferson, we found that it was so crowded that we could barely move along.  We haven't seen Fisherman's Wharf that crowded since 2001. 

We went to the end of the F line where we just missed a Milano car.  Nextbus said the next F car would be 21 minutes, so we walked to Bay and Powell and caught another 8 bus.  It got very crowded going through Chinatown.  We got off at Market and went to the Palace Hotel.  We visited the Ghirardelli shop and had Quake Shakes.  We walked on Mission back to Fifth and Mission.  We listened to the Giants on the way back home.  They beat the Diamondbacks for the second day in a row. 

Playing Tourist -- August 3, 2014

Yesterday we took a colleague who was visiting India around San Francisco.  It was very nice.  We started out catching a California Street cable car at Drumm.  We got nice seats in the right rear open section.  We got off at Taylor and took a quick look at Grace Cathedral, Huntington Park, the Pacific Union Club and the Fairmont.  We walked down the hill to the Cable Car Barn and visited the museum.  Since it is August, there were a lot of French tourists.  We walked over to Jackson and Mason and waited to catch whatever came.  A couple of cars wouldn't let us on.  Then we had to sit inside on a Powell-Mason.  When we got to Bay and Taylor, we found that cars were switching over to the outbound track to reach the turntable.  I have never seen that before. 

We walked down Taylor and he found a toy cable car for his kids.  It had a friction motor, which kids always love.  He said he could show them what he had done and where he sat. 

I had a thought.  Since he had come to America, he had eaten at Thai, Mexican and Hunan Chinese restaurants.  He hadn't eaten at an American restaurant, so we went to IHOP for lunch.  Then we walked around the Wharf a little, and then caught a Mason car back towards Market. 

We got off at the end of the line and went to the San Francisco Center and Old Navy to try to find something for his kids.  We left him on Market to find his way back and went home. 

Alcatraz -- October 15, 2011

Today we played tourist. We parked at Fifth and Mission and caught a Milan car on the F line. It got to be very full. We got off at Pier 39. It was a warm day, but there was a cold breeze on the pier. We had fried calamari at a seafood place. There was one float covered with sea lions. A few were on the next float. One sea lion slept soundly on the farthest float. A little boy worried that he might be dead.  We assured him that the sea lion was alive.

We walked along the Wharf to Pier 45, where we visted the Musee Mechanique.  The machines had been rearranged since our last visit.  There were two baseball-related games that I had not seen before.  We played the French Execution.  My daughter operated the machine with the baker.  We could not find Peppy the dancing clown.

We went up Fish Alley.  A boat had a radio on and the news said that the Occupy SF people were going to be marching up Market at 3pm.  We headed to the F line terminal and caught the Louisville car.

We got off at Fourth and walked up to Macy's.  There were police barriers set up along the curb on Stockton.  Workers were setting up Holiday Lane.  

We went to Five o'clock mass at Good Shepherd, then had dinner at Subway in Linda Mar.  On the way home, we drove on Cape Breton but didn't see many holiday decorations.

I took the photo of Alcatraz today.