San Francisco - Day 3 (5/28/09)

The Golden Gate Bridge & The Fog: San Francisco's Dynamic Duo

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On Thursday morning we took a Muni bus to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, ground zero of the Summer of Love, in an effort to “make the scene”. That was all fine and good, but nobody told us we were around 40 years too late.

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A Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood Scene

Other than the unique shoe stores, head shops and other memorabilia places, I’m afraid that the only scene to be made there is at the Ben and Jerry’s or the mega-huge CD store called Amoeba. We did, however, manage to land a nice breakfast at a place called The Pork Store Café on Haight Street that used to in fact be a pork store.

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BowlingJoe: Too Late to Make the Scene

We walked a few blocks west and entered Golden Gate Park. This park is huge. Over 1000 acres huge. Our focus would be on the serene Japanese Tea Garden. At least it was serene until the busloads of elementary school students arrived. The garden includes a pagoda, some nice landscaping, scenic bridges and trails. A nice way to spend and hour and a half (provided you can avoid the throngs of 6th graders).

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A Scene From The Japanese Tea Garden

Next up was our most physical challenge as we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Well….we walked to where the land was directly below us in Marin County anyway, and that was a good enough 4 mile trek for us. It’s an impressive old structure (we happened to be walking on it on the 72nd anniversary of its debut) and it’s darned breezy and noisy with all of the traffic whizzing by. We were surprised by the volume of people and bicyclists from all over the world who were with us on an unassuming Thursday afternoon.

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Just Before the Bridge Crossing

After conquering the Golden Gate, we got on a bus to take us back into town. Or at least that was the plan anyway. The driver must have been having a bad day because she was clearly moving in the opposite direction as we were initially told. After a quick exit we got on the correct streetcar to take us back to the hotel.

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The Ferry Building Market Place

Dinner time. BowlingWidow tracked down a place at The Ferry Building Marketplace on the water near the Embarcadero Center. We were too early to go to the restaurant proper of the Vietnamese place called The Slanted Door, but they offered a take-out option with the same food at a place around the corner called “Out the Door”. And it was of exemplary quality as we sat at their small counter and enjoyed it. The spring rolls were fresh and the combination of vegetables, meat and ginger dipping sauce was perfect. The 5-spice chicken with vermicelli noodles was a delicious main course.

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Out the Door: Top Notch Vietnamese Take Out

Chinatown tomorrow!