San Francisco: Tuesday

Tuesday morning was my first solo day, so after breakfast Chris dropped me at the light rail train station and I bought a Clipper card to use for transportation in the bay area. I took the train 45 minutes into the heart of San Francisco, but when I arrived, I could not find my Clipper card with the $20 I had loaded onto it! I realized it must have fallen out of the pocket of my backpack when I pulled my phone out on the train. The station attendant took pity on me and let me out (you have to scan your card to exit the train station), and I had to buy another card. It was a rough start, but got better from there!

Riding the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)

After I straightened out that mess, I walked through downtown toward Chinatown. It was election day, so I saw signs about polling locations and voting. Another shock was to see almost every business with boarded windows or fencing around the perimeter. Apparently, many major cities were anticipating possible rioting and looting and the businesses were boarding their windows out of concern. 

Otherwise, the streets were quiet and almost eerie with all the businesses closing early or not even opening that day.

I arrived at Dragon Gate and took out my camera. I must have hesitated too long on the sidewalk near Starbucks, because a panhandler approached and asked if I could perhaps give him money for coffee. Not sure I've ever been asked for coffee money before, but I know it's essential!

Dragon Gate was built in 1969 as a gift from the Republic of China and the inscription reads, "All under Heaven is for the good of the people."

Chinatown in San Francisco is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia. I loved walking the streets and hearing everyone speaking other languages, seeing the architecture and decorations, and watching how the markets spill out onto the sidewalks each morning for people to shop.

I noticed elderly people lining up at the bank early that morning. It's possible they were withdrawing money in anticipation of the election and some kind of financial collapse... or not.

I went to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, and would have missed it altogether if I hadn't been using google maps! It's tiny and in a narrow alley. Of course, they weren't making the cookies at the time but she gave me some samples and I bought a few packages of chocolate-covered fortune cookes for the kids!

Morning open market

I caught some great views of the famous Transamerica Pyramid.

Also, I caught peeks of the Bay Bridge as I climbed the streets.

You might notice I'm wearing a mask in most of my photos, and I want to pause here to talk a little about my experience in San Francisco during a global pandemic. Unlike in Texas, I rarely, if ever, spotted people violating the mandatory mask ordinance. I noticed a few signs indicating that a $100 fine would be assessed to anyone not wearing a face covering, and this rule applied not only to indoor businesses, but also to outdoor public spaces. I think there may be an exception for people who are exercising, and I didn't see surfers putting masks on at the beach, for example. Overall, however, I had a feeling of relief because there didn't seem to be any tension or politically charged confrontations over wearing face coverings. Y'all, even the HOMELESS wore masks. Everyone on the trains and buses wore them correctly. People I passed in the parks and walking their dogs were wearing them. Now, I have kept tabs on the legitimate scientific data and I realize that wearing masks outdoors is not really necessary when you can maintain social distance. There were definitely several times when I was climbing a hill and no one was in sight, and I took my mask off for some relief. But in general, I just adapted to wearing it unless I was eating, and I felt really good about being in a place where people seemed to understand that this is for the greater good.

I decided to make the steep trek up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, built in 1933.

Coit Tower is surrounded by Pioneer Park, a beautifully shaded park with trails leading up to the tower.

From the tower, you can see great views of many famous San Francisco landmarks. Unfortunately, because of COVID-19 shutdowns, the tower was closed, but the parking lot and areas around the tower still afforded stunning views!

The Oakland Bay Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz Island

I met a local man walking his dog on my way up Telegraph Hill, and he told me about a dead end street that has the best views of the Bay Bridge. On my way back down, I detoured over to that location for a few photographs.

From the Telegraph Hill area I trekked back down toward the piers and headed to the Ferry Building for lunch. I consulted a few friends who either grew up in San Francisco or lived there for some time, and I was told that the eateries and shops in the Ferry Building were a must-do!

Apparently, sourdough bread is a THING in San Francisco, and I love me some sourdough. I was directed to try it from Acme Bread Co., and to try the cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. I was able to get the best of both worlds at the Cowgirl Creamery Side Kick Cafe, where I had the most delicious apple butter grilled cheese sandwich on Acme sourdough. I didn't even give a piece of the crust away to the begging seagulls, it was so good!

After lunch I decided to head up Market Street toward a bus station where I could catch a ride to Alamo Square Park.

Looking back at the Ferry Building

Alamo Square Park is a large park with beautiful trees and open spaces right in the middle of bustling neighborhoods. Across from the park are the famous "Painted Ladies," also known as "Postcard Row" or the "Seven Sisters." They appear in lots of marketing, movies and TV shows such as the opening credits of Full House.

I enjoyed strolling through the park before catching the bus back into the heart of town where I could take the train back to the hotel.

Waiting for my train, I noticed that my watch had logged not only over 16,000 steps so far, but I had "climbed" 47 flights! Let me tell you, I was feeling it.

Here's where I blame my exhaustion and eagerness to get back to the hotel for what I did next.

Chris, being from California, had warned me multiple times to stay out of Oakland. I pointed out to him that the train went through Oakland to get to San Francisco from our hotel, but he made sure to tell me not to get off there and to stay away from Oakland. See, our hotel was just a 10-minute walk from the West Dublin/Pleasanton station (the blue line). When I was ready to head home from the Montgomery St. station, I made sure to pay attention to catching a train that was heading east rather than the other direction. As soon as I got to the station, I was excited to see a train going the right direction had just arrived at the platform that said Antioch/Dublin/Pleasanton (the trains run about 30 minutes apart). I knew that was the right direction because my stop was Dublin/Pleasanton, so I hopped on and settled in. I confirmed that we were going the right way as we stopped at the next few stations, Embarcadero and West Oakland. But I suddenly realized my mistake when the next station was 12th St/Oakland City Center, instead of Lake Merritt! I looked at the map and saw that I could transfer trains at the next station north, the 19th St/Oakland station. I was thinking to myself, Chris is going to kill me. I had a little panic moment when I couldn't figure out where to catch a train going the right direction in Oakland, and the train station was eerily deserted, but I finally got on the orange line and took it all the way southeast to the Bay Fair stop, where I again switched trains and made sure this time I got on the blue line train to Dublin! That mistake probably cost me 30-45 minutes but I wasn't mugged and I arrived in one piece.

Chris wanted to stay out of San Francisco Tuesday night because of the concerns about rioting, so we went to Demitri's Taverna, a Mediterranean restaurant in Pleasanton. Dinner was delicious!

We were still adjusting to the time change and I had packed my day full of adventure, so we crashed in the hotel room pretty early for the night. More to come!