It is truly difficult for me to imagine many places more enjoyable to visit than San Francisco. I have visited that gorgeous city countless number of times, beginning when I was six months old and could not even begin to imagine how delightful a site it is. So when we began heading south from Friday Harbor, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit one of our favorites of past travels, even if for a short time, and it did not disappoint us!
Although we were off to a slower start than anticipated yesterday, the trip in to the city was still such fun, especially as we headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf area. We soon learned that after several days of driving, my back would not let me walk as many blocks as I had hoped, although I was willing to keep trying. That is when one dear, sweet husband found a bicycle rickshaw guy to drive us the remaining distance... which was much farther than I could have made it. The ride was as much fun as our carriage ride in Vienna. He delivered us right to the front door of Alioto's, one of San Francisco's oldest and well-known seafood restaurants.
How wonderful to be seated at a window overlooking the Wharf, the harbor, and the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, all shining in the sunset! Gorgeous! All of the food was delicious, but you cannot imagine the wonderful flavor of Mama Rose Alioto's famous cioppino. Even 1HW loved it and asked if I thought I could imitate it at home. After searching and Googling, I came up with enough recipes to make a go of it, including one on Bobby Flay's site that mentions an Alioto's name. YES!
Without a good map, we were left to our own devices to try and find a way back to a BART stop to go back to Vacaville where we parked the rig. After walking around a bit, we saw a bus, asked the driver if it went to Market Street, where there was a BART stop, and he said sure, he would let us know when to get off. You cannot imagine the various characters on the bus who would do justice to a Woody Allen script, all while we watched the scenes go by through and around all of Chinatown. Several wanted to chat with us, asking us where we were from (do you think we looked like tourists?), then immediately talking about "How about those Giants? They had HEART! Those Texas guys had skills, but they didn't have HEART!" Let me just say, it was a funny adventure, and we were quite thankful when we arrived at the downtown Market Street area.
Riding the BART is also an adventure, for sure. Like many other big cities, there are extremes: while some are loud and obnoxious, others do not make eye contact or conversation at all. One of my challenges is always to make sad-looking people smile, but I received very slight smiles, and even those seemed to be a little gift. One thing we discovered, as in places all over the world, is that people are nice and caring, and if one asks for help, they are generous. Certainly, yesterday we needed help, and we received it generously! Many thanks to the bus drivers, the BART fellow travelers who explained things, and the BART police and ticket people who helped us realize we had gotten off at the wrong station (it was NORTH, not CENTRAL! DUH!). It was a fun first day trip!
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