What makes this town special

Let’s see, we left off at the Exploratorium.  And we had to actually force ourselves to set a deadline- if we didn’t agree to leave by a certain time, we would have played all day.  Normally, that is completely fine- even admirable- but we needed to make our way to a few more things before the day was over.  So, we left at three.  It would have been a little on the nose if we left at 3:14, but I don’t think that’s when we walked out the door.  From there, we walked along the water for a moment until we found a pair of Lime scooters.  We had used them before in a previous trip.  We scooted all around Austin last spring, and yesterday seemed like a perfect day for us to ride again.  We took them all the way back to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we intended to make use of our second day on the hop-on-hop-off bus.  That took us to the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets.  We thought about all the very cool, very San Francisco things we could see, and that one seemed pretty unique.  Lots of places have shopping and financial districts.  We have already visited the wharf.  We’ve been to Alcatraz and near/under/across the Golden Gate Bridge.  No other place we know of has a spot like Haight Ashbury.  

Honestly, it was cool, but we may have built it up in our minds a little.  We popped into a bar and did a little people watching, but other than some very unique decor, it was a little uninspiring.  No matter, Cas sorted out the city bus schedule, and we were off.  For three dollars a piece, we took a bus, transferred to another one and easily made it to Chinatown.  Fun facts abound.  San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in the US.  They are proud of that, though they tend to gloss over how and why the Chinese first came out this way.  We walked around, saw some very cool lanterns and temples and such, and made it to a fabulous restaurant called The Empress for dinner.  The bartender was more of a craftsman- carefully constructing pretty garnishes and routinely setting things on fire.  It was a great way to have our one meal in Chinatown.  We had wasabi prawns, salmon and some seafood noodles.  Oh my gosh- it was all spectacular.  And for extra fun, I managed to eat noodles with chopsticks.  First time for everything, right?  

When we left Chinatown, it was a quick walk to the cable car line.  We learned that the cable cars are actually using an underground cable to move, and the stops and starts are done by a grip man and a brake man.  Although women are welcome to apply for these jobs, very few female applicants possess the upper body strength to do them.  Only a few grip women have done it.  We hopped on near Chinatown and took it to our desired stop, but it was late, and by the time we hopped off, the grip man seemed disinterested in collecting our fare.  It’s all digital, anyhow, and I think the money guy had left for the evening at a previous stop.  No matter, though- we will probably use that fare amount to get to the airport tomorrow.  (Sheesh- tomorrow!)

Today, we hop on a bus that promises to take us to vineyards and redwoods.  Oh, and it’s the Ides of March, so we will, of course, be on the lookout…. 

Meantime, here are photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pvpQGq1HUr8hBmKa7