San Francisco Part 3 Conclusion by Adrian

This is the combination of the last few days of our stay. There are too many things to talk about San Francisco. I will highlight the main places and let you guys see the rest of it in person if you have the chance.

Streetcars- All the them were purchased from other cities and restored to be used in selected part of San Francisco. It is powered by electric and uses the wood braking system (wooden brakes pressed against the tracks). 

Streetcar servicing Pier 39 and Market Street

Ripley's Believe it or Not!- Thanks to Eric, we got to visit the San Francisco's Ripley's Believe it or Not!. They have a collection of weird stuffs not for the faint of heart. Viewing discretion advised.

J.T. Saylors (The world's champion girner), Brandon and I

San Francisco's Earthquake 1989

The Crocodile Man- Bobby Blackburn of South Africa wears crocodile-tooth dentures!

Chinese Lily product of binding feet during the Manchu's Dynasty

Lighthouse Man lived his life with a candle growing out of the top of his head

Egyptian mummified hand and head

Kamala the wolf girl

Robert Wadlow - Tallest person in recorded history confirmed by Guinness World Records

Golden Gate Bridge and surroundings

Golden Gate Bridge -It gets foggy so timing is very crucial for picture taking

Brandon and I walking the bridge

View of Alcatraz from Pier 39

Ferry unloading visitors to the Alcatraz Island (Unfortunately, we did not make it as the tickets were sold out). Tip: Buy your tickets months ahead if you would like to visit.

Alamo Square- The backdrop of Full House (American sitcom set in San Francisco back in the late 80's to 90's).

Painted Ladies

Painted Ladies closed up

Lombard Street- The famous street with tight hairpin turns.

Lombard Street (from down looking up). It is very steep and needs climbing effort to reach the foot of this location.

Lombard Street view at the other side of the hill (downhill direction)

Fisherman's Wharf- This is the waterfront section on the other side of Pier 39. It is a nice place to stroll and check out the restaurants.

Fisherman's Wharf

Boudin Bakery Store- Original San Francisco Sourdough

Breads in various shapes

Dungeness Crabs (a must eat food at the wharf)

Other seafood varieties if you don't like crabs

Ghirardelli Square (Original Ghirardelli Chocolate Company headquarters which is now landmarks of shops and restaurants)

This concludes our trip to San Francisco. There are other interesting places like the Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Pacific Coast Drive, and etc we did not have the time to go to. We will definitely be back to check out the rest of the places. I leave you with an interesting story about "Sugar Daddy" and has something to do with the statue at Union Square. Hint: Alma de Bretteville Spreckels and Adolph B. Spreckels.

Note: Special thanks to Linda and Eric for making the trip possible.

San Francisco Part 2 by Adrian

On our second day, we were chauffeured by Linda to Napa Valley, Muir Woods National Monument and Palace of Fine Arts Theater.  We started our morning by having breakfast at a well known place called Tartine's Bakery & Cafe. Even before the place was opened, we already had to line up outside the establishment.

People queuing up outside

Morning bun, croissant and quiche

The breakfast was a great treat. Thank you Linda for bringing us to the place. Our next destination is Napa Valley. The area is huge so we only manage to stop at a one vineyard. With a toddler tagging along, trust me it is very challenging to be flexible. The place is called Castello Di Amorosa. It was the perfect place for us. The place is a castle with the European inspired design built by Dario Sattui.

Castello Di Amorosa

Entrance to the castle

The Courtyard (Adam Sandler shot Bedtime Stories here)

The Great Hall

Hallway

Wine cellar

Award winning wines

Grape-seed oil

It won't be complete without wine tasting (Serene sipping her sweet wine)

Checking out the grapes (Brandon and I)

The castle was superb and affordable as we do not have to fly to Europe to experience similar ambiance. Without any hesitation, Linda agreed to bring us to Muir Woods National Monument as our next stop. Remember the Ewoks running around the wood with gigantic trees. Yes, the location was inspired by Muir Woods. Another movie Rise of the Planets of the Apes was also shot at this location.

Entrance to Muir Woods (Serene and Linda)

Gigantic trees (Look at the size of the visitors compared to the trees)

Another angle of the giant trees

More trees..! Bored yet?

Last picture of the trees

The place is actually quite relaxing connecting yourself to the environment. I mean not the tree hugging way. Plus the weather is nice not too hot. It is definitely worth checking it out. The last place suggested by Linda was the The Palace of Fine Arts. It looks like a movie set for a Roman period film. The monument was originally built to be presented at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.

The monument across the lagoon

Rotunda

Ducks in the lagoon

Swans

Private houses across the lagoon (Lucky dogs..!)

End of second day. Stay tuned for more!!!

San Francisco Part 1 by Adrian (4th July week)

It has been a while since we had a family vacation. So we decided to spend five days in San Francisco. I personally have been to San Francisco but it was just in and out for business. If you have never been to San Francisco, let me share with you what to expect.

First of all, you will feel like you are in an Asian country as there are Asians everywhere. I mean more than New York City excluding Queens and Chinatown. Second, everyone is very courteous including the car drivers. We had an incident whereby a car pulled in our parking lot where we had waited for and the driver rolled down the window and asked us whether we were waiting for the spot. We said yes and he just pulled out for us. It was a very nice gesture. Unfortunately, that will never happen in New Jersey or New York area. Shame on us!!!! Thirdly, the weather is excellent...! Some might find it too chilly but it was just nice for us. The average temperature is mid 60F or 18C pretty much all year round. I suggest you bring a light jacket or fleece for the evening. It gets a bit cold and windy..! Anyway, you judge for yourself whether San Francisco is a place you would like to visit.
  
Our hotel

The Westin Market Street

King Size Bed with Brandon in the middle (It was quite an experience with Brandon smacking us during his sleep)

Snacks above the mini bar (Note you will be charged within 10 seconds of your removal of the snacks, please do not remove if you don't plan to consume it)

Mini bar with jacked up hotel price

Our first stop was Chinatown for lunch. The hotel concierge told us it is the largest Chinatown in US. Really! I thought NY Chinatown is larger. Well, I am not writing for argument sake.

The arch marking the entrance to Chinatown (Grant Street)

The only Chinatown with steep hill

Trolley service to Chinatown

Chinese traditional shoes

Brandon enjoying his noodles!! Good? No?

From Chinatown we walked to Pier 39. Thank God it was downhill from Chinatown. I cannot imagine someone would walk from Pier 39 to Chinatown. On the way to Pier 39 we passed a few areas. One of them was Washington Square. Next to the park (Washington Square) is the church of Saints Peter and Paul historically catering to the Italian American community. This area is also known as Little Italy but called North Beach. Do you know that this is the hometown of the baseball legend Joe DiMaggio? Yes, it is.

Imagine having to walk home uphill

Pier 39

The place is packed with people from all over

Boats are everywhere next to the pier

Ta...da! Sea lions

We were a bit disappointed that we did not see lots of sea lions as they were in Channel Islands National Park mating. I suppose the ones that stayed at Pier 39 are the seniors. Lol....! Anyway, that's basically it for us on our first day. There are more exciting places to come. Till then stay tuned...!