48 Hours in San Francisco

When we left Monterey, we first made a stop at M's uncle's house. We hadn't met them in several years and spent the day with them. It was a great time catching up and boy does his aunt know how to cook. Yum!

The next morning we were off to San Francisco. We were issued many warnings about the current state of San Francisco. The homelessness is on an all time high as is the opioid epidemic. We were told to be very careful. Car theft and break ins were also a concern so don't leave anything in your car, we were told numerous times. We had seen a lot of homelessness in San Diego as well.. and while it is awful being close to New York it was not something we had not seen before. But we made sure to take precautions. 

We stayed at the Hyatt in the Union Square area. Which was the perfect location because it was within walking or trolley distance of everything we wanted to do on our first day. No car needed. 

First stop Chinatown. San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It was established in the 1850's. There are two hospitals, several parks and squares, numerous churches as well as a post office located within the area. It is covers approximately 24 square blocks with a population of about 35000 people.

I really really wanted to try dim sum. Had never had it before.. I wanted to have an authentic experience, not an Americanized one but was also nervous became as Muslims we have certain dietary constraints. While we are not very strict about only eating only halal, we do not absolutely under any circumstances consume pork or alcohol and the fam is not big on seafood. So choices were limited. We tried our luck at Hang Ah Tea Room. It opened in 1920 as the U.S.'s first dim sum parlor.

We ordered many many plates of the veggie dumplings and lamb dumplings. They were so flavorful and juicy and we also order a side of garlicky bok choy.. oh boy was it good. We didn't order any tea. This place was as authentic as it gets. 

Next we stopped at the Great Eastern Bakery to try a moon cake. They didn't even let us go inside. An old man stood outside taking orders while an old lady stood inside passing him the orders. The moon cake while good, was a little too rich and heavy for us.

Afterwards we hit up the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. They handed out pre folded fortune cookies to the people standing in line.. and there was a line. When we went inside the space could barely fit 10 people.. so it was a bit of blur.. go inside.. see them make the fortune cookies, buy what you want and get out. 

We bought a bag of the pre folded fortune cookies to use as wafers with our ice cream. Didn't get a chance to take pictures or make a video but I found this one on youtube for those interested. They make 10,000 fortune cookies per day. 

We loved Chinatown and my kids loved the dumplings so much I bought some soup dumplings from Trader Joe's to tide them over till we can go to a real dumpling spot. 

Next we walked over the the Ferry Building. The kids got some ice cream.. we got some coffee and then we took a break in a nearby park for a bit. 

When we near the end of such a long trip our desire to take and pose for pictures greatly reduces.. lol.

Then we walked the Embarcadero and explored the Fisherman's Wharf. None of it was all that interesting and all of it was very touristy. 

We started to make our long walk back to the hotel area. We were hoping to hop on a trolley but they were always too full.. many didn't even stop. We walked through Little Italy.. the architecture in San Francisco is beautiful... 

We ended up stopping at Flour and Water for some pizza. They were very good. The restaurant had a waiter service area and a self serve area. The waiter service area was full so we went with self serve.. we didn't care as long we got some food. 

The second day. We checked out and left all our belongings with the hotel before heading out in our car. We had so far not seen any homelessness or felt unsafe. Not that I am saying homeless people are dangerous. 

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First stop Lombard Street. While yes it is a very cool looking street it was over run with people, there was a line just to drive down it and I feel bad for the people who actually live here. Couldn't get a good picture so I have borrowed one from the internet. Afterwards we grabbed some breakfast at Cracked and Battered. 

Afterwards we went to the Palace of Fine Arts. The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, originally built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art.

This was a beautiful place.. we walked around the area and enjoyed the bird life and architecture. Then we were off to Presidio Park. The Presidio is a 1,491-acre park that's part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is also a great place to see the Golden Gate bridge. 

I am really doing a poor job with the pictures now.. this was a great park. We could have spent the entire day exploring but as it was our last day we were short on time. The Tunnel Top Park area was brilliant.. it was a massive playground along with several interactive play areas.. it was little kid heaven. 

The fog was rolling in so we didn't get any good pictures of the bridge. We stopped at the visitor center which gets you pretty close to the bridge but M had to drive around looking for parking while we waited for the fog to pass. It didn't. 

We got back into the car.. M never found parking and headed towards Haight Ashbury, birthplace of the 1960s counterculture movement. It was a cool neighborhood.. we had lunch at Cha Cha Cha, a caribbean restaurant and then went off exploring.

 

Of course we had to stop at a bookstore. The area had so many thrift store and fun shops. 

We had two more stops we wanted to make before we had to go to the airport.. first Mission District. This I admit was a more sketchy area. Many of the shops were closed or boarded up so we quickly hit Clairon Alley to see all the amazing murals and then moved on.

The murals were incredible. Mostly political themed. You can learn more about the mural projects here. 

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Our final stop was to Almo Park to see the Painted Ladies. It is supposed to be the location where Full House house exterior shots were filmed. Once again I feel bad for the people who lived there because there were so many people getting super close and taking pictures. We stayed up on the hill and observed from afar. My kids who have never heard of Full House didn't care much and to me it was less about the show and more about the beauty of these homes. The stunning craftsmanship.. they were even prettier ones in the area. They sure don't make them like this anymore. The above picture is a stock picture.. it's better than the ones I got with people swarming everywhere. 

We headed back to the hotel afterwards to pick up our things and head to the airport. It was such a wonderful trip. California is beautiful. We especially enjoyed our time in San Francisco. I feel like I have been posting about this trip for months.. which I think I have so thanks for coming along with us on our little adventure. 

SIDE NOTE - While we had a wonderful time in the city and saw no trouble we later heard of a friend who was also in SF around the same time. They had all their luggage in their car when it was broken into and everything except a large checked bag was stolen. They had to spend their vacation time filing police reports. Thankfully and surprisingly much of it was recovered. So I'd just say take precautions, be smart when you travel and don't keep all your luggage in your car but that doesn't mean you should be afraid to visit big supposedly 'scary' cities because more often than not you are perfectly safe.

      

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