San Francisco CatchUp

On Tuesday we ventured on to the public transport system... caught the bus from our motel in Lombard Street to Mission Street. It was fun and different to be on one of the long buses that bend in the middle.

We walked from Mission Street and found Valencia Street where we were meeting Denise for lunch at Luna Park. It was a lovely cafe... lots of character. The whole Mission Street area was very different from the rest of San Francisco that we had seen... very ethnically diverse - lots of Spanish speaking people as well as other ethnicities.

More on the Mission District here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_District,_San_Francisco,_California

Denise was so lovely and we enjoyed meeting her very much. She showed us her new iPhone, which we coveted!

After lunch we made our way by bus down to Fisherman's Wharf. Matthew and Joshua played on the little beach. Fisherman's Wharf was very touristy, lots of shops to distract us.

We hopped on a street car, which was heading in the opposite direction than we wanted! It was a nice diversion, though, because it took us to the Port of San Francisco Ferry Terminal. From there we had beautiful views of the Bay Bridge, and a lovely view up Market Street.

We walked up and caught a bus back to our motel.

Wednesday saw us up early and out in the car to Haight Street. Michael had heard about a cafe called Kate's Kitchen on Haight Street which served great breakfasts. We had an amazingly big breakfast there - Orange Spice French Toast for me... it was huge, six big slices of French toast with maple syrup. Joshua and Matthew shared a full stack of pancakes - two huge pancakes each! And Michael got the Big Breakfast... as if you needed anything "bigger" than the usual portions. His breakfast consisted of a short stack of pancakes (2 huge pancakes) and egg, sausage and bacon. He was struggling to finish it.

After breakfast we drove further up Haight Street until we hit Ashbury - the famous Haight Ashbury. Did the usual touristy thing by taking our pictures there, and looked in many of the shops in the area. Although it was 4th of July most of the shops were open.

After Haight Ashbury we drove up to Twin Peaks and had a spectacular view out over the city.

Then back to the motel... rested for a bit before venturing out on the bus again... this time to Chinatown. San Francisco has the best Chinatown of any city. The kids loved it, but it was quite warm, and by the time we hit the shopping district they were getting tired.

We went to the huge Westfield Mall... four levels and a city block. We ate at the Food Emporium, and then looked in a couple shops before finding our bus back.

Buses in San Francisco are really good... you buy a ticket and can use it for four or five hours after you buy it.

More soon.