Dec. 1: SF Trip Report, Day 2

Day 1 of the trip report is here

Day 2, Tuesday, November 25:

We ate breakfast in our room before we ventured out for the day. The intention was to walk down to Fisherman’s Wharf and catch a bus that would take us up to Coit Tower, but we couldn’t find the bus line. We kept walking and watching for MUNI signs until we got to Pier 39. Even though that’s not one of our favorite places, we wanted the kids to see it so we walked around. They were less than impressed with most of it, except for when they were begging to go on the 4-D Spongebob ride. Poor kids—we were those parents trying not to yell through firmly clenched teeth, “We did not come all the way to San Francisco so you could go on a friggin’ cartoon ride!” I asked a security guard for directions to the bus stop and found we were about two blocks away from it.

Katie and Jack liked Coit Tower a lot. I don’t think either of them had ever been up at a viewpoint like that before. They especially liked how the top was open, and Jack kept talking about how cool it would be if it rained and Coit Tower filled up and the water came splashing out the windows. I swear, the kid’s going to grow up to be a Stephen King-type novelist. Instead of taking the bus back down the hill we found the Filbert Steps and walked down them. If you ever get the chance to do that, you won’t regret it. Except for being a little hard on the knees, it is such a beautiful route.




We ended up near Fog City Diner and grabbed lunch there. Afterward we walked down Embarcadero as we headed back toward the hotel. The kids picked out some souvenirs and Jack knocked over a huge snow globe.

Around 4:30 we left for Alameda. Vic and I met Jack and Nobbi while on our Disney cruise last year and they invited us for dinner when I e-mailed to say we’d be in the area. The GPS directed us down Columbus Avenue so we got more sightseeing in as we left town. Jack thought the Transamerica Pyramid was amazing, but didn’t acknowledge how totally hilarious I was when I said it was built by the Aztecs. I guess only he’s allowed to make up stories. The Bay Bridge wasn’t too impressive to cross headed east, as we were on the bottom deck and couldn’t see much of anything. The kids were so disappointed, and we had to keep promising it would be a lot cooler on the way back. There was a lot of traffic and it took us an hour to get to Alameda. Nobbi gave us much better directions than the fake British accent; unfortunately, we didn’t follow them. We were quite late to dinner.

Jack and Nobbi are both incredibly talented in the kitchen and we were the lucky ones sitting at their table! They had some additional guests over, and we all had a delightful evening chatting and gorging ourselves on delicious German food. Jack and Nobbi have been on two Disney cruises since the one we were on together, so there was much discussion of ships and future itineraries. Katie and Jack especially enjoyed meeting George and Gracie, the beagles. Our visit with them was definitely a highlight of the trip.



Food note: They served us a type of pasta we’d never had before. I know, I was thinking HOW CAN A PASTA EXIST THAT I HAVE NOT YET TRIED??? It was long thin tubes; Nobbi said it was a type of macaroni so I investigated when we got home. It’s called maccheroncelli. It was unusual and gave the goulash a very unique look—it may not sound like I’m being very complimentary, but that’s only because I’m not good at describing food beyond “yum” and “more, please.” I’ve got to find some maccheroncelli for the next time we do our garlic pasta dinner.

As promised, we crossed the Bay Bridge on the way back to our hotel. Jack loved this one, probably even more than he liked the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, it was also exciting to see the city lit up. San Francisco is gorgeous.