There are hills, and then there are San Fran's hills!

Kathleen and I decided to take on San Francisco's reputation as being an unwalkable city today, and I think we came out on top! Granted, we trudged up some unpleasant hills, and bypassed other ones, and did succumb to a lone bus ride, but all in all it was a good day! We started out by dropping our embarrassingly huge backpacks at our hostel, and then went to Union Square just to "see" it, and then moved on to a more important pursuit: food! We walked up the streets of Chinatown, looking for a bun store, Kathleen wanted some special tart (which turned out to be worth the wait and trouble), and I wanted, well, food, as per usual.


After a somewhat confusingly time (luckily K speaks Chinese...), we did manage to satisfy our bellies, and continued on towards the water in search of the San Fran Aquarium. This turned out to be at Fisherman's Wharf (on the route we were distracted by Chinese sweet stores, a park, a chin-up bar, a church, and amazing views of vertical streets), a tourist trap if I ever saw one (and that I had been determined to avoid). Luckily, we ended up there anyways, and though it was a bit chaotic, the views of the ocean and the entertainment of the sea lions was more than worth it. In the end, we opted against going to the Aquarium, and decided instead to indulge in a clam chowder bowl (very yummy of course).


We then decided to try to get a look of the Golden Gate Bridge (it was foggy), and on this quest we got sidetracked by a beach, a splash, a hill, a tree climb, a photo session, and finally a teaser view of a tiny part of the bridge that was somewhat recognizable in the fog. By then we were tired, so we took that single bus trip down to the Civic Center and got a few groceries from a rapidly closing Farmer's Market.

Shopping for supplies time. Our list: fuel (for the camp stove), lock, rum, matches, stamps, groceries. We were successful in the first 4 items, in that order (going back to the same store twice), and decided to leave the last two for tomorrow. We then went in search of food once more: supper time! We walked and walked and asked locals, but apparently there are no grocery stores in downtown San Fran... go figure! We ended up in a sketchy Chinese restaurant, but the food was decent and the prices were low, ummm... food!

Now, it's time for a little break, and then we will go out and see what the nightlife is like here on a Wednesday night! Tomorrow it's time for Yosemite National Park, and NATURE!