Once again, no picture able to load – how I love crappy, unreliable service, even if it is complimentary…

San Francisco 08 – Day Three

OK, technically this is Day Four (we arrived late the first day, so we haven’t been including it) – which has no bearing on anything, but I felt it had to be mentioned…

Yesterday we hopped on the Hop On/Hop Off tour bus, and made our way into Chinatown. We had a pretty decent Chinatown when we lived in Winnipeg, and Calgary has a very impressive area. But San Francisco, well let me tell you, sister – is unreal! I had hoped to post a few images to convey some of the flavour, but thanks to this crappy internet in our room, I am hopelessly unable to. Let’s just say that we walked for three and a half hours, when combined with Little Italy – it’s a fairly sprawling, robust and eye-popping neighbourhood.

When we arrived at the ornate gate that leads into Chinatown, we wanted to grab a bite to eat. But nature was vigorously calling collect, so we stepped into the first restaurant we spotted – a French one, Café de la Presse. Pretty darn good itself.

During our stroll of Little Italy, we stopped in at Francis Ford Coppola’s Café Zoetrope, a history-laden bistro with ties to The Godfather, and more. We had a glass of wine, soaked in the ambience, and purchased a Director’s Cut Chardonnay to bring home. We were all a-tingle, but I think that may have been the vino…

After our tour of these charming areas of San Fran, we hopped back on the Hop On/Hop Off, and returned to our room, to kill some time before we got back on, to do the Night Tour. This was a chance to see the city aglow in the holiday lights, or just generally aglow. The weather, continuing to be unseasonably cold, had also brought forecasts of a major rainstorm, which happily held off until we had completed the tour of San Fran, at night – very enjoyable.

Our evening concluded at Joe’s Crab Shack, on Fisherman’s Wharf. We seem to be dining here every night, but it has been absolutely heavenly each and every time. We split a bucket of crab, and garlicky mussels – beyond description - we chawed on those crab shells like vultures on roadkill.

OK, that may not be the prettiest picture I could have painted for a delicious serving of succulent seafood, but we really did gnaw on those crab like we were being sent away to Alcatraz for 20-To-Life. I may never be able to take Seafood Night at TGI Friday’s seriously again…

Chow(der) for Now(der)!!