San Francisco April 19, 2012

Hello fellow travelers,

I was thinking, I am really doing all the hard work for you guys to enjoy this fabulous trip without having to walk up and down the hills, you don't have to deal with the jet lag, or the unseasonably cold weather.  I know you all appreciate it from the bottom of your hearts.  It does bring me to the first adventure we had yesterday. I needed a warm coat.  It is like a Florida winter here (really, I can see my breath each morning).  My sweaters were not enough to keep me warm.  We found a thrift store, Out of the Closet, and I bought a great coat that I hope I will be able to use in the winter.

We had two things on our agenda yesterday.  The first was Chinatown.  Along the way we found a trolley car.  I got to cross my first goal off my list; can you guess what it is?

"Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat..."  Notice my new coat?

Along our path to Chinatown we stumbled across (not literally) some unusual signs.  Help me decipher them please.

I think the first one might mean "no hand holding heterosexual couples allowed" or maybe "men may not carry a man purse if the lady is carrying a purse too".  The second one was clearly written by a contrarian.

The time we were waiting for had arrived... the gate to Chinatown. 

If everywhere else in America everything is made in China, would everything sold in Chinatown be made there too?  Yep.  It was, we checked for the purpose of maintaining authenticity. We went into about half a dozen stores and bought a few little silly things.  Then we got something to eat.  We found a cute little french restaurant in the heart of Chinatown...just kidding.  We ate Chinese.  We're not ones to normally eat with chopsticks, but as mentioned yesterday, when in Rome...

After eating we decided to get off the beaten Chinatown path and head down some side streets.  This is where the fun began.  I saw a store named/called something creative like "HERBS AND SPICES" and we went inside.  It was not an herb and spice store, it was a Chinese apothecary.  It was fascinating to look around and on the counter, in front of the hundreds of apothecary drawers, was a large sheet of paper with all sorts of interesting dried things, including what looked like dried snake skin carefully piled on.  A man behind the counter was weighing various spices and herbs for a waiting customer.  I didn't take any pictures because it seemed like such disrespect "oh... look at the cute Chinese people...let me take a picture..."

I have an apology to make.  For all of you who ordered chickens yesterday; I didn't find any, so I bought you some fish instead.

After Chinatown we headed back home with enough time to relax for a short time before heading out to a Toastmaster meeting.  The Golden Gate Toastmasters.  The did not have a banner so I did not take a picture of myself there because it would simply look like me standing with a bunch of strangers, which of course is exactly what it would have been.  I did not get an opportunity to speak, therefore I did not get an opportunity to win the ribbon.  After the meeting we went out to eat at a place called The Irish Bank.  It was not a bank, nor was there anything especially Irish about it.  The food was okay and two of the Toastmasters gave me some suggestions to get over my devastating contest loss last year.  

We stumbled back home around 11:00 our time, 2:00 your time and collapsed into bed.  Today we are planning on renting bicycles and riding over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito.  Let's hope I can save a jumper...