We made today our big city day — knocking pretty much everything off our San Francisco list that we could. We headed out in the morning and walked a few blocks to get on the red F train downtown. We purchased a day pass using the MUNI app on our phones and were able to add the cable car to it too, for a total of $15. This proved to be a great investment because we hopped on the trains, cable cars, and busses all day as we zipped around the city.
First up, however, was Pier 39 to see the sea lions and the waterfront. The night before there was a pretty alarming tsunami advisory for this coast, so we were glad that we were able to go down to the waterfront at all! The train popped us out pretty close to where we needed to be and we walked through all of the cheesy souvenir shops to get to the back wharf area. As we approached, you could start to smell the fishy wharf scent and hear the sea lions barking at each other. They were so cute!! They were all lounging on these floating docks, but some would get restless and start barking or playing. We got a spot right up front and stayed there for a while watching all of the sea lion drama unfold. After a while we got cold so we left and started walking towards Fisherman’s Wharf.
Everything in this area was pretty touristy — it felt a lot like Gatlinburg or Niagara Falls. There were Ripley’s Believe it or Not stores, Bubba Gump Shrimp, and tons of t-shirt places.
Our next stop was to find Lombard Street — the very twisty brick road that winds itself down a steep hill. It was actually really pretty with lots of hydrangeas growing amongst the curves of the street. We walked up the side and took photos as we got higher and higher above the coast. It was really cool to see the cars winding down the steep road. Initially we had planned to try to drive it ourselves, but walking up slowly and taking the time to look at the houses lining the street, etc was enough for both of us!
After that we hopped on a cable car and headed up to China Town. The car was full so we didn’t get to hang on the outside like we wanted, but we still got to ride on one and hear the bell and the clickity-clack as it traveled up the steep hills.
China Town was HUGE! Honestly it stretched as far as we could see in either direction. We had a few things that we wanted to specifically see, so we started off at the infamous Dragon Gate for a quick photo before heading up the street for some shopping. Grant street is the main one and It’s criss-crossed with red lanterns. Stockton street was another good one featuring lots of murals and street markets.
We also made our way to the fortune cookie factory where we got to write a fortune into a cookie and see how they’re folded and made. It was really cool! We grabbed a late afternoon snack at a Korean place called Kingbob where we split a bulgogi Kim pap roll and a bowl of steaming tteokbokki.
We decided since we had public transportation day passes, that we’d try to hop back on a street car where we can hang off the side. The ones passing through China Town weren’t as busy as the one earlier, so we were able to get a good spot and had fun riding it up and down the entire line. When people got off, we would scoot to a different spot and eventually we ended up right up front. It was very cool — and very cold! We each had on every layer that we brought for the day and it was still not enough.
After our ride ended, we wound up back by Fisherman’s Wharf, so we took a small walk to see if the Golden Gate Bridge was visible or not. And… she was covered in fog! By then it was time for dinner and we knew we wanted to try a Korean place called Cocobang. The line for the traditional street cars was way too long, so we figured out a similar bus route and headed on our way.
The restaurant was super small and had a bit of wait. As we waited we researched our best option for getting back to the Airbnb after dinner and there were no good ones. Taking the F train back involved walking — and likely some of it after dark. We decided to treat ourselves to a Lyft ride since we had done so well all day using our passes.
The dinner was amazing! We split an order of beef bulgogi and chicken bulgogi. The kimchi side was some of the best kimchi we have ever had and the meat dishes were excellent. It was so nice to just sit down for a while and get out of the freezing wind.
The Lyft ride home was speedy and sooo much better than if we had tried to take the train. It was the best $26 ever spent! Now we are showering, packing up for tomorrow’s adventures, and going to sleep!