2009 Vacation - Day 6

We got an early start today, and had breakfast at Ponzu, the restaurant attached to our hotel. It was good, but not up to the level of the dinner we had there previously. We bundled up and headed out for one of the attractions we were most excited about. On a side note, we saw a homeless guy yesterday with bare feet and a sign that read "Need $$ for socks." He was right outside a Walgreen's that was selling three pairs of socks for $2. We didn't want to give him money, but we did buy him some socks. I thought it would be interesting to see if he was there the next day, but we weren't going to be near that Walgreens. Today he had moved to a different Walgreen's, and he still has bare feet and the sign about the socks, although he has added a sign that says he's hungry. Bill and I wonder how many socks he has by now, and whether he has made a mattress out of them, since I doubt we're the only people to buy him socks. Interestingly, we saw another homeless guy with a sign that said "I won't lie, I need money for beer."

We took the underground train to get to Golden Gate Park, for the California Academy of Sciences. It was an aquarium, a natural history museum, and some other unique things all rolled into one. It was great! Although we read in several places that the crowds can be crazy, apparently that is not the case in early September. We did the aquarium exhibits first, and in our opinion they were better than those at the Aquarium of the Bay, which we visited yesterday. We watched the feeding in one of the reef tanks, then walked around and saw the other exhibits in the section.

Next, we headed to the Rainforest exibit. We had to go through an airlock to get inside, and we were speculating about why - to keep in moisture, etc. Turns out it was to keep the BUTTERFLIES inside. Yes, we said butterflies. Lots and lots of them, flying around free. Birds, too. There were also lots of plants and some trees, and small enclosures with poisionous tree frogs, lizards, snakes, tarnatulas, and more fauna from various rainforests around the world.

We entered on the bottom (forest floor) then went up a winding ramp around the edge, eventually making our way to the canopy on the third floor, where we were checked for hitchhiking butterflies before going down below the forest floor level into submerged forests, where we walked underneath the lake in the center of the rainforest enclosure. It was really amazing.

After the rainforest, we grabbed an overpriced but tasty lunch in the cafe, and headed up to the living roof. It was different than we imagined, and while interesting as a technology, it was a bit boring to look at it.

We went through the "Natural History" portion, which was mostly about African fauna, although there was also a live penguin exhibit. We watched another feeding, at the shark and ray lagoon, and headed out. Although there was also a planetarium (world-class, according to the literature for the Academy) we were not allowed to go in because they have a "no children under 6 years old" rule. Lame.

After going back to the hotel to clean up and relax for a minute, we were very excited to meet our friends Rani and Andrew for dinner at Tommasos, in North Beach. Yelp was right again - really great pizzas, and long lines if you get there too late. We just beat the rush.

The restaurant was located inside the red light district, and Rani mentioned that the peep show across the street was the only unionized, cooperative adult entertainment venue in the US. She mentioned that she knows some women who worked there and that they are all very "sex-positive" and the business is run in a fashion that is non-exploitive (to whatever extent that's possible at a peep show.) Since we had never seen a peep show, and because Rani offered to pay the $1 for us to get a glimpse, we left Liam with Rani and Andrew out front for a few minutes to check it out. The women seemed to like the fact that there was a couple instead of the usual creepy guy. It was not terribly exciting, but it was an entertaining way to spend a few minutes. We noticed that they flashed a lot more flesh in the last moment before the panel went down, no doubt to encourage us to feed in more dollars, which we didn't. We definitely did not want to touch any of the surfaces in the little booth.

All five of us then walked back toward the hotel, making a few stops and snapping pictures along the way. It was a lot of fun for the four grown ups, and a nice nap in the carrier for little Liam. It was the first time we really just walked aimlessly in the city, without any real destination or time frame. We walked by the really cool lights in the Louis Vuitton store, and took some photos. It was a long, but full day, our last in San Francisco. Tomorrow we head back to San Jose.

2009 Vacation - Day 5

We started the day today with the best breakfast that either of us has had in a long time. We have been trying to go to Dottie's True Blue Cafe since we got here, but it's been closed or we haven't had time to wait for a table. We waited about half an hour today, but it was well worth it. We had coconut white chocolate french toast with pecans (sounds too sweet, but wasn't) and an omelet. Bill says the coffee was great. It's closed tomorrow for some unknown reason, but we are planning to go back on Friday morning before we leave town.


We left straight from Dottie's for the Aquarium of the Bay. We took the F train to Pier 39 in the Embarcadero. The aquarium was interesting, but much smaller than those in Long Beach and Monterey. The way it was set up is cool - we walked through these long Plexiglass tunnels, one of which was filled with critters from the bay, and the other with ocean animals. Liam seemed less impressed with the giant sharks than he was with the smaller brightly colored fish. It was worth seeing since we had the CityPass for free admission, but I wouldn't pay to see it. I guess I would rather look at really cool fish from far away than the dull ones that live around here.


We wandered Pier 39, did a bit of shopping, and checked out the sea lions. We had seen them last year, but wanted to give Liam a chance to see and hear them. He was disinterested, the smell was foul, and the wind cold off the bay, so we headed up to the Musee Mecanique on Pier 45.


They basically had all kinds of coin-operated entertainment from about the last 100 years. It was free to get in, but of course all of the various machines, games, and attractions required quarters. They had some really old stuff, like those things that you lean your eyes against to see moving pictures from the early 1900's, and some more recent games like Centipede. They had an original Midway "Pong" game, 4 player upright, in stunning black and white! Liam slept through most of this, not surprisingly.


After we finished at Fisherman's Wharf, we caught the bus to North Beach, the "Little Italy" area of San Francisco. We ate at Caffe Baonecci and found again that the Yelp online review site provided good information. Yelp has been a mixed bag for us, but was also right about Honey Honey and Dottie's, so overall it has been pretty reliable. At Baonecci we met a nice group of people from Denmark (mother, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend) along with their guide from Santa Rosa. The guide and the mother originally met in Washington, DC as kids when his family hosted her as an exchange student. They were in their 60s and have been lifelong friends. We enjoyed talking to them and watched some drama as a car was towed for having a counterfeit Disabled Person placard. Man, were those people mad when they saw their car leaving without them!


Another bus ride back to the hotel, and we took a few minutes to unwind before heading back out for dinner with our good friend Mig, who we had not seen since some time before Liam was born. Mig treated us to dinner at Sears Fine Foods (thanks, Mig) and everything was really tasty. We would definitely eat there again. Some nice employee even took a picture of us all as we headed out. Back at the hotel, Liam had his first tub bath! Bill had to climb in with him, which was fine as they both really needed some soap and water. More tomorrow.

2009 Vacation - Day 4

Our plan for breakfast changed when we couldn't eat at either of the two restaurants we had in mind because one had a crazy line and the other was closed on Tuesday. We were going to go back to Honey Honey again, but found somewhere that looked reasonable on the way there. It was nothing special, but breakfast is pretty hard to mess up. It was cold again in the morning, which meant an opportunity to bundle Liam up all cute again.


It took us some time to get ready for our day (everything takes so much longer with Liam in tow!) We took a bus that twisted and turned down a bunch of different streets, but that ultimately took us pretty close to the Palace of Fine Arts. This was a nice plus that we were not expecting on our way to the Exploratorium. The architecture looked very classical, and was on a very big scale. There was also a lovely park with ducks and everything. The houses in the area were also really interesting, and clearly expensive.


The Exploratorium was really really cool. Although for the most part, Liam was too young for the exhibits, Bill and I were fascinated. The place is made for science nerds like us. Almost all of the exhibits are interactive, and they involved everything from plants to electricity to visual and auditory illusions. We spent a lot longer than we expected to spend, and by the time a little after 3 PM we left we were starving.


We grabbed a couple sandwiches and caught a bus back toward the hotel. As the bus rapidly filled with rush hour commuters, we got a little concerned about how we would get off as we were at the very back. Thankfully, most of the passengers got out at our stop, and it was not an issue. Liam made friends with everyone on the bus and got a lot of compliments. He was exhausted, and quickly fell asleep while we were still out and about.


The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Because our lunch was around 4 PM, we weren't really hungry for dinner. We went to Ponzu, the restaurant attached the our hotel, for "small plates" which are basically appetizers. The food was surprisingly good, and we were so impressed we ordered dessert of a trio of creme brulee - you know calories don't count on vacation. The picture to the left is a gratuitous cute photo of Liam. We had to change him into this "emergency spare" outfit at the Exploratorium because we are using disposable diapers this trip, which apparently can allow poop to explode out into the clothes. Sweet!

2009 Vacation - Day 3

Monday was our first full day in San Francisco. We slept pretty well - this hotel has really comfortable beds for such an inexpensive place. We had breakfast at Honey Honey Cafe and Crepery, which was really good. It was really cold in the morning, so we were all bundled up for the walk.




After Liam's morning nap, we walked to the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art. We were there to pick up our CityPass booklets, and although we're not really into modern art, we went in since we had free admission from the CityPass. It looked like it was going to be really crowded, since it was the last day of their Ansel Adams/Georgia O'Keefe exhibit, but that was the only area that was really bad. Liam seemed to enjoy the bold colors in the artwork, so we stayed until we were hungry for lunch.


While walking back to our hotel, we found a little Italian grocery that served lunch. They had so much good stuff that it was hard to decide, but we ended up with a delicious sandwich and salad. At the hotel, Liam had his after lunch nap. which was much too short for Bill's liking. I've learned that it's not even worth trying to sleep during Liam's 20-30 minute naps.


We went to Chinatown in the late afternoon. Our transit plans were foiled by crowded cable cars, so we ended up walking the whole way, much of which was up (sometimes very steep) hills.






We ate dinner at Snow Palace, which was very highly reviewed, but we thought the food was meh at best. Even Liam wasn't excited by the place, as he mostly slept in my lap. On the way back, we walked up the steepest hill we've seen yet, and had to wait through three buses before we found one with room for the stroller. We watched a bit of a movie before bed.

2009 Vacation - Day 2

Kimberly and Paul provided us a lovely breakfast of fresh-baked chocolate croissants and honeydew melon, and we all hung out for the morning, playing with Liam and Evan.

After naps (or at least good attempts at them) for the little ones, we headed out to Panera for lunch. Liam sat in a high chair for the first time, and he was great! Kimberly had a really cool high chair/shopping cart cover she made (with robot print!) which she kindly let us use. After lunch, we headed up to the house and got packed up and ready to head to San Francisco.

We took the Caltrain from San Jose to Downtown San Francisco. Everyone on the train was very friendly, and Liam seemed to do well with the ride. We got to know Bev who worked for Caltrain (she was checking tickets, announcing stops on the intercom, etc.) and she chatted with us between several of the stops. At the end, she even took a picture so we could have one with all three of us in it.

We really enjoyed taking the train. The buses, with two suitcases, two backpacks, a camera bag, a baby, and a stroller, were a different story. We found our bus, made our connection, and got to our hotel without too many problems. We are staying at the Hotel Serrano near Union Square. We found a very close Thai restaurant on Yelp, dressed up warmly, snapped a few cute pictures (evidence at left), and headed out. The restaurant was tiny, packed, and VERY hot inside. Liam ended up dining shirtless, and the staff and all the patrons (uniformly young) were really nice. Someone gave us some large pieces of cucumber for Liam, and although he doesn't eat food yet, he enjoyed playing with them. He fell asleep in the Ergo carrier on the way back to the hotel, looking adorable.

(Reminder: You can click on any of the pictures for a larger image if you are so inclined.)

2009 Vacation - Day 1

We are very excited - This is our first trip as parents! We flew out of Long Beach, and everyone was really nice to Liam (our son). He was very well behaved on the flight, much to our relief. This trip, we are not going to have any car of our own, and so that is also a first for us. Shannon's sister Kimberly picked us up at the airport in San Jose. We are staying the night at Kimberly and Paul's house, and tomorrow we will be taking the train to San Francisco, where we will spend the bulk of the trip, before returning to San Jose.

Liam and his cousin Evan are so interesting to see together. They are 10 months apart in age, but profoundly different developmentally. Evan has been very gentle, and generously offered to help Liam get started on solid food with a piece of Pita bread. We had to decline on Liam's behalf since we are not planning to start him on food until we return from this trip. Not much else to share today - tomorrow should be more exciting.