After Alcatraz, we decided to walk along Fisherman’s Wharf; there were a lot of places to stop for food. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s mostly food, plus the Aquarium (we didn’t visit). It was full of activity when we were there, and later we walked along it at night which was another perspective.

My favorite part though was the Arcade Museum, Musee Mecanique, filled with coin-operated arcade and video games!

Brian and I got a few coins and played a couple games too. I played Ski Ball, which is my all time favorite game. I am only okay at it, but it is thrilling to hit the 50 slot! Brian played whack-a-mole, and with our last coin, we watched a French Execution.

The game play made us hungry, so we headed up to the famous food truck, The Codmother Fish and Chips.

We both got an order of fish tacos. Cabbage, a good sized piece of fish made fresh, and their signature sauce (I got mild, Brian got medium) in a basket. We shared some fries, and I was happy to see vinegar at the table because there is nothing like fresh fries with vinegar! It was excellent.

Following lunch, we walked up a few cable car stops then and hopped on, standing along the side.

We got off at Chinatown, which is the biggest Chinatown in any city in the US. I liked it even more than the one in NYC, but Brian said he preferred the “sketchiness” in NYC. It’s true, this Chinatown was not filled with knockoff brands or a whole lot of side alleys (or at least… it didn’t seem to be!).

We purchased a scarf for me there, because it was really chilly that day. With a jacket and scarf on, I was finally comfortable.

The day was really starting to clear up by this time, we even saw bright blue sky heading into downtown to catch the metro to our next stop, Buena Vista Park. The park was supposed to give us great views of the bridge, though I was more pleased with the views of the city proper.

To reach the park, we got off the metro, and then walked what felt like an entire mile, entirely, steeply uphill. At one point, there were steps in the sidewalk because it was so steep.

The views were nearly worth it.

Okay, afterwards we stopped for drinks, and then it was totally worth it.

We took a different way back down, onto Haight Street and the so-called “hippie” district. It may have been a little be eclectic, and I enjoyed the murals, but my favorite was this spot: Hobson’s Victorian Punch House.

That is three bowls of punch there, their house punches, made with rum and various fruit juices. It was really a rum bar, with over 100 types of rum available. My kind of place!

Brian had an Anchor Steam Ale (based in San Francisco, though we didn’t go) and Descheutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale.

And I had two of these.

But the day wasn’t over! Eventually we had to leave, and we made our way to Ghiradelli Square and the dock extending away from it, where I was happy to finally get some good photos of Golden Gate Bridge.

Oh yes, we did stop for some chocolate samples and a sundae as well.

What made the sundae was the crushed nuts, and the chocolate, I think. It was so good, we were barely hungry for dinner that night.

Speaking of, to get there, I was happy to walk off more of that sundae by walking down the windy, twisty Lombard Street.

I’m pretty sure it was mostly tourists driving down that street!

For dinner, we decided we wanted to sit outside at a small Italian restaurant, as it had finally warmed up enough to be comfortable. A lot of places had outdoor heating, though we eventually chose a place which did not (because we didn’t want to wait for a seat that had heating. If you can’t tell by all the places we made it to even after Alcatraz, all in ONE day, we walk fast and might be a touch impatient!).

We didn’t have reservations, but we checked Yelp for a good spot along Columbus Avenue, which had a lot of Italian restaurants along it. We selected Rose Pisolta and enjoyed a fabulous dinner; like the previous night’s tapas dinner, we were pleased with the portion sizes since we had consumed most of the day already.

I had an Italian Quarter Shrub cocktail (Abuelo 7 Year Rum, Fresh Orange Juice, Lemon Shrub, Agave Nectar). It was sweet, and not at all alcohol-tasting, reminding me of my favorite martini, a lemon drop)

For my meal, I enjoyed a Black Summer Truffle Ravioli with Yellow Corn Brodo.

Brian had the pasta with Lobster, Orange & Micro Basil. It had a very herbal scent and taste, but was very good. It was missing the substance though that my dish had, I think.

For our grand finale that evening, we walked along Fisherman’s Wharf again, and then went to Buena Vista Cafe, sat at the bar, and had a famous Irish Coffee.

Well, Brian had one two. I was completely full; I did try his though. The flavor is very intense.

It was a nice, relaxing end to our long and busy day! We were excited that we were able to do all of the items on our list for San Francisco, and I was excited to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge the next day and see the redwood forest!