Playing Tourist -- August 6, 2017

We got a late start today but we drove to Fifth and Mission and parked on the fourth floor.  We walked up Fourth Street and saw 1051 picking up passengers.  The motorman wouldn't open the front doors, and it was pretty crowded, so we decided to wait for the next one.  Unfortunately, while we saw a few cars going the other way, there wasn't another F car headed for Fisherman's Wharf.  We walked down to Third and caught an 8 bus.  My wife had never been on it before.  It was fun to ride through Chinatown, North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf.  It was sad to see the empty building that held Caesar's Italian Restaurant.  We got off at the end of the line and walked to Pier 39, which is celebrating its 39th anniversary. 

We had calamari and chips, then went to the Christmas shop.  We went to hear and smell the sea lions.  It was so crowded that we couldn't see them.  Walking along Jefferson, we found that it was so crowded that we could barely move along.  We haven't seen Fisherman's Wharf that crowded since 2001. 

We went to the end of the F line where we just missed a Milano car.  Nextbus said the next F car would be 21 minutes, so we walked to Bay and Powell and caught another 8 bus.  It got very crowded going through Chinatown.  We got off at Market and went to the Palace Hotel.  We visited the Ghirardelli shop and had Quake Shakes.  We walked on Mission back to Fifth and Mission.  We listened to the Giants on the way back home.  They beat the Diamondbacks for the second day in a row. 

Strangerhood -- North Beach -- August 13, 2014

The San Francisco Arts Commission (http://www.sfartscommission.org/) has set up a series of posters by artist Lordy Rodriquez called "Strangerhood." Rodriquez reimagines San Francisco neighborhoods as countries. This is his version of North Beach. I took the photo on 15-January-2014. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version.

North Beach -- January 5, 2013

Today we parked at Fifth and Mission and walked out Kearny and Columbus to North Beach.  We had lunch at the new US Restaurant.  We walked by the former location of Victoria Pastry.  We bought some cookies at Stella, then walked down Columbus.  We found the new location of Victoria by Washington Square.  We walked down to the end of the F line and rode 1050 back to 4th and Market.

I took the photo of City Lights Bookstore on 10-August-2010. 

If at First... -- August 21, 2011

Graffitti spotted yesterday at Columbus Avenue and Broadway: "If at First You Don't Succeed -- Call an Airstrike."

The figure appears to be a little kid with a gas mask.

The Giants beat the Astros in extra innings. The Giants have been having lots of injury problems.

Nuova Porziuncola -- August 20, 2011

Today we parked at Fifth and Mission and caught a 30 Stockton to Green. We went to Saint Francis Church, which is now the National Shrine of Saint Francis. The family had not been there since the church was restored. Then we visited the Nuova Porziuncola, the model of the little church rebuilt by Saint Francis. It is beautiful to see. The walls are rough stone with some damaged frescoes, copied from the originals.

The photo shows the old gym, which contains the Nuova Porziuncola.

From there we went to the Cafe Sport, which my wife and I had not visited for almost 30 years. We had pasta with pesto and fried calamari. All good. The restaurant was not very busy.

Then we went to Molinari's and bought some olive oil and some other items. It doesn't smell the way that Gloria Delicatessen used to smell. Then we went to Victoria Pastry and bought some cookies.

We walked out Columbus to Kearny and Kearny to Post. We went over to Union Square and visited Macys, then went home.

Father Jess said 5 0'clock mass.