Visiting Chinatown and Dining at a Curbside Eatery in Little Italy, San Francisco

Since we stayed at a downtown hotel during our stay in San Francisco, a lot of the places we wanted to visit were within walking distance from us. The year round mild weather along with the availability of numerous interesting things to see and do in the city have make San Francisco one of the top tourist destionations in the United States. There were two interesting places where we enjoyed visiting on this trip.

1. Chinatown in San Francisco - the oldest in North America. A neighbourhood lined with interesting shops selling real and costume jewellry, toys and household items, regular and Chinese clothes, herbal medicines, small mom and pop grocery stores as well as numerous small authenic Chinese restaurants and teashops where visitors can sample a variety of Chinese teas offered by some shopkeepers. Chinatown is decorated with historic street lights and strings of red lanterns hanging across the streets. A visit to this unique neighbourhood is a different cultural exprience from the other parts of SF. It is also an excellent place to shop for souvenirs with excellent prices.

This time when we visited Chinatown, we also discovered some new art galleries displaying some comtemporary arts as well as some beautiful work pieces created by local artists. Since I had some stomach pains prior to arriving to SF, I was careful of what I ate trying to avoid spciy and deep fried food. The congees offered in some of the Chinese restaurants helped sooth my stomach. I had absolutely no pain at all. Therefore we went to the SF Chinatown a few times for the congees and it was a good experience for us!

2. Little Italy - very close to Chinatown, it is the area around North Beach with many colourful historic houses, shops, numerous cafes and restaurants. There was one restaurant that was highly recommended to us - Tony's Pizza. We did go there around 530pm on a Friday but the place was fully packed inside the restaurant as well as the outdoour seating area. Many people were congregating outside and there was a huge lineup. We got a number and the waiting time for us was about an hour. With our number in hand, we walked around the area and enjoyed some live music provided by a live band playing outside another restaurant. We liked the music so much that we decided to give up our waiting spot at Tony's and eat there instead.

The music was very good, the drinks and food we ordered were just as good. E. struck up a conversation with the two other patrons sitting at the next table. They were toursits just like us, but from other parts of the U.S. We had an interesting experience while we were dining on the curbside.

We saw a huge white and red fire ball of very bright lights and heard something like a localized electrical explosion lasting for about 30 seconds across the street on the tops of a cabled street car followed by a driverless electrical car. We all gasped! Then that section of the area turned dark after losing its power.

We were concerned about the safety of the passengers inside this driveless EV. Some people tried to help by opening the car doors but unable to do so. Finally, someone called 911 and help soon arrived. It was quite exciting and concerning for many for a little while. Despite all that excitment casued by the ball of electricla fire, We enjoyed the drinks and food, meeting new people and listening to the street musicians. It was a great way to spend a Friday evening in the North Beach Little Italy district of SF! RT, Chinatown, Little Italy San Francisco, USA nov2024

A Display of Creative and Amazing Art Pieces Made with Vinyl Records - Fairmount Hotel, San Francisco

We visited San Francisco for a week recently and had a great time there. We have been to this city many times before but we never feet bored as there are so mnay things to see and do here.

Since E. was not feeling well, we went around to explore the different places on our own. Being close to the Christmas holidays, there were many festivities and activities going on that were free and open to the public.

One of our fabourite things to do was visiting the gingerbread house at the Fairmont Hotel. This is a place we always visit whenever we are in San Francisco. Besides the gigantic ginerbread house which was big enough for people to walk in and take a look inside, this year there were other displays at the Fairmount Hotel that caught our attention.

There were two life size sculptures being displayed at the Gefen Gallery located on the main floor of the hotel. At first glance, I saw two life size sculptures of people made from some sort of black material. But after looking and reading carefully the explanations besides them, I discovered something unique about these sculptures..

One was Bowie made up of about 8000 vinyl records; the another one was a man on top of a motorcycle comprised of 30,186 vinyl records. These sculptures were created by Belgian American artist, George Monfils, who creafully handcut each vinly record and meticulously placed them together forming these masterpieces. The precision, time and efforts as well as the skills that required in making these work of arts were amazing. They were spectacular pieces! It was always worth our time visiting the Fairmount Hotel and finding something special there! We were glad we saw the vinyl record sculptures! RT, Fairmount Hotel San Francisco

Our First Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in California

Thursday We were up by 7am and got ready for the Turkey Trot. It was held at another suburban city. Another Uber ride. I thought of the money E. spends on Uber each month, it must be a substanial amount as he Ubers everywhere. I am surprised at how carefree young people are these days with their money. It would be interesting for E. to compare the cost of maintaining a vehicle verse the amount spent on UBER rides

A lot of people were already at the Turkey Trot starting site by the time we arrived. There was loud energetic music playing at the meeting site to wake up the participants. There were tables set up for water, energy drinks, fruit and energy bars etc for participants. I think it cost US$80.00 each person to register for the event. It was a 5Km run/ walk event to raise money for local charities, not sure which one though. There was something special to be in a huge crowd. Everyone was pumped up, ready to go. Beofre the run/ walk started, we did some warm up exercises. Then the 1OK runners started followed by the 5K participants. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, or cold, just comfortable for the activity.

E. and his friends took part in the 5K run while we did the 5K walking. Since this was our first time in this Turkey Trot, we took our time to observe, and enjoy our walk. I was surprised at how many people were there for the event on Thanksgiving day. There were people of all ages, young and old. Many families were walking or running together. There were a few young parents pushing strollers with babies sleeping in them. It was heart warming to see families enjoying and doing fun activities together, especially for a charitable event!

By the time we arrived back to the finishing point, E.'s friends had already finished and left. E. was disapoointed that we didn't meet his friends' parents who also took part in this event. But we were able to meet up with them later at a restaurant. We had breakfast while E. was able to spend sometime with his friends. We went back to E.'s place amd I made a thanksgiving dinner. This was our first thanksgiving dinner we had together in a long long time! RT, San Francisco Thanksgiving Day, 2024

A Free Walking Tour of the North Beach Neighborhood in San Francisco

Wednesday We were in San Francisco for a week and staying at the same hotel the entire time. One of the things we enjoyed a lot was the nice spread at the full buffet breakfast offered at the hotel restaurant. It was a pleasure dining in the dining room as the serving staff was attentive and very polite.

A few days ago we reserved our spots for a free local tour. The North Beach Library offers a monthly free tour of the neighbourhood. We were lucky to have been in SF at the right time and took advantage of this free activity. After breakfast at our hotel, we took an Uber to the North Beach library where we gathered and met other fellow tourists. We met the manager of the public library who was our tour guide on that day. Richard L., The library manager was born and raised in the North Beach community attending the local schools when he was young. The tour started at the library and we walked by colourful houses, parks, coffee shops and a beautiful church called St. Peter and Paul Church. It is a manificent building and has served as the home church and cultural center for San Francisco's Italian-American community since its consecration. It currently offers English, Italian, and Cantonese-language services.

As we were led through alleyways and small streets, our knowledagable guide introuduced us to historical buildings and landmarks offering interesting stories and insights on local history and development of the city of San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed our guide's stories about the St. Peter and Paul church and how it had seen some famous people and appeared in a number of Hollywood movies. After their civil ceremony in 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio returned to the church steps to have their marriage photos taken there as the Catholic church refused to marry them in the church due to DiMaggio's marital status. Another story was about the big mural of a lady painted on a neighbourhood building's wall. The lady's name was Carol Ann Doda who made international news in the 1960's as the first public topless dancer in the United States, based in San Francisco. She danced in the Condor Club right in the North Beach neighbrohood. We also learned how different merchants staking their claims on the land of San Francisco by purposedly sinking their ships along the waterfront of the city.

This free walking tour offered by the North Beach Public Library was enjoyable and educational as we learnt a great deal about this famous district. As a former public school admin. in Canada, I applaud free educational programs such as this one as it could help to level the learning playing field a bit for kids/ young people from less advantaged background. Parents may not be able to send their children to expensive summer/ winter camps but they certainly can encoruage their children to learn from free programs offered by the public libraries in their neighbourhood. Two thumbs up and would highly recommend this free tour to visitors in San Francisco! Thank you to Richard L., Manager of the North Beach Library for a wonderful tour of the North Beach neighbourhood! RT - From Toronto, Canada On holidays in San Francisco USA 112024

P.S. We Went to Ikea after the local tour trying to find a bed for E. I took pictures of the beds which might be of interest to him. Because we spent a little longer time here, we were late getting to E'S condo. However, we were able to help him move some furniture, cleared some boxes and hanged a few pictures. We were glad that we could do something for him. He asked us if we wanted to take part in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and regisgered for us. Then he came with us to the hotel and slept over night there at our suite so that we would wake up early and go to the Turkey Trot event on time the next day.

Spending a Rainy Day in Burlingame, Ca. USA

Monday – We walked over to E's place and visited the Millenium Tower, a luxurious condo hotel offering many excellent amenities to its residents such as all day free tea and coffee, a beautiful sitting area with a fireplace, a swimming pool, gym, and a movie theatre plus many organized special events. Unfortunately, the condo has been found sinking about three inches a year. The building is slanting and the developer and its engineers have been working hard to correct the problem for a few years already. E. invited us to visit his new work place in Burlingame and we took an Uber to get there. The ride was about 30 minutes. We would have enjoyed walking around the city had the weather been a little more cooperative. It was raining all day therefore we stayed most of day inside a nice coffee shop pecking away on our computers while E. was at work in his new office. We did get to meet the owner of the business and had some friendly exchanges with her.

Burlingame, a suburban city with a population around 30,000 people, has a walkable downtown. Strolling along the main street, I saw many neat stores, nice shops and fine eateries and resataurants. This is an affluent small city made up of many professional middle class residents and young families. It was delightful watching families with young children having fun and taking pictures beside the colourful Christmas decorations on city streets and some people walking their dogs leisurely on the city sidewalks. With the sweet aroma of baked breads and pastries drifting from the bakery shops, Burlingame felt like a nice village rather than a city.

After office hours, E. called an Uber and took us back to SF for a wine tasting event. E. belongs to a wine club and this wine tasting events happen regularly.

As a member of a wine club, he/ she is committed to buy a certain number bottles of wine every quarter and is entitled to these wine tasting events where one meets and socializes with other wine club members. I had some stomach problems a few days ago but got better since we arrived to SF. But to be on the safe side, I didn't taste any of the wines at all. After the wine tasting, we went to a popular Asian restaurant, the Union Dumpling Restaurant where we enjoyed warm and delicious food.

Tueaday - E. was not well, so we went on our own to explore downtown SF and Chinatown. RT, Burlingame, California, USA

A Powerful Testimony by a Church Minister in San Francisco

After arriving to San Francisco the day before, we had a good night sleep and were well rested the next day. It was a Sunday; as usual we always try to find a local church and attend a Sunday service during our travel. We located a church close by to our hotel and were able to walk there for the morning service. As we were in the city during the American Thanksgiving weekend, we attended the Thanksgiving Sunday service. The last time we visited SF was in 2019, just before the COVID pandemic. We went to the Sunday Service in the same church around Christmas time in 2019.

There was a different vibe at the church this time. It felt different and more energetic. There was good music and prayer request sharing by the congregation. The part I enjoyed the most was the lady minister's message. She shared with the congregation how she was hesitant about giving up her well paid high tech job to become a minister. Finally she did give up her good job and became a full time minister. She thought she was making a sacrifice and doing a favour for God. But little did she know that God's way was the best for her. Not long after she became a full time minister serving God, the high tech bubble burst at Silicion Valley and many of her friends and colleagues became unemployed. Among her peers, she was one of the few being employed full time at the time! What a powerful testimony and we were privileage to have been there and heard it first hand! RT, San Francisco nov2024

Visiting San Francisco For the First Time Since COVID

Friday, Nov.22. 2024 --- I was not sure if we chould fly to the U.S. as I was experiencing some stomach pain almost all day the day before. I went to our famiy doctor who referred me to a full stomach ultra sound exam but I couldn’t get one on the same day. I decided to defer this medical exam until the following week when we would be back. We went home and I called Et and asked him if the hotel fees could be refunded should we decide not to fly to SF the day after. ET was at a wedding and I felt bad bothering him. He told me not to worry about the hotel as he felt my health was more important. He asked me to call him back after a few hours to confirm if we would be taking this trip so that he would know wether he should cancel the hotel booking. I prayed hard about it and also made a lot of organic ginger tea with honey and drank it. My stomach started to calm down and the pain lessened. By the time around 10pm, we made a decision to go ahead with our trip to the U.S. We talked to ET and confirmed our departure for the next day. Hallelujah, thank God for listening to my prayers!

Saturday Nov. 2024 --- Having made the decision of taking our trip to the U.S, I became excited and happy about seeing ET there. I finished packing our bags and managed to go to bed by 1 a.m. but couldn’t sleep at all. The Uber ride came at 6 a.m. and off we went to the airport. This was the first time we flew with Porter Airline, a small Toronto airline with a much smaller plane than we had expected. But the service was pretty good with two services each with complimentary drinks and snacks.

We arrived at the San Francisco airport shortly around 2pm. ET was also flying back from a trip to a friend’s wedding around the same time. We met up and got in the same taxi ride . He took us to sign in at the Hyatt Regency on 3rd / Market St. What a nice hotel, just like a resort! Since it was near Christmas, the hotel was beautifully decorated. We looked forward to spending a whole week relaxing in San Francisco without running around trying to see as much as we did in our younger days. After checking in, we went to the Grove, just across the street from the hotel and had our first meal in the city. ET met a couple of friends and we enjoyed our meal there. Nice décor since it was Christmas time.

Since both ET and we were up very early that morning, we called it a day and went back to the hotel. We discovered the lounge at the Hyatt hotel reserved for speciall hotel guests. There was some beverages, hotel made pizza, cold meat, cheese and crackers, fresh fruits and many other delicious food items included in the evening snack available from 6 to 8 pm. Another great service at the hotel! RT, San Francisco USA nov2024