Alcatraz, Lombard, dim sum and the beauties of San Francisco

We recovered from our long journey west with a good full night of sleep and packed plenty into our second and final day in San Francisco. The morning was cloudy but not bad at all for our trip to Alcatraz, and a rainy afternoon and evening didn’t keep us from seeing the seals at the touristy Pier 39, walking around Nob Hill and sampling coffees and pastries and tacos, and walking all the way back to our hotel with a detour down Lombard Street.

We started the morning across the street from our Hotel Caza at Fisherman’s Wharf with Brazilian crepes (made with tapioca flour) and an açaí bowl at Casa de Cava. Then it was straight to the short ferry ride to Alcatraz. Jackson and I definitely think Rachel and Zoey should see Escape From Alcatraz after this must-do experience. The tour almost makes you feel like you are there with Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly and Frank Morris and the creepy wardens and all the other iconographic elements of the federal prison, which operated from 1934 to 1963 in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

 It started to rain on the ferry back and proceeded to continue throughout our long afternoon of walking. But it was fine and the whole family stayed in good spirits. First we checked out the sea lions at Pier 39, as they woofed and barked and slipped around together on the marina boat docks. We opted not to eat lunch with the crowds and instead took a taxi up to Nob Hill, getting dropped off at the corner of Polk and Jackson. There are tons of restaurants in that area so we walked along in the direction back towards our hotel and stopped along the way for bites of food and drink at whichever places we desired.

I had never actually walked down Lombard, one of the world’s curviest streets, when previously visiting the city. I had always traveled down it by car, like the endless string doing so this afternoon. But walking was a really fun, new thing to do. It’s amazing thinking about how the people in the houses along the way live there. And then it was just a short walk back to the hotel to rest up for dinner.

We were determined to get good Chinese food, so we went with dim sum at the Palette Tea House in nearby Ghirardelli Square. We ordered various dumplings, smacked cucumber salad, fire wings, and tasty cocktails and mocktails. And afterwards, we ended our San Francisco experience gorging on sundaes from Ghirardelli.