San Francisco Part 1 03/16/2016 - 03/20/2016
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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco, CA
topgun92000- March 24th, 2016
My Check-Ins
San Francisco Caltrain Station.
Walnut Creek BART Station.
Russian Consulate.
Palace of Fine Arts.
Invisa Logistic Services.
Super Duper Burgers.
Yerba Buena Gardens.
Classic Cable Car.
Aquatic Park Beach.
Fisherman's Wharf.
Special F Street Car.
San Ramon, California.
Basically Free Bike Rentals.
Lombard St. - World's Crookedest Street, San Francisco.
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
Golden Gate Bridge.
The Italian Homemade Company.
Gelateria Naia.
China Town Sanfrancisco.
Sports Basement Bryant St. Bike Shop.
Pier 23 Cafe with Dennis Christo.
Monroe SF with Dennis Christo.
15 Romolo with Dennis Christo.
Naan 'n' Curry with Regina Kay.
The San Francisco Dungeon with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Madame Tussauds San Francisco with Michael Alexander Shklovsky and 2 others.
Historic Pier 45 with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Alioto's Restaurant with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Ghirardelli Square with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Coit Tower with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
San Francisco Greyhound.
03/16/2016 Wednesday
Do you want to do San Francisco on the cheap? Well... you can't, Because it's San Francisco! But here is a way to try. I am going to Russia in July and I have to get a Visa. I look online on how to obtain one and it says I have to go to a Russian Consulate and the closest one is San Francisco! I'm not wasting time in getting a Visa in case things go wrong. I usually save a little and go on trips but this time I have to book a somewhat unplanned trip to San Francisco. This trip has to be on the cheap! However, since I'm in San Francisco I might as well stay for a bit and have some fun. I was looking at buses that go to San Francisco and found 2 that had great deals. Mega Bus and Greyhound. Oddly enough round trips were more expensive than taking a single ride on one bus there and coming back in the other on the way back. So I booked Mega Bus for $26 on the way there and Greyhound $37.50. Mega Bus is right in Burbank, pretty close to where I live in NoHo. I got a ride there from my mom. I knew that they weren't going to serve any food on the bus, so I prepared some pasta with meat sauce and chicken because I is smart! I'm about an hour early waiting for the bus to come. Alright, early is better than late, going to sit here and listen to my music. Going over in my head if I have everything I need. Yep check, everything is good. 35 minutes till the bus comes, chillin. I jump up and realize that I don't have a fork... because I... is smart! I then try to start to convince myself that I won't need it and weigh the pros and cons of a fork. Cons won because I would look funny eating chicken pasta filled with meat sauce with my hands. I look around, I'm all around business buildings and I start walking. Ok, It's 4:30 pm, I have to walk until it's 4:45 pm until heading back. I start walking and find what seems like the only restaurant in the city. BJs, I come in and ask if they can lend me a plastic fork. They give it to me and I walk back. 10 minutes until the bus arrives. Yep, I is good.
Mega Bus arrives, It's a 2 story bus. I of course go on the 2nd floor and take my seat. The seats are small but not too bad. The bus was filled but everyone had a seat available next to them including me. I sat down and put my backpack on the seat next to me. I think they do this on purpose so you have more room which is nice if that's the case. I eat my chicken pasta and open my laptop. These buses have wi-fi so I was just going to hop online and watch Youtube video's and Netflix all the way up to San Francisco. I connect to their wi-fi and youtube is barely loading. I make sure everything is fine with my computer and do a speed test. Their internet connection is 0.12 mbps, which is amazingly slow! Well that sucks, but I also prepared for a situation if the bus' Wi-fi didn't work. Joke's on you bus, I got movies pre-installed. I've got into Bollywood movies after I've seen 3 idiots a long time ago. Anything by Aamir Khan is gold. My friend Radhika suggested I watch Drishyam. I put it up and then I finally remembered, I get car sick! Last time I took a bus this long was in Seattle and I think I just listened to music the whole time. On planes I'm great to watch movies and even there I get sick a bit. So on this trip, watching a subtitled movie when you're car sick isn't a good idea. Joke's on me Mega Bus, the joke is on me... Laptop is about to die anyway and I don't see any plugs. I put it away. The bus stops about an hour into the trip and let's us off for 30 minutes to stretch our legs and get anything from the mini mart if we needed to. I got out to stretch my legs and go back in. We went straight to San Francisco non-stop after that. As I come back into the bus I look around and, actually there was a plug. There were 2 plugs with 3 sockets in them, so I can hook up my laptop and phone, I got that going for me, which is nice. After attempting to sleep and failing, I try to make an attempt to watch Archer on Netflix. I got to say, Netiflix doesn't need much bandwith to play. It had to load for a couple of minutes, but after that Archer ran without any buffering. Good on you Netflix, even though I still hate your movie selection. Youtube was doable too. All in all Mega Bus was a good ride. There were bathrooms inside the bus and they didn't smell bad like most bathrooms do.
I get to San Francisco and my old friend Regina comes to pick me up. Very excited to see her and she is very kind to have me stay at her's and Monty's place. We get to her place in Walnut Creek and I am greeted by 2 black cats. One of them was missing an eye because of a surgery that needed to be done for something to be removed. They named him one eyed jack.
We talk a bit and she tells me that there is a free bus that is located near her house that can take me to Bart station which is the main Metro in San Francisco. Awesome!
03/17/2016 Thursday
I wake up and first things first, I plan to get to the Russian Consulate to take care of business so I can enjoy my trip afterwards. I had to gather a few things before leaving because I was going to stay at my uncles house in San Ramon for a night. I grabbed my laptop, 2 bottles of water, clothes, toiletries and the essentials (phone, wallet, camera and mp3 player.) Regina said that I can take anything to eat, so I grabbed a handful of almonds in a bag and off I went. As I'm coming up to the bus stop, the bus is there loading passengers. Despite Michael Jacksons warning I ran for the bus. The bus driver was nice enough to let me in. As I was sitting down, I realized that I might have gone onto the wrong bus. Oh well, adventure time. The bus was the correct one and it drove me directly to the Bart Station free of charge. This is going to be a good day. I had to purchase a ticket, I google which direction I have to go and make sure I hop onto the right one. As I'm ready to pay a fee on the machine for Bart, it starts my card purchase at $20. Wait a minute, why is a ticket $20? I then look around and find a map. In los Angeles Metro, we have just a flat rate of about $3.50 no matter where you go. Here in San Francisco, it is based how far you go. To get to San Francisco from Walnut Creek was about $6 one way. I purchase my ticket and I go up to the train. This particular station is split, means that you are on the outside tracks waiting for the train to arrive. After about 5 minutes the train arrives and is heading towards SFO Airport. Not the train nor side I need, so I have to go back down stairs and up again on the other side to wait for the correct train. After 10 minutes it arrives and I get on. Here the trains are nice with leather seats and comfy. I get on my phone and check if there is wi-fi? No, no there isn't. I don't know about any other states but... California... Why? Seriuolsy, Why!? catch up to other countries and get wifi in your trains!!!! Even the worst parts of China has Wi-fi and it's higher speed than Mega Bus! Get on this. Anyway, I wasn't really expecting wi-fi since Los Angeles doesn't have it either, Google says I have more than 10 stops till my destination so I listen to my MP3 and look out the window.
about 4 stops later I hear, this is the end of the line. How can it be the end of the line if I'm not even close to where I'm supposed to be? I go to one of the booths and ask which way I should go. She says oh the train just arrived you need to get on it and go to the end of the line. It was the same train as I arrived in. Apparently the very first time I had it right and wasn't supposed to cross the stairs. Great. I finally get to San Francisco and try to follow Google again to get to the Consulate by city bus. I got change from the metro because I know that buses usually don't give change for large amounts of bills. The metro has an automatic change machines that will give $5 bills if you put in $20 or more. I got my 5's and get onto my first city bus in San Francisco. The fair is 2.25. I try to put in $5 but the bus driver stops me and tells me that there isn't any change. I tell him all I have is $5. He is already driving at this point and tells me that I can just pay twice as much on the next bus. I promised him that I will. He drops me off and on the next bus I pay $5 and he gave me a free transfer ticket, which I never used, because I tried but it was for crossing the bridge or somethig, very confusing. Oh well, I get to the vicinity of where I need to be and get off the bus. I have to go uphill on a street then it goes straight for a second then uphill and repeat. It was like in the movies.
Remember this street! It will come up again. It was so steep that the cars instead of parking downhill, they have to park perpendicular. So I go all the way up the street and about 1.5 miles I find the consulate. I see some of the workers coming out and I ask how to get in, "Well we are going on our lunch break so we are closed for an hour, come back then." I say ok, and go back down the street to find something to do for an hour. At about a quarter mile I randomly find The Palace of Fine Arts. It's the biggest outdoor gasebo I have ever seen. Beautiful statues all over surrounded by water. I walked around and checked it out:
There is a free small sports museum inside, I went in, nothing really spectacular. It was 1:40pm, time to head back. I go back up those streets and get there at 1:58, alright they are going to open in 2 minutes, and no one is here, this will be a fast process. I jumped and realized that one of the requirements was to bring a check or a money order for $160 which I totally forgot about. I google Chase and back down the stupid street I go. At this point I'm pretty upset, but it's my fault so it's ok let's just get this over with. I go about 1 mile to find a chase and get a money order and walk a mile back to the Consulate. This would have been easier if I didn't have a backpack that weighs at least 15 pounds. I finally get there and I have to buzz in, I press the button on a 2 way system and ask to let me in for a Russian Visa. They respond, "We don't do Russian Visas here anymore." Even though I know what they meant, I still asked, "What do you mean you don't do it here anymore, where do you do it!?" "I can ask the manager please wait." A man walked out and gave me a card with a different address. I told him that the internet told me that it was going to be here and he shrugged. I said, "Ok, what time does this ILS consulate on the card close?" He replies "4 I think" and goes back in. At this point I am steaming mad. I look at the time it's 3:05pm, I google the address to take by bus, it takes 30 minutes. I can do this. So I go back down the God damned stupid street. People that live here, how do you even walk your dogs!? You must have really buff legs or tons of poop in the house. Google says to take the 8 so I sit and wait with a few others waiting for the bus. We see the 8 and stand up, zooms right passed us. What the hell? I guess it was full. a few minutes later the 28 comes to pick us up. I get on and ask if it goes to the street I'm looking for, the driver closes the door, completely ignores me and starts driving. I put in my $5 and ask again, he says that I should get off on some street and take the 30. At this point, I'm getting the feeling that people in San Frnacisco aren't as nice as I thought they were. Oh well, my blood sugar is probably low and I'm obviously upset and trying to race to get there on time. I get my almonds and eat. Thanks Regina! Re-energized, I get on the 30 and get off the vicinity of the bus it's 3:48. I start walking and look for this ILS consulate. I walk around the block using google and looking for the street but I cannot find it. I ask someone and the guy says that he never heard of that street before... I walk back around the block now really annoyed. 3:56 I have found the street, no, an alley with the street name right around the corner where I asked the guy. I go through the alley, nothing there but a few buildings all locked with access codes to get in. Why is this a scavenger hunt!? I walk maybe 3 times back and forth with Google telling me that I'm right there. I look at the access code pad on one of the buildings. I scroll through the directory and find "Floor 2 Invisa Logistic Services" or something that is very obscure like that. I call it and the door buzzes open without anyone answering, or telling me where to go, or if I'm at the right place. 4:00 I go in anyway. I walk toward the elevator and it said Invisa Logistic Services number 203. I head over and see a lady at the window, I tell her is this a Russian Visa place? "Yes, but we close at 4." I tell her that I went to the one that is online and they sent me here, I have the papers and just need you to approve or take them please. Again she responds, "We are closed." I continue to plead,"please I come from Los Angeles and don't know when I can come back. After looking at me and probably seeing that I'm about to cry at this point she finally says, "ok let me see what you got." I hand her my Passport, ID, Paperwork I downloaded from online with a passport picture, AND the $160 money order that I had to walk through mountains to get. She looks at me and asks what hotel am I going to stay at? I told her that I'm actually staying at my Cousins house that lives in Russia here is his address. She told me that I did the application wrong, I also need a notarized letter for an invite for me to come to Russia. After I do that, I need my USSR Naturilization papers, along with a money order of about $250.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are probably asking yourself, why the hell didn't you call to get this information? I swear to you, I have. Many times without anybody picking up nor callbacks. I also emailed them, they responded with cryptic information which I didn't need just like the address of this location! I look at the lady with my mouth wide open in shock and ask her why don't you guys pick up your phones, she says, well you need to email us. I left in shock. Putin, I blame you.
What's done is done. My San Francisco trip can actually begin. I walk around to find a place to eat. I walk by a park and see that there are many people gathering probably for a concert or something. I find Super Duper Burgers nearby. I order my food to go, so I can eat at the park and watch whatever is going on. I walk to the park and find out it's called the Yerba Buena Gardens.
People weren't really there to watch anything, apparently in SF people just go into parks and sit around or lay around to tan. This is uncommon to me but I like it. I find a nice tree to sit under and eat my burger with fries. The food was ok, nothing special. After I was done, I decided to explore the park more.
I saw waterfalls so I walked toward it and I can see that you can walk behind the waterfall and read Martin Luther King Jr. quotes.
From the inside
Alright, time to do the San Francisco thing and ride a classic cable car.
From the outside
You have to get on in certain areas, but can hop off whenever it's at a stop. It's slow, but it goes uphill like a champ. Where were you when I was at the first Russian Consulate? I took it to the end of the line which was at Fisherman's wharf. I hung around and seen quite a few things that were interesting. I got more cool pictures however I cannot post them and you will see why later on this story. So some of these pictures have to be stock. I read that one of the past times in San Fran is to get some fried sea food from the stands that they have there. I wanted some but I was still full from the burger before. Next time I will definitely get something from there and just walk around again. There is a bread factory that made a teddy bear and other neat things out of the bread and displayed it on the window.
It was getting late and I didn't want to miss the last bus to my uncles house who lives all the way up in San Ramon. To my luck, a street car was in the vicinity so I can take it to Bart which was on my itinirary.
The street car took me to the Bart station. I try to get a ticket to get back, but my credit card isn't processing. Strange something must be broken with the machine, so I try again... declined. I start reading the machine and it says that only one ticket is allowed to be purchased a day using the same credit card, so it advises you to put more credits onto a ticket. This is the most scammiest thing I have ever seen. Bart obviously wants you to purchase more credits so you don't use them. I'm so glad that L.A. doesn't do that. It took about 3 hours and a few buses to get there but I finally arrived in San Ramon at my Uncle Eugene's and Alla's house. I got fed, went online to get tickets for Alcatraz, but they were all sold out :( Next time I'll have to book it in advance. I've been around plenty of people in San Fran by now and I am disappointed that I haven't heard the word hella yet. When People from northern California come to visit, they say it from time to time, so I assumed everyone says it here all the time. Not once, so far, did I hear it. Alla set out bread, and cut up meat so I can make sandwiches on my travels in the morning. I thanked her and went to sleep.
03/17/2016 Friday
I woke up, made 2 sandwiches and Anna (Alla's daughter) was kind enough to drop me off at the Bart station so I can get back to San Francisco. We start talking and she says something like "That's hella lame" I geek out and she's like whats wrong with you? I told her that she is the first person I hear to say hella with my time here. She told me that she says it all the time. It was a golden moment for me. I get onto Bart and make sure I don't go to the wrong side this time. As I enter the train, I try to listen to where the next stop will be. I hear "The next stop will be" Can you read that? Same as I heard it. I had no idea whether I was going the right direction or not. I guess I had to get to the end of the line to see for sure. Turns out I was on the right track and I get to Basically Free Bike Rentals to rent a bike. The reason I chose this place is because whatever you spend to rent a bike there, you can get the same rate comped at the store. I spent $35 to get a full day bike rent with helmet and lock and I rode out. This place was pretty close to Lombard st.
and then rode down the street.
Made it to the bottom:
At this point I was on the way on my bike to the San Francisco Bridge. Oh what beautiful pictures and video's I took on the way. I was riding on a pier perpendicular of the bridge, on the beach. You will have to believe me that the ride is beautiful because I took the shots with my GoPro. After my last shot of the beach and the bridge, I put it in my pocket. I was wearing sweat pants and said to myself, I probably should put it around the bike where I can see it... Nah, I'll feel it if it falls off... I didn't feel it. I went to every nearby building on the way to the bridge and left them my number for lost and found, none of them called back yet. This trip suddenly became pretty expensive. To whomever has my GoPro, enjoy it. Just please send me my pictures and videos. Thanks. I still had my phone with me and kept on taking pictures. I stopped to eat one of the sandwiches I made.
One of the buildings still on the way to the bridge was Fort Mason. I reported my camera lost and checked out the place. It was right under the bridge.
I love hallways that keep going, and this one had so many for the soldier's barracks that it looked like they had mirrors. Trust me they didn't, I walked all the way through, turned around and took a picture.
I go around and get up on the bridge and start to ride through
Get to the middle
And finally made it to the end
It was amazing, so many sites. One of my best bike rides yet. I rode back and gave my bike back and asked if I can purchase things from there with my receipt. The person who was helping me told me that, "It's not at this store you have to go to the sports basement which is an hour away, most people go on the bikes. Thanks guy, how am I supposed to know this!? He said I have 72 hours to claim it so I can do it some other day and gave me a business card for the address. I walk up the street to Little Italy to eat. As I walk through Little Italy, I have to say, I'm not impressed. The reason is because not much Italian things are there. If you walk through China town (later in the itinerary) you see everything Chinese, all the stores, people, and so on. Not in Little Italy, I saw Irish bars, Swedish restaurants, French stores. They should rename the street to Little Europe. I did however finally find an Italian restaurant called The Italian Homemade Company. It was a deli and a restaurant. I'm not much into Italian food, I know a lot of people are, but I this was the most delicious Italian food I have tasted. It was $15 for just a plate of fettucine amatriciano tomato bacon onion and black pepper with cheese. The price was high, but I'm glad I had it.
While I'm eating, my friend/roommate Dennis calls me and says he is coming up to San Francisco and invites me to a pub with his friends at 8:00pm. I accept and have some time to kill. I go get gelato, because I'm in Little Italy! I get cookies n cream from Gelateria Naia. It was ok, I realized that my favorite frozen treat is frozen custard like I had in Utah and Missouri. I still had time to kill and decided to go to the Sport's Basement. I look in the card that the guy at the bike shop gave to me and decided to walk since he said it was only an hour away. I started to walk, and walk, and walk, and WALK. I walked though all of China Town.
I wanted to get some dumplings but I was still full from the Italian. Oh well next time. I walked through Union Street. They had people and performers on the street. Also, apparently a doctor to tell me I have a condition.
I hope obamacare covers my condition. At this point I need to go to the bathroom. Please allow me to rant about San Francisco here a bit. Franny, you are a clean city which I appreciate. I cannot find one gas station in you. It really is quite amazing. So you encourage people to take buses and trains which is great. Since you don't have gas stations, the only place I can go to the bathroom would be the train station. To my dismay, I couldn't find any bathrooms there either. So I try the usual businesses, yes, I see a starbucks let's go there. You need to have a quarter to go in, and I only have bills. I could have gotten change from cashier but there was a line and I'm sure the next big business will have it for free. A few blocks, there is a Burger King! Yes, let's go there, out of order! Fine, not all restrooms have to work all the time. I go into another business, which I forget which, but it was also out of order. Wierd. I tell myself, ok i'll just find another Starbucks and get change and pay the damn quarter to go to the restroom. I see another one and bam out of order. People in San Francisco, how and why are you breaking all bathrooms? Franny, please make your Bart stations bathroom accessible. I gave up, hoping that the sports store I was heading to was working. If not I'll pee on the wall. Continuing on with the rant, Bart system, why don't you have an electronic sign to see where the trains are going? All you need is an LED light stating where you are. I later realized that the places are written on the wall when you exit so you can see it from the window, but what if I'm blocked by the amounts of people that use the train? Or the train stops behind a wall? Make it more clear! I can't hear the operators speak at all. Franny, see this?
Pretty right? Well, It's confusing as hell! Google tells me to continue straight. BOTH WAYS ARE STRAIGHT! The street signs aren't clear on which road it goes to. I'm walking what I think is straight and all of a sudden I'm on a different street completely lost! Keep your buildings square or put the street names on the buildings. Still going on with the rant, I'm still walking and
a few blocks after union st. I see tents and people living in them. I get myself into Tenderloin, the Skid Row of San Francisco.
California, please follow what other states already have been doing and build houses for the needy without any conditions for them to follow? This is 2016, why do we still have this? Good on Franny, however, to let people stay there in tents.
I finally get to the sports basement. Thank god they have a bathroom and I run to it. Afterwards, I give the cashier the receipt and ask him if he can redeem it. He has no clue what I'm talking about, so I go to the next cashier, she recognizes the receipt and says yes, just get whatever you need and we will honor $35 worth of items. I get a bike water container and another big jug for water to keep in my room. I bring it back to the desk and give him the receipt. He gets his manager to get the code and asks her if they are still doing this. The manager says yes but has a hard time getting the code. Then says to him that people usually go to another store on the other side to redeem this. They finally found the code and let me redeem my $35. I just now, as I'm typing this realize what she meant. I went a whole different direction from where I was supposed to go.
Here is where I should have went:
Here is where I actually went:
Thanks bicycle shop guy! Why did you give me a card with the wrong address on it!? Oh well, made it just in time to meet with Dennis. I take the bus and meet up with him, we drive to Pier 23 in his car. It's a restaurant that his old friend works at. Afterwards we drive to Monroe SF to meet up with more of his friends. It's a pub with very few chairs. After walking for 2 days straight, I have to say, it didn't feel so good standing anymore. This place was way too crowded for me and loud. I couldn't hear anyone very well and just felt stuffy.I finally found a chair and sat down. Felt good. Suddenly the music stopped and people cleared out. I can finally breath and relax a bit more. I started talking to one of Dennis' friends Candace, she used to work with him back when he was in San Francisco. After a while we both noticed that there wasn't any music for quite some time now. We both noticed that the bars event turned into a thing called Silent DJ Bar. Apparently people put on headphones and listen to 3 DJ's that are playing in 3 different stations. You choose the station and rock out to it. There were people looking funny dancing without me hearing any of the music. I thought this was amazing, we got the headphones and started rocking out ourselves. This way if you want to talk to someone, you just take off the headphones and you can actually hear each other.
Unfortunately the rest of the group didn't feel the same way. They thought it had died and wanted to move on to another bar with more people and louder. Sigh. We walked to 15 Romolo and again it was way loud and crowded. Regina texted me telling me she can pick me up. I accepted and she came to scoop me up and we went back to Walnut Creek.
03/19/2016 Saturday
I woke up, Regina made me and Monty breakfast. I had finally met Monty my first time, we spoke a bit and then Regina and I left to hang out with her dad. We hung out and then we went to eat at Naan n' Curry. I Had a great time talking about microbes and astrology. A cop sat next to us and we sparked up a conversation with him. He said that LAPD is very clicky along with the NYPD, they have to prove their "machoness" which is terrible. I asked him if he believes police should wear a chest cam. He definitely approves. Nice guy. We go back to Walnut Creek and met up with Monty and Dennis. We all drive to the San Francisco Dungeon together in Dennis' car. This is kind of like the underground of Seattle Washington when I went there, but this one is much more funny and they try to make it scary in some parts. I definitely recommend everyone to do it.
After that, next door, is the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The deal was if you buy a ticket for the dungeon, then you can go into the wax museum for just $5 extra. At this point my cousin Mikey showed up to hang out for a bit, so he went in with us. Surprisingly it was a lot of fun. I'll have to go to the one in Hollywood again, because I don't remember it being so interactive. I also wonder if they are the same.
Then Jet Li showed up and straight up kicked me in the face!
Mikey leaves to a birthday party and the rest of us walk around Fisherman's Wharf and explore. We find a penny arcade. There was a penny arcade in Big Bear but it was nothing like this. The machines here are very antiquated. Of course they weren't a penny anymore but a quarter, but it was cool to see the first arcades. Which were really shows.
Then Dennis and I played probably the original fooseball
We looked at all of the machines that interested us, then a guy on rollerskates told us that they were closing up. We walked next door to a sea food restaurant, Aliotos Restaurant. I'm not much of a sea food person but decided to go anyway, since we are at Fishermans Wharf. This is the part of the story that is not the cheap part. We each got a different plate and shared what everyone else ordered. I had Dennis' swordfish and Regina's Sole Pescatore and I had my own, crab ravioli. The food tasted ok but again, I'm not much into sea food. I did very much enjoy the company though.
Then we got dessert at Ghirardelli Square. I had a sea salt sunday and it was delicious. I want to try everything at that place. My final thing on my Itinerary was the secret stairs. We found it going down from Coit Tower and started going down. It is a bunch of stairs that is open to the public but goes in between a private garden. The smell was amazing.
We finally got down, but now we have to go straight back up to the car. We make it up and drive back to Walnut Creek.
03/20/2016 Sunday
Regina gives me meat and scrambled eggs to take with me to the bus. She takes me over to the Greyhound. We say our goodbyes and promise to see each other again soon. I get on the bus and test the speed this time. I connect and test it. It comes up to 0.25 which is still extremely slow but almost twice as fast as the Mega Bus. It's a regular one story bus with leather seating. They also have a cup holder which is nice. The plug is easy to see. I settle down and log onto youtube. It's not loading... Ok, let's try Netflix. The site is also not loading! I realized that they blocked the websites... What good is the interent without these websites? Facebook works, but that's interesting for about 2 minutes. No wonder the speed is a bit faster. I have 7.5 hours more to go. So I decided to type this Journal on the bus to kill time. I have about 1.5 hours to go... Not bad.
All in all. San Francisco was awesome simply because I probably did everything there is to do there except for Alcatraz and dumplings in China town. I'm definitely renting a bike again in a city that is bicycle friendly to tour around it. It was also good because of the group that I was with. Very clean city and so comfortable that everything is nearby. I always hear that people in L.A. are rude and hard to talk to. I don't see it, people in L.A. are over talkitive if anything and I think are very helpful if people need help. People say that people in L.A. are not genuine. If you mean that they help you and aren't being genuine about it, like they do it because they have to, then so be it. Better than just being ignored or put on the back burner. This is my experience in San Francisco. The people aren't helpful and create more confusion than anything. I haven't been to New York, but I imagine it would be like that but with more curse words. As for the buses, I recommend taking the Mega Bus. Even though the internet speed is faster, Greyhound blocks sites. Mega Bus bathrooms don't smell bad. After only one person went to use the bathroom on the Grey Hound, it started to smell terrible. That person was me and the smell is still not going away. Anyway, thank you Regina and Monty for having me, you made me feel very welcome and I can't wait for you guys to come visit us here in L.A. It was nice seeing my uncle and cousin again. I created so many memories, did so many new things, and had a great time overall. It was beautiful. Until next time! Next is Moscow, Russia. (Hey Putin, let me in!)
To view all the photos from San Francisco Click here
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San Francisco Caltrain Station.
Walnut Creek BART Station.
Russian Consulate.
Palace of Fine Arts.
Invisa Logistic Services.
Super Duper Burgers.
Yerba Buena Gardens.
Classic Cable Car.
Aquatic Park Beach.
Fisherman's Wharf.
Special F Street Car.
San Ramon, California.
Basically Free Bike Rentals.
Lombard St. - World's Crookedest Street, San Francisco.
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
Golden Gate Bridge.
The Italian Homemade Company.
Gelateria Naia.
China Town Sanfrancisco.
Sports Basement Bryant St. Bike Shop.
Pier 23 Cafe with Dennis Christo.
Monroe SF with Dennis Christo.
15 Romolo with Dennis Christo.
Naan 'n' Curry with Regina Kay.
The San Francisco Dungeon with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Madame Tussauds San Francisco with Michael Alexander Shklovsky and 2 others.
Historic Pier 45 with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Alioto's Restaurant with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Ghirardelli Square with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
Coit Tower with Dennis Christo and Regina Kay.
San Francisco Greyhound.
03/16/2016 Wednesday
Do you want to do San Francisco on the cheap? Well... you can't, Because it's San Francisco! But here is a way to try. I am going to Russia in July and I have to get a Visa. I look online on how to obtain one and it says I have to go to a Russian Consulate and the closest one is San Francisco! I'm not wasting time in getting a Visa in case things go wrong. I usually save a little and go on trips but this time I have to book a somewhat unplanned trip to San Francisco. This trip has to be on the cheap! However, since I'm in San Francisco I might as well stay for a bit and have some fun. I was looking at buses that go to San Francisco and found 2 that had great deals. Mega Bus and Greyhound. Oddly enough round trips were more expensive than taking a single ride on one bus there and coming back in the other on the way back. So I booked Mega Bus for $26 on the way there and Greyhound $37.50. Mega Bus is right in Burbank, pretty close to where I live in NoHo. I got a ride there from my mom. I knew that they weren't going to serve any food on the bus, so I prepared some pasta with meat sauce and chicken because I is smart! I'm about an hour early waiting for the bus to come. Alright, early is better than late, going to sit here and listen to my music. Going over in my head if I have everything I need. Yep check, everything is good. 35 minutes till the bus comes, chillin. I jump up and realize that I don't have a fork... because I... is smart! I then try to start to convince myself that I won't need it and weigh the pros and cons of a fork. Cons won because I would look funny eating chicken pasta filled with meat sauce with my hands. I look around, I'm all around business buildings and I start walking. Ok, It's 4:30 pm, I have to walk until it's 4:45 pm until heading back. I start walking and find what seems like the only restaurant in the city. BJs, I come in and ask if they can lend me a plastic fork. They give it to me and I walk back. 10 minutes until the bus arrives. Yep, I is good.
Mega Bus arrives, It's a 2 story bus. I of course go on the 2nd floor and take my seat. The seats are small but not too bad. The bus was filled but everyone had a seat available next to them including me. I sat down and put my backpack on the seat next to me. I think they do this on purpose so you have more room which is nice if that's the case. I eat my chicken pasta and open my laptop. These buses have wi-fi so I was just going to hop online and watch Youtube video's and Netflix all the way up to San Francisco. I connect to their wi-fi and youtube is barely loading. I make sure everything is fine with my computer and do a speed test. Their internet connection is 0.12 mbps, which is amazingly slow! Well that sucks, but I also prepared for a situation if the bus' Wi-fi didn't work. Joke's on you bus, I got movies pre-installed. I've got into Bollywood movies after I've seen 3 idiots a long time ago. Anything by Aamir Khan is gold. My friend Radhika suggested I watch Drishyam. I put it up and then I finally remembered, I get car sick! Last time I took a bus this long was in Seattle and I think I just listened to music the whole time. On planes I'm great to watch movies and even there I get sick a bit. So on this trip, watching a subtitled movie when you're car sick isn't a good idea. Joke's on me Mega Bus, the joke is on me... Laptop is about to die anyway and I don't see any plugs. I put it away. The bus stops about an hour into the trip and let's us off for 30 minutes to stretch our legs and get anything from the mini mart if we needed to. I got out to stretch my legs and go back in. We went straight to San Francisco non-stop after that. As I come back into the bus I look around and, actually there was a plug. There were 2 plugs with 3 sockets in them, so I can hook up my laptop and phone, I got that going for me, which is nice. After attempting to sleep and failing, I try to make an attempt to watch Archer on Netflix. I got to say, Netiflix doesn't need much bandwith to play. It had to load for a couple of minutes, but after that Archer ran without any buffering. Good on you Netflix, even though I still hate your movie selection. Youtube was doable too. All in all Mega Bus was a good ride. There were bathrooms inside the bus and they didn't smell bad like most bathrooms do.
I get to San Francisco and my old friend Regina comes to pick me up. Very excited to see her and she is very kind to have me stay at her's and Monty's place. We get to her place in Walnut Creek and I am greeted by 2 black cats. One of them was missing an eye because of a surgery that needed to be done for something to be removed. They named him one eyed jack.
We talk a bit and she tells me that there is a free bus that is located near her house that can take me to Bart station which is the main Metro in San Francisco. Awesome!
03/17/2016 Thursday
I wake up and first things first, I plan to get to the Russian Consulate to take care of business so I can enjoy my trip afterwards. I had to gather a few things before leaving because I was going to stay at my uncles house in San Ramon for a night. I grabbed my laptop, 2 bottles of water, clothes, toiletries and the essentials (phone, wallet, camera and mp3 player.) Regina said that I can take anything to eat, so I grabbed a handful of almonds in a bag and off I went. As I'm coming up to the bus stop, the bus is there loading passengers. Despite Michael Jacksons warning I ran for the bus. The bus driver was nice enough to let me in. As I was sitting down, I realized that I might have gone onto the wrong bus. Oh well, adventure time. The bus was the correct one and it drove me directly to the Bart Station free of charge. This is going to be a good day. I had to purchase a ticket, I google which direction I have to go and make sure I hop onto the right one. As I'm ready to pay a fee on the machine for Bart, it starts my card purchase at $20. Wait a minute, why is a ticket $20? I then look around and find a map. In los Angeles Metro, we have just a flat rate of about $3.50 no matter where you go. Here in San Francisco, it is based how far you go. To get to San Francisco from Walnut Creek was about $6 one way. I purchase my ticket and I go up to the train. This particular station is split, means that you are on the outside tracks waiting for the train to arrive. After about 5 minutes the train arrives and is heading towards SFO Airport. Not the train nor side I need, so I have to go back down stairs and up again on the other side to wait for the correct train. After 10 minutes it arrives and I get on. Here the trains are nice with leather seats and comfy. I get on my phone and check if there is wi-fi? No, no there isn't. I don't know about any other states but... California... Why? Seriuolsy, Why!? catch up to other countries and get wifi in your trains!!!! Even the worst parts of China has Wi-fi and it's higher speed than Mega Bus! Get on this. Anyway, I wasn't really expecting wi-fi since Los Angeles doesn't have it either, Google says I have more than 10 stops till my destination so I listen to my MP3 and look out the window.
about 4 stops later I hear, this is the end of the line. How can it be the end of the line if I'm not even close to where I'm supposed to be? I go to one of the booths and ask which way I should go. She says oh the train just arrived you need to get on it and go to the end of the line. It was the same train as I arrived in. Apparently the very first time I had it right and wasn't supposed to cross the stairs. Great. I finally get to San Francisco and try to follow Google again to get to the Consulate by city bus. I got change from the metro because I know that buses usually don't give change for large amounts of bills. The metro has an automatic change machines that will give $5 bills if you put in $20 or more. I got my 5's and get onto my first city bus in San Francisco. The fair is 2.25. I try to put in $5 but the bus driver stops me and tells me that there isn't any change. I tell him all I have is $5. He is already driving at this point and tells me that I can just pay twice as much on the next bus. I promised him that I will. He drops me off and on the next bus I pay $5 and he gave me a free transfer ticket, which I never used, because I tried but it was for crossing the bridge or somethig, very confusing. Oh well, I get to the vicinity of where I need to be and get off the bus. I have to go uphill on a street then it goes straight for a second then uphill and repeat. It was like in the movies.
Remember this street! It will come up again. It was so steep that the cars instead of parking downhill, they have to park perpendicular. So I go all the way up the street and about 1.5 miles I find the consulate. I see some of the workers coming out and I ask how to get in, "Well we are going on our lunch break so we are closed for an hour, come back then." I say ok, and go back down the street to find something to do for an hour. At about a quarter mile I randomly find The Palace of Fine Arts. It's the biggest outdoor gasebo I have ever seen. Beautiful statues all over surrounded by water. I walked around and checked it out:
There is a free small sports museum inside, I went in, nothing really spectacular. It was 1:40pm, time to head back. I go back up those streets and get there at 1:58, alright they are going to open in 2 minutes, and no one is here, this will be a fast process. I jumped and realized that one of the requirements was to bring a check or a money order for $160 which I totally forgot about. I google Chase and back down the stupid street I go. At this point I'm pretty upset, but it's my fault so it's ok let's just get this over with. I go about 1 mile to find a chase and get a money order and walk a mile back to the Consulate. This would have been easier if I didn't have a backpack that weighs at least 15 pounds. I finally get there and I have to buzz in, I press the button on a 2 way system and ask to let me in for a Russian Visa. They respond, "We don't do Russian Visas here anymore." Even though I know what they meant, I still asked, "What do you mean you don't do it here anymore, where do you do it!?" "I can ask the manager please wait." A man walked out and gave me a card with a different address. I told him that the internet told me that it was going to be here and he shrugged. I said, "Ok, what time does this ILS consulate on the card close?" He replies "4 I think" and goes back in. At this point I am steaming mad. I look at the time it's 3:05pm, I google the address to take by bus, it takes 30 minutes. I can do this. So I go back down the God damned stupid street. People that live here, how do you even walk your dogs!? You must have really buff legs or tons of poop in the house. Google says to take the 8 so I sit and wait with a few others waiting for the bus. We see the 8 and stand up, zooms right passed us. What the hell? I guess it was full. a few minutes later the 28 comes to pick us up. I get on and ask if it goes to the street I'm looking for, the driver closes the door, completely ignores me and starts driving. I put in my $5 and ask again, he says that I should get off on some street and take the 30. At this point, I'm getting the feeling that people in San Frnacisco aren't as nice as I thought they were. Oh well, my blood sugar is probably low and I'm obviously upset and trying to race to get there on time. I get my almonds and eat. Thanks Regina! Re-energized, I get on the 30 and get off the vicinity of the bus it's 3:48. I start walking and look for this ILS consulate. I walk around the block using google and looking for the street but I cannot find it. I ask someone and the guy says that he never heard of that street before... I walk back around the block now really annoyed. 3:56 I have found the street, no, an alley with the street name right around the corner where I asked the guy. I go through the alley, nothing there but a few buildings all locked with access codes to get in. Why is this a scavenger hunt!? I walk maybe 3 times back and forth with Google telling me that I'm right there. I look at the access code pad on one of the buildings. I scroll through the directory and find "Floor 2 Invisa Logistic Services" or something that is very obscure like that. I call it and the door buzzes open without anyone answering, or telling me where to go, or if I'm at the right place. 4:00 I go in anyway. I walk toward the elevator and it said Invisa Logistic Services number 203. I head over and see a lady at the window, I tell her is this a Russian Visa place? "Yes, but we close at 4." I tell her that I went to the one that is online and they sent me here, I have the papers and just need you to approve or take them please. Again she responds, "We are closed." I continue to plead,"please I come from Los Angeles and don't know when I can come back. After looking at me and probably seeing that I'm about to cry at this point she finally says, "ok let me see what you got." I hand her my Passport, ID, Paperwork I downloaded from online with a passport picture, AND the $160 money order that I had to walk through mountains to get. She looks at me and asks what hotel am I going to stay at? I told her that I'm actually staying at my Cousins house that lives in Russia here is his address. She told me that I did the application wrong, I also need a notarized letter for an invite for me to come to Russia. After I do that, I need my USSR Naturilization papers, along with a money order of about $250.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are probably asking yourself, why the hell didn't you call to get this information? I swear to you, I have. Many times without anybody picking up nor callbacks. I also emailed them, they responded with cryptic information which I didn't need just like the address of this location! I look at the lady with my mouth wide open in shock and ask her why don't you guys pick up your phones, she says, well you need to email us. I left in shock. Putin, I blame you.
What's done is done. My San Francisco trip can actually begin. I walk around to find a place to eat. I walk by a park and see that there are many people gathering probably for a concert or something. I find Super Duper Burgers nearby. I order my food to go, so I can eat at the park and watch whatever is going on. I walk to the park and find out it's called the Yerba Buena Gardens.
People weren't really there to watch anything, apparently in SF people just go into parks and sit around or lay around to tan. This is uncommon to me but I like it. I find a nice tree to sit under and eat my burger with fries. The food was ok, nothing special. After I was done, I decided to explore the park more.
I saw waterfalls so I walked toward it and I can see that you can walk behind the waterfall and read Martin Luther King Jr. quotes.
From the inside
Alright, time to do the San Francisco thing and ride a classic cable car.
From the outside
You have to get on in certain areas, but can hop off whenever it's at a stop. It's slow, but it goes uphill like a champ. Where were you when I was at the first Russian Consulate? I took it to the end of the line which was at Fisherman's wharf. I hung around and seen quite a few things that were interesting. I got more cool pictures however I cannot post them and you will see why later on this story. So some of these pictures have to be stock. I read that one of the past times in San Fran is to get some fried sea food from the stands that they have there. I wanted some but I was still full from the burger before. Next time I will definitely get something from there and just walk around again. There is a bread factory that made a teddy bear and other neat things out of the bread and displayed it on the window.
It was getting late and I didn't want to miss the last bus to my uncles house who lives all the way up in San Ramon. To my luck, a street car was in the vicinity so I can take it to Bart which was on my itinirary.
The street car took me to the Bart station. I try to get a ticket to get back, but my credit card isn't processing. Strange something must be broken with the machine, so I try again... declined. I start reading the machine and it says that only one ticket is allowed to be purchased a day using the same credit card, so it advises you to put more credits onto a ticket. This is the most scammiest thing I have ever seen. Bart obviously wants you to purchase more credits so you don't use them. I'm so glad that L.A. doesn't do that. It took about 3 hours and a few buses to get there but I finally arrived in San Ramon at my Uncle Eugene's and Alla's house. I got fed, went online to get tickets for Alcatraz, but they were all sold out :( Next time I'll have to book it in advance. I've been around plenty of people in San Fran by now and I am disappointed that I haven't heard the word hella yet. When People from northern California come to visit, they say it from time to time, so I assumed everyone says it here all the time. Not once, so far, did I hear it. Alla set out bread, and cut up meat so I can make sandwiches on my travels in the morning. I thanked her and went to sleep.
03/17/2016 Friday
I woke up, made 2 sandwiches and Anna (Alla's daughter) was kind enough to drop me off at the Bart station so I can get back to San Francisco. We start talking and she says something like "That's hella lame" I geek out and she's like whats wrong with you? I told her that she is the first person I hear to say hella with my time here. She told me that she says it all the time. It was a golden moment for me. I get onto Bart and make sure I don't go to the wrong side this time. As I enter the train, I try to listen to where the next stop will be. I hear "The next stop will be" Can you read that? Same as I heard it. I had no idea whether I was going the right direction or not. I guess I had to get to the end of the line to see for sure. Turns out I was on the right track and I get to Basically Free Bike Rentals to rent a bike. The reason I chose this place is because whatever you spend to rent a bike there, you can get the same rate comped at the store. I spent $35 to get a full day bike rent with helmet and lock and I rode out. This place was pretty close to Lombard st.
and then rode down the street.
Made it to the bottom:
At this point I was on the way on my bike to the San Francisco Bridge. Oh what beautiful pictures and video's I took on the way. I was riding on a pier perpendicular of the bridge, on the beach. You will have to believe me that the ride is beautiful because I took the shots with my GoPro. After my last shot of the beach and the bridge, I put it in my pocket. I was wearing sweat pants and said to myself, I probably should put it around the bike where I can see it... Nah, I'll feel it if it falls off... I didn't feel it. I went to every nearby building on the way to the bridge and left them my number for lost and found, none of them called back yet. This trip suddenly became pretty expensive. To whomever has my GoPro, enjoy it. Just please send me my pictures and videos. Thanks. I still had my phone with me and kept on taking pictures. I stopped to eat one of the sandwiches I made.
One of the buildings still on the way to the bridge was Fort Mason. I reported my camera lost and checked out the place. It was right under the bridge.
I love hallways that keep going, and this one had so many for the soldier's barracks that it looked like they had mirrors. Trust me they didn't, I walked all the way through, turned around and took a picture.
I go around and get up on the bridge and start to ride through
Get to the middle
And finally made it to the end
It was amazing, so many sites. One of my best bike rides yet. I rode back and gave my bike back and asked if I can purchase things from there with my receipt. The person who was helping me told me that, "It's not at this store you have to go to the sports basement which is an hour away, most people go on the bikes. Thanks guy, how am I supposed to know this!? He said I have 72 hours to claim it so I can do it some other day and gave me a business card for the address. I walk up the street to Little Italy to eat. As I walk through Little Italy, I have to say, I'm not impressed. The reason is because not much Italian things are there. If you walk through China town (later in the itinerary) you see everything Chinese, all the stores, people, and so on. Not in Little Italy, I saw Irish bars, Swedish restaurants, French stores. They should rename the street to Little Europe. I did however finally find an Italian restaurant called The Italian Homemade Company. It was a deli and a restaurant. I'm not much into Italian food, I know a lot of people are, but I this was the most delicious Italian food I have tasted. It was $15 for just a plate of fettucine amatriciano tomato bacon onion and black pepper with cheese. The price was high, but I'm glad I had it.
While I'm eating, my friend/roommate Dennis calls me and says he is coming up to San Francisco and invites me to a pub with his friends at 8:00pm. I accept and have some time to kill. I go get gelato, because I'm in Little Italy! I get cookies n cream from Gelateria Naia. It was ok, I realized that my favorite frozen treat is frozen custard like I had in Utah and Missouri. I still had time to kill and decided to go to the Sport's Basement. I look in the card that the guy at the bike shop gave to me and decided to walk since he said it was only an hour away. I started to walk, and walk, and walk, and WALK. I walked though all of China Town.
I wanted to get some dumplings but I was still full from the Italian. Oh well next time. I walked through Union Street. They had people and performers on the street. Also, apparently a doctor to tell me I have a condition.
I hope obamacare covers my condition. At this point I need to go to the bathroom. Please allow me to rant about San Francisco here a bit. Franny, you are a clean city which I appreciate. I cannot find one gas station in you. It really is quite amazing. So you encourage people to take buses and trains which is great. Since you don't have gas stations, the only place I can go to the bathroom would be the train station. To my dismay, I couldn't find any bathrooms there either. So I try the usual businesses, yes, I see a starbucks let's go there. You need to have a quarter to go in, and I only have bills. I could have gotten change from cashier but there was a line and I'm sure the next big business will have it for free. A few blocks, there is a Burger King! Yes, let's go there, out of order! Fine, not all restrooms have to work all the time. I go into another business, which I forget which, but it was also out of order. Wierd. I tell myself, ok i'll just find another Starbucks and get change and pay the damn quarter to go to the restroom. I see another one and bam out of order. People in San Francisco, how and why are you breaking all bathrooms? Franny, please make your Bart stations bathroom accessible. I gave up, hoping that the sports store I was heading to was working. If not I'll pee on the wall. Continuing on with the rant, Bart system, why don't you have an electronic sign to see where the trains are going? All you need is an LED light stating where you are. I later realized that the places are written on the wall when you exit so you can see it from the window, but what if I'm blocked by the amounts of people that use the train? Or the train stops behind a wall? Make it more clear! I can't hear the operators speak at all. Franny, see this?
Pretty right? Well, It's confusing as hell! Google tells me to continue straight. BOTH WAYS ARE STRAIGHT! The street signs aren't clear on which road it goes to. I'm walking what I think is straight and all of a sudden I'm on a different street completely lost! Keep your buildings square or put the street names on the buildings. Still going on with the rant, I'm still walking and
a few blocks after union st. I see tents and people living in them. I get myself into Tenderloin, the Skid Row of San Francisco.
California, please follow what other states already have been doing and build houses for the needy without any conditions for them to follow? This is 2016, why do we still have this? Good on Franny, however, to let people stay there in tents.
I finally get to the sports basement. Thank god they have a bathroom and I run to it. Afterwards, I give the cashier the receipt and ask him if he can redeem it. He has no clue what I'm talking about, so I go to the next cashier, she recognizes the receipt and says yes, just get whatever you need and we will honor $35 worth of items. I get a bike water container and another big jug for water to keep in my room. I bring it back to the desk and give him the receipt. He gets his manager to get the code and asks her if they are still doing this. The manager says yes but has a hard time getting the code. Then says to him that people usually go to another store on the other side to redeem this. They finally found the code and let me redeem my $35. I just now, as I'm typing this realize what she meant. I went a whole different direction from where I was supposed to go.
Here is where I should have went:
Here is where I actually went:
Thanks bicycle shop guy! Why did you give me a card with the wrong address on it!? Oh well, made it just in time to meet with Dennis. I take the bus and meet up with him, we drive to Pier 23 in his car. It's a restaurant that his old friend works at. Afterwards we drive to Monroe SF to meet up with more of his friends. It's a pub with very few chairs. After walking for 2 days straight, I have to say, it didn't feel so good standing anymore. This place was way too crowded for me and loud. I couldn't hear anyone very well and just felt stuffy.I finally found a chair and sat down. Felt good. Suddenly the music stopped and people cleared out. I can finally breath and relax a bit more. I started talking to one of Dennis' friends Candace, she used to work with him back when he was in San Francisco. After a while we both noticed that there wasn't any music for quite some time now. We both noticed that the bars event turned into a thing called Silent DJ Bar. Apparently people put on headphones and listen to 3 DJ's that are playing in 3 different stations. You choose the station and rock out to it. There were people looking funny dancing without me hearing any of the music. I thought this was amazing, we got the headphones and started rocking out ourselves. This way if you want to talk to someone, you just take off the headphones and you can actually hear each other.
Unfortunately the rest of the group didn't feel the same way. They thought it had died and wanted to move on to another bar with more people and louder. Sigh. We walked to 15 Romolo and again it was way loud and crowded. Regina texted me telling me she can pick me up. I accepted and she came to scoop me up and we went back to Walnut Creek.
03/19/2016 Saturday
I woke up, Regina made me and Monty breakfast. I had finally met Monty my first time, we spoke a bit and then Regina and I left to hang out with her dad. We hung out and then we went to eat at Naan n' Curry. I Had a great time talking about microbes and astrology. A cop sat next to us and we sparked up a conversation with him. He said that LAPD is very clicky along with the NYPD, they have to prove their "machoness" which is terrible. I asked him if he believes police should wear a chest cam. He definitely approves. Nice guy. We go back to Walnut Creek and met up with Monty and Dennis. We all drive to the San Francisco Dungeon together in Dennis' car. This is kind of like the underground of Seattle Washington when I went there, but this one is much more funny and they try to make it scary in some parts. I definitely recommend everyone to do it.
After that, next door, is the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The deal was if you buy a ticket for the dungeon, then you can go into the wax museum for just $5 extra. At this point my cousin Mikey showed up to hang out for a bit, so he went in with us. Surprisingly it was a lot of fun. I'll have to go to the one in Hollywood again, because I don't remember it being so interactive. I also wonder if they are the same.
Then Jet Li showed up and straight up kicked me in the face!
Mikey leaves to a birthday party and the rest of us walk around Fisherman's Wharf and explore. We find a penny arcade. There was a penny arcade in Big Bear but it was nothing like this. The machines here are very antiquated. Of course they weren't a penny anymore but a quarter, but it was cool to see the first arcades. Which were really shows.
Then Dennis and I played probably the original fooseball
We looked at all of the machines that interested us, then a guy on rollerskates told us that they were closing up. We walked next door to a sea food restaurant, Aliotos Restaurant. I'm not much of a sea food person but decided to go anyway, since we are at Fishermans Wharf. This is the part of the story that is not the cheap part. We each got a different plate and shared what everyone else ordered. I had Dennis' swordfish and Regina's Sole Pescatore and I had my own, crab ravioli. The food tasted ok but again, I'm not much into sea food. I did very much enjoy the company though.
Then we got dessert at Ghirardelli Square. I had a sea salt sunday and it was delicious. I want to try everything at that place. My final thing on my Itinerary was the secret stairs. We found it going down from Coit Tower and started going down. It is a bunch of stairs that is open to the public but goes in between a private garden. The smell was amazing.
We finally got down, but now we have to go straight back up to the car. We make it up and drive back to Walnut Creek.
03/20/2016 Sunday
Regina gives me meat and scrambled eggs to take with me to the bus. She takes me over to the Greyhound. We say our goodbyes and promise to see each other again soon. I get on the bus and test the speed this time. I connect and test it. It comes up to 0.25 which is still extremely slow but almost twice as fast as the Mega Bus. It's a regular one story bus with leather seating. They also have a cup holder which is nice. The plug is easy to see. I settle down and log onto youtube. It's not loading... Ok, let's try Netflix. The site is also not loading! I realized that they blocked the websites... What good is the interent without these websites? Facebook works, but that's interesting for about 2 minutes. No wonder the speed is a bit faster. I have 7.5 hours more to go. So I decided to type this Journal on the bus to kill time. I have about 1.5 hours to go... Not bad.
All in all. San Francisco was awesome simply because I probably did everything there is to do there except for Alcatraz and dumplings in China town. I'm definitely renting a bike again in a city that is bicycle friendly to tour around it. It was also good because of the group that I was with. Very clean city and so comfortable that everything is nearby. I always hear that people in L.A. are rude and hard to talk to. I don't see it, people in L.A. are over talkitive if anything and I think are very helpful if people need help. People say that people in L.A. are not genuine. If you mean that they help you and aren't being genuine about it, like they do it because they have to, then so be it. Better than just being ignored or put on the back burner. This is my experience in San Francisco. The people aren't helpful and create more confusion than anything. I haven't been to New York, but I imagine it would be like that but with more curse words. As for the buses, I recommend taking the Mega Bus. Even though the internet speed is faster, Greyhound blocks sites. Mega Bus bathrooms don't smell bad. After only one person went to use the bathroom on the Grey Hound, it started to smell terrible. That person was me and the smell is still not going away. Anyway, thank you Regina and Monty for having me, you made me feel very welcome and I can't wait for you guys to come visit us here in L.A. It was nice seeing my uncle and cousin again. I created so many memories, did so many new things, and had a great time overall. It was beautiful. Until next time! Next is Moscow, Russia. (Hey Putin, let me in!)
To view all the photos from San Francisco Click here
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