OCTOBER 15, 2011.  Fun day today. Took the bus to the Fisherman’s wharf area and jumped on a beautiful historic streetcar. Stopped off at the The Ferry Building‘s saturday farmer’s market and popped over to give a show of support to the Occupy SF people. There was an awesome team of people who were keeping the group fed. Jumped back on streetcar and headed out to the Castro. Had an amazing lunch at Criolla Kitchen. Then we walked! All the way back to Golden Gate Park, through some beautiful neighbourhoods.

http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/

http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/2011/05/what_to_eat_at_criolla_kitchen.html

Mmmmm, waffles.

Vintage streetcars arriving and departing from in front of the Ferry Building.

Inside one of the streetcars originally from Milan.

Rainbow heaven! The Castro is my favourite SF neighbourhood; such a loving vibe!

Stumbled on this beautiful carousel at Golden Gate Park.

A close-up of the carousel.

A lovely spot at Golden Gate Park.

OCTOBER 14, 2011.  Back to Golden Gate Park today to the California Academy of Sciences, a beautiful natural history museum. It is a remarkable facility. The Rainforests of the World exhibit, amazing aquarium, planetarium, and a green structure with a 2.5-acre green roof. It had a wonderful education/conservation leaning. We spent all day there and I did not want to leave. On the way home we stopped at a wonderful Moroccan/Tunisian restaurant called Cafe Zitouna, corner of Sutter and Polk. I forgot to take a photo of our delicious dinner, but it was amazing.

http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/

A view from above of the Northern Californian Coast Gallery which wraps around the Rainforest exhibit.

Looking down onto one side of the Academy at the Philippine Coral Reef Gallery which wraps around part of the Planetarium.

Looking down into the Amazonian Flooded Forest which can also be viewed from below.

This butterfly is called a Postman.

In the Rainforest exhibit, birds and butterflies fly free all around you.

This little fish on the right stared at us for about 5 minutes and the movements of his/her mouth looked like he/she was trying very hard to tell us something very important!

Part of the green roof CAS; it has seven hills to mimic the seven hills of San Francisco.

The moon rise over the city by the bay.

OCTOBER 12, 2011.  Today we went total tourist and took a coach tour! It was pretty fantastic, actually. Our driver was amazing, the scenery, superb. We took HWY 1 down the coast, stopped at a nice bakery for snacks in Davenport, onto Monterey where we spent two hours at the Aquarium, 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and ended in Carmel. Here are some pics to enjoy.

http://www.sanfranciscosightseeing.com/

http://www.sanfranciscosightseeing.com/

The beautiful California coast between SF and Monterey.

With the sun at our backs, Davenport.

Acres and acres of artichokes.

My favourite little beach spot at Pacific Grove.

The Lone Cypress; the icon of Pebble Beach.

The Mission at Carmel.

Snack stop in Carmel, yum.

OCTOBER 9 AND 10, 2011.  Boarded Amtrak Coast Starlight at about 2 pm Sunday October 9. As our meals were all included in our Roomette rate, we immediately found the dining car for last call lunch! Overall the overnight journey to San Francisco was delightful. It was strange to sleep on the train; the rolling and rocking stayed with us for several hours after we detrained. Yesterday was spent doing laundry, but we did have a fun evening in the Mission District. Poked around in a few cool shops, had an amazing dinner at Dosa and saw Toshio Hirano play bluegrass at a bar called Amnesia.

http://www.thehotelmajestic.com/

http://dosasf.com/valencia_home.htm

http://www.toshiohirano.com/

http://amnesiathebar.com/newp/

Our "roomette" on the Amtrak Coast Starlight, Portland Oregon to San Francisco California.

The view from our window at the Hotel Majestic; a foggy day!

An amazing dish called Dahi Vada; lentil dumpling topped with organic yogurt tamarind and mint, DOSA on Valencia.

Masala Dosa from DOSA on Valencia.

OCTOBER 8, 2011.  Another action-packed day with more gardens. We walked uphill to Washington Park this morning, another beautiful Portland gem. We saw lots of birds and squirrels, went to the International Rose Test Gardens and the Japanese Garden. We also finally ate at the food carts: oh my a lot of food for so little $!, but lots of plastic waste. The quality was fantastic and it was all so delicious. There were too many choices tho. After lunch we headed back into the Pearl and enjoyed bubble tea, then walked down to and along the Waterfront Park. The Portland Marathon is happening this weekend, so it’s super busy here right now; very vibrant and excited energy! We also saw the best dog ever having a world of fun at a water park. Here are some pics and links:

http://www.teazone.com/

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCDealer.jsp?lid=100018581

http://www.portlandmarathon.org/

An entrance to Washington Park.

GJ's yummy snack from a Korean food cart. Mine was too overwhelming to photograph: huge container of Pho soup and two enormous veg salad rolls for $8.

Bamboo bike!

Super swank cycling shoes.

Frosty bubble tea at The Teazone.

Dogs teach us so much: live life to the fullest and have fun!

OCTOBER 7, 2011.  At the Lan Su Garden there is a lovely teahouse operated by Tao of Tea.

http://www.lansugarden.org/visiting/teahouse

http://www.taooftea.com/

Upstairs at the Teahouse.

Our yummy snack at the Teahouse. I had an oolong tea called Wu yi (left) and GJ had Eight Treasures which was chrysanthemum, green tea, jujube, Chinese wolf berry, london fruit, raison, tremella (a mushroom), and rock sugar. We shared some almond cookies and lichee fruit.