The pictures above just don't capture the sheer incline of San Francisco's streets. No matter how many photos I took I didn't feel they truly represented how crazy the ascent was to reach a corner of a block. Once you did arrive at the corner you then had another incline to climb to reach the next corner and so on and so on. Of course, once you went up you had to go down, and while that sounds better to me then up, it wasn't. My knees hurt going down, and it took everything I had not to sprint down it because the momentum and gravity just pulled me and dared me to run.
The goal for the day was a visit to Chinatown and whatever else Marilyn thought we should see. The day was another cool one so we started later in the day after breakfast in our Wyndham, but we were bound and determined to see the sights.
Marilyn brought her maps (she hadn't yet given them up) and we left our Wyndham hotel and began the hike around the city. While we had goals in mind the map (cough, cough) tended to take us in odd directions, and when Marilyn saw something she thought we should check out, we did.
We happened upon Grace Cathedral, and since that was a landmark that Marilyn had mentioned, and since it was so beautiful we went inside. The greeting to visitors upon entering reminded me very much of our Unitarian Universalist Church; the Episcopal Church welcomed everyone. "...regional magnet where diverse people come to celebrate, find solace, peace and quiet, connect with others, serve and be served and learn. It is home to a loving congregation including families and singles, children and seniors, and a diversity of ethnicities, races, sexual orientations, interests and backgrounds as wide as the world itself."
The church was very beautiful with stunning architecture, colorful stain glass windows, and a very impressive photography exhibit from artist Andrew George titled, "Before I Die". He photographed and interviewed twenty seriously ill patients to find out what death can teach us about life. It was so heartbreaking reading these patients words, their answers to various questions, yet it was also uplifting and poignant, and hauntingly beautiful. I read almost every one of them. After, we all sat in the pews, quietly, occasionally reaching out to touch one another, pat each other, as we listened to a woman play the organ.
From the cathedral, we traveled following Marilyn's map directions. We were passing The Fairmont Hotel when Marilyn suggested we go inside. She kept telling us we needed to visit the "Far East Room" at the Fairmont so we said, "Sure" and followed her inside.
Madison found a sign to the room that pointed us upstairs and so we climbed (yet again) to the second floor. There we found a door with a sign telling us we had come to the right place. I wasn't sure exactly what the "Far East Room" was, but I can honestly say I wasn't expecting what we found...
We found Chinatown after Marilyn chucked her maps and we went with Madison's Siri. While it was colorful and festive and smelled delicious it was a tourist mecca. Been there, done that in a different city, but still it is a must when in San Francisco.
We shopped in stores, but I did not haggle with the shop owners when I made my purchase of some prints. Darcy's friend Feifei said I should have bartered, and after I finished my transaction the girl behind me did start bartering so I probably paid way too much for prints of colorful birds that I'm going to put in the girls' bathroom.
There were all sorts of vendors selling food items, but we opted instead for a Yelp recommendation for a sit down meal. We all ordered different dishes to share except for Tom who ordered a lunch portion. The server, a woman, made quite a few comments under her breath to Tom about how he wasn't much of a sharer and thought only of himself which was quite humorous. My poor husband was having issues with how expensive food was in California, and despite being on vacation, he couldn't break old habits.
From Chinatown we split (entry on that tomorrow). Tom walked back to the hotel while the rest of us had an adventure. By the time we hiked back to our hotel we were all beat. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our new hotel room (we had to move to another room per our reservations) and doing laundry. Tom hiked out for some more food items to add to our various leftovers and we ate in our unit and worked as a group on a crossword puzzle before retiring for the night.
The church was very beautiful with stunning architecture, colorful stain glass windows, and a very impressive photography exhibit from artist Andrew George titled, "Before I Die". He photographed and interviewed twenty seriously ill patients to find out what death can teach us about life. It was so heartbreaking reading these patients words, their answers to various questions, yet it was also uplifting and poignant, and hauntingly beautiful. I read almost every one of them. After, we all sat in the pews, quietly, occasionally reaching out to touch one another, pat each other, as we listened to a woman play the organ.
From the cathedral, we traveled following Marilyn's map directions. We were passing The Fairmont Hotel when Marilyn suggested we go inside. She kept telling us we needed to visit the "Far East Room" at the Fairmont so we said, "Sure" and followed her inside.
Madison found a sign to the room that pointed us upstairs and so we climbed (yet again) to the second floor. There we found a door with a sign telling us we had come to the right place. I wasn't sure exactly what the "Far East Room" was, but I can honestly say I wasn't expecting what we found...
...a darkened banquet room. We all looked at Marilyn who threw her arms into the air. Apparently she had discussed landmarks to hit with a friend who had once led tours around San Francisco, or some such activity. The friend had told her this was a must see.
We moved on and walked through the hotel. They had a rooftop garden and several gorgeous rooms for banquets and conferences, and in the end we agreed it was a lovely hotel...except for the "Far East Room".
We found Chinatown after Marilyn chucked her maps and we went with Madison's Siri. While it was colorful and festive and smelled delicious it was a tourist mecca. Been there, done that in a different city, but still it is a must when in San Francisco.
We shopped in stores, but I did not haggle with the shop owners when I made my purchase of some prints. Darcy's friend Feifei said I should have bartered, and after I finished my transaction the girl behind me did start bartering so I probably paid way too much for prints of colorful birds that I'm going to put in the girls' bathroom.
There were all sorts of vendors selling food items, but we opted instead for a Yelp recommendation for a sit down meal. We all ordered different dishes to share except for Tom who ordered a lunch portion. The server, a woman, made quite a few comments under her breath to Tom about how he wasn't much of a sharer and thought only of himself which was quite humorous. My poor husband was having issues with how expensive food was in California, and despite being on vacation, he couldn't break old habits.
From Chinatown we split (entry on that tomorrow). Tom walked back to the hotel while the rest of us had an adventure. By the time we hiked back to our hotel we were all beat. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our new hotel room (we had to move to another room per our reservations) and doing laundry. Tom hiked out for some more food items to add to our various leftovers and we ate in our unit and worked as a group on a crossword puzzle before retiring for the night.
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