Journals From the Departure Gate

It's a function of travel that going out into the world can become the catalyst for an interior journey. -- Joyce Maynard

We're sitting here in SFO Airport for a flight that has been delayed twice and now does not depart for another two a half hours. I just saw a family with two small children that was on our inbound flight walking the wrong way in search of the gate. If I don't see them again in another half an hour, im debating whether or not I should go looking for them. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day for everyone.

I suppose I could sit here and grumble, but what would be the point? It's about the same as leaning on your horn in a traffic jam: it doesn't accomplish a darn thing except create a whole lot of useless noise. At least it's a Tuesday. I'd hate to be here during the chaos of a Saturday.

So, in the meantime, here's what we did while in San Francisco:

1) The Ferry Building Marketplace

I found out about this from one of Tracy Shutterbean's "What to do in San Francisco" posts. I love markets: I love to see the unique things people are making a living out of. 

This place is large and imposing on the outside:

Inside, the length of the station was populated by stalls that took up every square inch of usable space:

There were plenty of food stalls, each offering a free sample to nibble on. I can't really remember how I ended up with a mouthful of almond roca within two minutes of entering the place, but that's the kind of amnesia I'm ok with. We could have walked up and down a few times and eaten our way through the day:

And there were plenty of other things apart from food, like garden plants, beauty products, and fresh produce:

And all of the things you might need to cook all of this food:

There were also loads of food vans outside, but the rain prevented me from taking any photos. Besides, I was still full from all of the grazing I did indoors. Luckily, we had a bit of a walk to do to work up another appetite.

2) Fisherman's Wharf

We'd visited The Wharf during our last visit to San Francisco a couple of years ago, so I was tempted just to skip it. I'm glad we didn't, because there were plenty of new things to see.

There are the ubiquitous sea lions of Pier 39. There was an article in the paper that night that said that this was the 26th anniversary of them appearing. Apparently, they just turned up when the new docks were built, and they've stayed ever since. There's a "herder" whose job it is to clean the decks and keep them off the boats, but they're still sneaky enough to get right back onto a space they've just been shooed away from. It was interesting watching people watching the sea lions:

You can't visit the Wharf without getting a bowl of soup in a breadbowl. I thought the "half a sandwich and bowl of soup" combo would be a nice, light lunch. I was wrong:

So. Much. Bread.

We wandered around and took more photos of the pier:

And of Alcatraz:

And got photobombed by a seagull:

And then, tummies full again, we decided to tackle some of the hills of San Francisco.

3) The Cable Car Museum

The hubby found this while looking for inexpensive, non-shopping things to do. The Cable Car Museum is free of charge, and it was featured on one of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs shows. It was a bit of a long, uphill walk to get there, but it was interesting to see the actual cables that are pulling the cable cars around the city:

It's a working site, and there were staff working on getting one of the lines back online:

And upstairs, there were displays explaining the history and inner workings of the system:

I love the ads:

Of course, if we'd really been smart, we would have taken one up the hill, but these are the kinds of lessons that make you stronger... And sore...

What goes up must come down, so we walked through Chinatown to get back to the train. It was a much easier walk with loads of interesting sights:

Including this dim sum restaurant that Obama stopped at to pick up a dim sum platter for dinner. He paid cash, apparently:

4) Burlingham

We were looking for a gentler day after the tiring day downtown, so we headed to the town of Burlingham for lunch and a wander around. I'd describe Burlingham as a high class family town: lots of cafes and shops and diversions for parents to being their children to.

There, I wandered around a stationery shop:

Complete with a huge paper selection for card-making:

And after that, we found Aida's Opera Chocolate shop, where I stopped to buy a few treats to bring home:

And the day after, we went to The Marine Mammal Museum, which I wrote about yesterday. I forgot to show you the enormous biscotti I saw at the cafe we stopped at lunch. That's something writing home about:

Well... we've been delayed another half an hour, and we've changed gates. So far, I haven't seen too many people storming the gate in anger, but the day is young. It's like blaming the rain on your umbrella: what's the point? But I have nowhere to be today, so my point of view is much more relaxed. It's encouraging to see other people comforting those that are in panicked worry. Here's hoping for a gentle journey.

Keeping calm and knitting on: