san francisco, part two

we were up and ready by nine, excited and anxious to do some exploring. after a small and pretty flavorless complimentary breakfast from our hotel, we were in the car and ready to go. luckily, i had done some parking garage research the night before, and found an $8/day location in the city- which is amazing as most charge $2 per fifteen minutes. however, we soon realized this miraculous low rate was due to the garage being stationed on the opposite side of the city from all of the main attractions. but isn't the best kind of city exploring done on foot? we think so, too.

the first attraction that we stumbled across was china town, and it was just as interesting as i imagined it would be. i had to keep reminding myself that we were infact still in san francisco and hadn't somehow been instantly transported into asia. we decided not to do too much exploring in this area, as most of the shops carried the same merchandise and neither of us were hungry enough to sample some ethnic food. 

while researching places to see for this trip, i came across a picture of the gorgeous grace cathedral, and i knew it was a must-see. while walking past china town, i could see a beautiful cathedral in the distance, and was sure it was it. however, as we got closer, we quickly realized that it wasn't the same one- but still equally stunning! (we literally ended up passing about three other cathedrals on this trip until we finally landed upon grace cathedral- san francisco is full of gorgeous churches!)

Saint Peter and Paul church

lombard street was up next on the agenda, and neither of us were prepared for just how steep that street really was and how physically exhausting it would be to make it up the entire  thing. i'll spare you the details, but seriously, everything burned! what's funny to me is just how many tourists don't view that as an actual street, and have no problem standing in the middle of the road just to get a perfectly centered picture, even if it meant holding up the traffic coming down the hill. um, no. i refuse to be that kind of tourist and my slightly-angled picture will do just fine, haha.

the top of the street had a view of the entire city that was absolutely remarkable. we really did luck out on this day- the weather was beyond perfect!

we continued on down the road until we found a street that was nearly empty and it was so refreshing being out of crowds for a little bit. i think it's fair to say that my favorite thing about this trip was looking at the houses- every single one had so much beauty and charm, and no two houses looked the same. i particularly loved the ones with thick white trim, vine-covered trellises, and black iron lamp posts- they almost make you feel like your strolling down a street in paris.  

we continued down this neighborhood until we reached a long staircase that lead to a lower part of the city. on the short stone wall that connected to the staircase, there was a sign asking people to "hold it", and not use the wall as a restroom. kendrick and i had to stop for a second and scratch our heads as to who on earth sees a wall and thinks to themselves, "oh finally, a wall! now i can relieve myself!"

it is a strange, strange world out there.

from this spot, we had a wonderful glimpse of the golden gate bridge in the distance.

our next stop was ghiradelli square, and i kid you not, the entire town smells like chocolate. #myheaven

kendrick was in need of a pastry, so we wandered into a small cafe that was filled with fancy, french looking desserts. we decided on a hazelnut cream puff and it honestly tasted as good as it looked.

while strolling around chocolate heaven, kendrick received a text from his cousin colin. who was also in san francisco for work. we soon realized that we were less than ten minutes away from him! hoping to surprise him, we headed over to fishermans wharf, and eventually saw him in a crowd watching a street performer. it was so much fun being able to hang out for a little and grab some ice cream, but i definitely wish his wife sara was there too! (she's headed out this weekend to visit him- talk about bad timing!)

colin headed back to his group, and kendrick and i decided to grab some lunch on the pier. it didn't take kendrick long to settle on a basket of fried shrimp and french fries. i'm really not one to eat sea food (mainly because i grew up on fish sticks from the freezer aisle at walmart), but i've realized time and time again that i definitely can do seafood when it's fresh.

we had a small audience of seagulls as we chowed down on our shrimp basket, and it didn't take long for one to swoop up and snatch a piece out of kendrick's hand mid-bite... so funny! i couldn't stop laughing!

right behind all of the restaurants, there was an old arcade that we decided to explore. this ended up being the coolest arcade that i've ever been to, as all of the games were antique. we cashed out a ten for quarters, and had a blast trying out some of the games. 

there were a few displays that honestly looked like they belonged in a scary movie rather than a kid arcade, see exhibit a:

no, thank you.

we headed up pier 39, where we were greeted with plenty more restaurants to choose from. seeing that we were in san francisco, we obviously had to get a small loaf of sour dough bread.

after our delicious snack, we headed back to china town, where we toured the golden gate fortune cookie factory. i have never seen fortune cookies made, and it is absolutely fascinating! kendrick and i decided to make our own fortunes, so wrote one for each other on little pieces of paper, then handed them to one of the ladies to place into a couple of cookies. (i really wanted to take pictures of the process, but they charge fifty cents per picture taken. but i'm not even mad, that's brilliant. haha)

we wandered through a few stores in chinatown, and decided to check out a souvenir shop that carried plenty of pretty vases and jars.  i absolutely love navy and white ginger jars, and kendrick insisted we get one to add to our apartment decor. seeing that it was chinatown, i put on my game face, ready to do some haggling.

the jar I wanted was originally priced at $140, but the asian man said he would do $45. i told him i would do $20. the asian women came over and told me it would be $35. i ended up grabbing it, brought it over to the register, and said i would take it. the main rang it up for $35, and kendrick, testing his luck, chimes in... "no, she said it would be $25". the asian man looked over at the asian women and asked her if it was really $25. she looked over at the jar and said ..."yes, $25!". the asian man, very confused, said "but, it's the bigger jar!" the asian women, well aware that it was supposed to be $35 quickly snapped, "just do $25!"

we officially haggled the hagglers.

(our pretty jar from chinatown)

we decided to finish our day off with some shopping at san francisco's amazing mall. the thing was seriously gigantic- about five stories tall, and there was a circular escalator that coiled right up the middle. my first stop was obviously kate spade, and i was sure to get my traditional picture in front of it.

i wanted to buy every.single.freakin dress in that store, but at $500 a piece, a settled on a cute light pink leather notebook and called it good.

after browsing the three story nordstrom for a bit, we headed out to the food court for a bite to eat. (you may be thinking- wow they eat a lot! but our one rule on this trip was to not get full by any meal, as to save room for lots of snacking!)

we decided on a ramen cafe, and kendrick ordered the spicy beef ramen, while i settled on some fried chicken pieces and a fruit drink (yes, I'm five).

(this meal actually ended up being kendrick's favorite of the entire trip- just look how happy he looks!)

at this point, it was starting to get dark outside, and we decided to call it a night and get some rest in for day two of our adventure!

stay tuned.