San Francisco Day 2

I'll spare you the part of this day that consists of me going to the UK visa application office and getting fingerprinted. If you're actually interested, though, click the link. Is it considered bad form to link to your own blog posts? Is it like I'm saying, "The only things worth reading are the things I've written! HAHAHAHA. Here, why don't you read more of my ramblings? Read more."? 

I digress. 

The upside to doing bureaucratic things on vacation was that it took me into a new section of San Francisco. Granted, the area around the visa office was really boring, and the boring part was adjacent to a few sketchy blocks of strip clubs, but once we got past all of that, we found ourselves in an extremely interesting, garlic-scented Italian-Chinese wonderland. I believe it's called North Beach. Or maybe Chinatown. I had a hard time determining where one neighborhood ends and another begins. 

The European...

And the Chinese! All within probably 5 minutes of each other.

Clearly some exploration was in order.

So we looked at Chinese markets.

And stopped for the best bubble tea I've ever tasted. What made it the best? Well, unlike the bubble tea places at home, this place lets you add your own bubbles and jellies, allowing you to get to tea to tapioca to jelly ratio exactly right. Maybe this is standard practice in San Francisco, but not in Michigan, so I was impressed. 

After a quick Italian lunch, we climbed Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, where we saw views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

And Alcatraz.

And this guy. My sister and I named him Griswold. 

Then we walked over to Lombard Street, which, contrary to popular belief, is not the crookedest street in the world. That honor actually goes to Vermont Street. But, still, Lombard Street, was impressively crooked. 

For dinner, we went to a cafe and crepery called Honey Honey, and all of our meals were delicious. My mom and I had black bean chili; my sister had a peanut butter crepe; my dad had shrimp pasta. In addition to the food, I really enjoyed Honey Honey's atmosphere. Unlike a lot of restaurants that serve trendy food (tofu sandwich, anyone?) Honey Honey felt unpretentious. What this means is that the staff were friendly and didn't scoff at my order. (What? You like bean soup and beer? How very mainstream.) Okay, maybe no one has actually said anything quite like that to me, but trust me, you can tell when hipsters are judging you. After years of living among the hipsters, I find it very refreshing to go to a restaurant, order my stylishly-presented food, and not feel socially awkward for hours afterward. 

All in all, an excellent day.