Wednesday, August 25, 2010

San Francisco Escapade

Friday, August 20

Iris had to go to work early in the morning, so I stayed in the Stanford apts. and planned out my day. Didn't leave until 11:00 and really craved some food.

I took the CalTrain from Palo Alto to San Francisco. I was surprised at how comfortable this train was and relatively simple to manage, aside from the zone thing. ETA: 1 hour
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runs every hour

After i arrived, I had a little trouble finding where my bus was to take me to Fisherman's Wharf. I found a free map with the Muni lines and took a different route than my originally planned one. Took an hour to get there since the bus was packed and there was tons of traffic. Would have taken about as long as if I were to walk, but without the exhaustion.
I scoped out Pier 37 and 39 to see the prices and see anything different. Overall, the clam chowder all tastes great. I settled at Pier Market and was satisfied.
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low on clams, but still hearty.
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my lunch-side view as I scarf my chowder

As I walked back towards Pier 37, I saw an antique arcade museum. This place was filled with old school arcade systems that don't exist anymore and are still operational. I did recognize some of the games and that brought back memories.
A mother and son were playing this knock out game but took forever to K-O. So some stranger and I took over their unfinished game. The winner: Me.
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I'll knock you out!

As I continued on Westward, I got a Crab Sandwich. It did not compare to what I remembered 2 years ago, nor did the filling compare to something similar I had in Paris. But it was okay. I also got some more food along the way. It was something I had to do while up here.
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Crab, Mayo?, pepper, spring onions, cilantro, and bread.
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the sight and smell of fresh seafood everywhere
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the looks of a fish market overrun by tourism
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Calimari and Chips... disappointingly cold, and low on bread, but the squid itself was amazing

Along the Pier there were private boaters that offered tour services as low as $5, but it did seem kinda shady since it only took a small group at a time. Some tours even included some fresh fish for you to take home.
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straight from the bay to your tummy

After my fill of good and disappointing food, I headed to Japantown. It was definitely much nicer than Little Tokyo in LA. I was limited on time so I only explored the Japan Center/Mall. They had a ton of trinket shops and food, yet they all seem to have carried different products to sell.
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loved the interior of the mall

I was short on time to explore more, because I didn't want to miss happy hour oysters at Oola Restaurant and Bar. I walked there and had plenty of time to order. I was a little annoyed with the place, although they were extremely nice. Perhaps it was also because I was tired and had dinner by myself. I was expecting large savory oysters, but at $1 each, I was delusional. When I ordered my beer, the bartender pour the entire can, but it kept foaming out of the glass and just made a big mess. I had to drink some of the foam to stop if from overflowing. BLEH!
The truffle fries I ordered weren't mixed well. It was extremely salty on top and bare on the bottom. wtf? The hamburger was amazing though. The bread seemed to be similar to a croissant, but held better. Could not complain.
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Happy Hour Oysters tend to be smaller
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truffle fries and hamburger
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meat: medium, taste: well-done

Oh what a day... Unfortunately, when I returned to Stanford at 9pm, the free shuttle service had ended. I roamed the dark energy-saving campus and eventually got to the dorms by 10:00pm. I took a picture of the campus map and used a compass to navigate myself. Anxiety runs high when your cell phone and camera are low on battery.

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