Day 2 started out with us waking up early to get to Michael's appointment at the French consulate. We HAD to be there precisely at the scheduled time. If you are even a minute late they cancel your appointment. We got up in plenty of time, ate some breakfast and left the hotel. We headed to the ferry landing, parked, and waited in line. We waited and waited along with a bunch of other people, who were all wondering why the ferry wasn't being loaded. Guess what? The ferry was malfunctioning and wasn't going to be running! So we hurried back to the car and headed for the other Oakland ferry landing. Sure enough, as soon as we got on the freeway, there was traffic. We were really starting to freak out. We came all this way for this appointment and we could NOT miss it! After a stressful 15 minutes or so, the traffic cleared up and we made it to the ferry landing in time. Once across the bay, we quickly walked to the French consulate and we even made it to Michael's appointment a little early! The appointment went well and Michael was able to get his paperwork all turned in so he could go to France.
The Consulate is in Union Square, so we shopped and walked around there for a little while.
After Union Square, we started walking toward Chinatown. We were pretty hungry and were looking for a place to eat lunch somewhere along the way. Unfortunately for us we walked through a somewhat creepy area and didn't find anywhere to eat. We kept walking, figuring we would find something once we got into Chinatown. We walked through a tunnel and into Chinatown!
We finally came across a place that looked like it had a decent sized menu and there were a lot of people seated inside the restaurant, so we thought we would check it out. I don't remember the name of the place (I don't think I would recommend it anyways.) The food wasn't too bad, not somewhere I would have picked had I had a choice, but we were starving so it was fine.
Anyways, Michael and I were not too impressed by Chinatown. It was dirty and crowded with tourists. I have heard Japantown is better as it isn't as crowded and is more interesting. So, if you are in San Francisco, I would recommend skipping Chinatown.
After Chinatown, we walked to a British store I had read about online.
The store had a lot of Doctor Who stuff, which was pretty cool. Michael and I picked up some candy, custard, and some tea, and then we walked to Alamo Square to see the famous Painted Ladies.
It was a long walk from Chinatown to Alamo Square! We were glad to finally get there.
We were a little disappointed that two of the houses were under construction, but they were still kind of neat to see!
The view of San Francisco from Alamo square.
By the time we were finished at Alamo square, it was getting to be dinner time. We were really tired from all the walking over the last few days and we couldn't figure out the bus schedule, so we started walking back to the ferry building, hoping we would find a good place to eat.
We didn't have to wait long. We came across this cute little neighborhood with some restaurants and this place smelled really good so we went in.
It was SO good! Michael and I both thought it was probably the best pizza we've ever eaten. It was a little expensive (we paid about $20 for a small pepperoni pizza.) but the pizza was really filling and we even had some leftover. The staff were a little different. I wouldn't say rude, but they weren't too friendly either. I found out Patxi's has a location in Seattle, so we are definitely going to have to go back with the rest of the family!
After dinner, we continued our walk back to the ferry building. The ferry ride back was kind of neat. It was overcast and getting dark, so I got some neat pictures of the city.
Michael and I on the ferry back to Oakland.
