Streets of San Francisco

 What a great time in The City. I went along with 3 teachers to learn more about our new social studies program. We actually became trainers of the program. The great part, we were dismissed at 4:00 each day to explore the city and that is just what we did!

We wanted to experience as much as possible in the Fog City so we decided that taking public transportation was the best way to see San Francisco. On Monday, we decided to take the cable car through the area around China Town. We picked up our ride on Powell Street where the line started. These cars have been around since the 1870s. It was quite interesting how the car gets to the end of the line and the workers literally turn the car on a lazy susan to send it back the other direction. Our goal, to ride the car the entire line hanging on the sides.

When we first got on, the car was very crowded and therefore there was no spot on the side to hang on. We went ahead and got off in China Town looking for something to eat. We really wanted something authentic or "seedy" as the guys said. We checked down some alleys and walked the streets looking for one of the most authentic looking places we could find. In the end we landed in a restaurant that gave us a free coupon for pot stickers on the corner. The meals were delicious, generous portions but we did not get all the pot stickers as promised. Then when then bill came with us thinking we would also get 20% off the bill, it was not quite that. We called it Chinese math! The coupon worked, it got us to the restaurant. It was ok, we had a great time.

The streets are so steep, we surely burned the calories from dinner just walking around doing some shopping and getting back to the cable car. Once on the car we really did get to ride the whole line and we were on the sides hanging on like we planned. What a great view. What a great time. Experiencing the culture of the area made for a great evening.