Walking the Wharves

After walking in that dreadful rain all morning we wanted to be inside for a bit. Guido and I bought some new shoes, because our old ones had holes in the soles and our feet were soaked, and my mom bought some salt water taffy. We've never seen taffy in real life before, let alone tasted it, but all the barrels with all the pretty candy were very enticing, so a lot of taffy was bought. Then we tried some and decided we didn't like taffy much at all. So the bucket of taffy is going back to the Netherlands as one of many souvenirs.

When you're at Fishermans Wharf, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl is kind of a must. So we headed over to Boudin's Bakery, the most famous sourdough bread bakery in town, to share some clam chowder in one of their sourdough bowls. The bread was very sour, which surprised me a bit, because I've eaten a lot of sourdough this last year, but none as sour as Boudin's. We all liked the chowder, but my mom didn't like the sour bread. The sourdough bread bowl I had last year wasn't sour at all, it just tasted like french bread. Just, so you know :).

And after lunch my mother finally got to see the sea lions at Pier 39. She had wanted to see them last time we were here, but for some reason we didn't or we forgot. And we were so close last time, we didn't even realize it. These sea lions don't do much, yet they're fascinating to watch. They sleep or rest all piled on top of each other, even though there is so much more space on the other floating docks.  Others are climbing on top of the pile of sleeping sea lions trying to find themselves a spot too, and get loudly barked and sneezed at. Some more active sea lions are diving and swimming or are (play) fighting and pushing each other of the floating docks. We could have watched them forever, we might visit them again tomorrow.

The one bread bowl of soup, didn't fill up the Dutchies' stomachs completely so they bought themselves some yummy fried fish at Pier 39, while waiting for Yasu to finally join our sightseeing and rain-coat wearing party.

Next on the menu was a chocolate factory tour and tasting at TCHO. We're very happy that the tour was free, because it really wasn't worth it. We spent about an hour watching a PowerPoint presentation and trying to listen to the presenter. But it was almost impossible to understand him, because he didn't speak loud enough and when you did hear him he spoke way to monotonously and quickly. He wasn't very good at keeping his audience's attention. So we didn't really learn much, the factory itself wasn't in production that day and we were only in the factory for a few minutes, and didn't see anything too interesting. We tasted a few pieces of chocolate, but you can taste that for free in the shop too, so I wouldn't really recommend this tour, or rather presentation. We did however enjoy taking pictures with the hair nets we wore those few moments we were in the factory.

Our feet were getting pretty tired from all the walking and the Dutchies were feeling the jet lag. We were trying to find a nice place to have drink and sit, but we were walking down Market Street and nothing really suited our European desires. We finally opted for a frozen yogurt shop, because I've been wanting to try frozen yogurt for a very long time and because the Dutchies were really fed up with walking. I actually really liked the frozen yogurt's tartness, such a refreshing change from all the overly sweet ice cream they have here in the States.

After our little frozen yogurt dessert came dinner, a little backwards I know, but it's vacation so anything goes. We took the Dutchies to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Tokyo Express on Fourth and Mission. The food is very authentic, except for the American sushi rolls of course, and not too expensive. And they serve mugicha (barley tea)! Something I can't get enough of, and it's free!

Wow, day one of sightseeing is over, and our feet are killing us already! So naturally we're very happy about picking up a rental car tomorrow evening, but first we'll have to endure one more day of sightseeing on foot.

San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park

We're planning on visiting several National Park during our upcoming road trip, so we purchased ourselves another National Parks Pass, like last time. With that pass four people can enter all National Parks without paying the per person or per vehicle entrance fee. And there happens to be a small National Park in San Francisco, right where the cable car dropped us of. Great opportunity to use our pass for the first time. With out pass we got to board all the historic vessels of the fleet at the Maritime National Historic Park.

It had started to rain, hard. But we were not going to let the rain stop our sightseeing, so we bought ourselves some nice raincoats just before all the boat fun. Climbing on and off board of historic ships may not sound too exciting, but it's actually pretty interesting to see what those sea monsters look like on the inside and to imagine people working and living there at some time in the past. I'm glad I never had to work on a ship, but that doesn't mean I don't like to play pretend.

I think my mother would have been a good seaman, or rather seawoman, because she really enjoyed playing with the ropes and kept wanting to climb to the crow's nest. 

I think I might have been good at being seasick, because the boat's movements kept making me nauseous and light-headed, even though it was docked. Also hanging of the sides probably didn't help much.

Meanwhile Guido was practising his creep-in-the-window act in the ship's tiny port hole windows. He's definitely improving.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to inspect all the vessels on display at the Historical Park, because we have so many other things planned for today. Yasu is still in class, so he missed all this, I'm going to have to take him here someday soon as well.

Riding the cable car

The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually operated cable car system. The cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street, and they are a famous icon of San Francisco. And we totally forgot to ride them the last time we were all in San Francisco.

So this was first on our list on our first day of sightseeing in San Francisco. It's pretty expensive to ride the cable car, $5 one-way, so we chose to ride the longest route, the Powell-Hyde line, which took us all the way to Fishermans Wharf. Obviously, this line is very popular and there are always very long lines at the turnaround points.

One way to avoid the lines is to board one stop away from the turnaround, like I did with Yasu, but then all the good seats (the outside benches and standee spots) are taken and you get stuck in the crowd inside the little room on the back of the car. The other way to avoid lines is to come really early or really late. Seeing as the Dutchies are still jetlagged, making getting up really early easy, and Yasu had his first class of the semester in the early morning today, we all decided to get up before seven and head downtown before eight. And it worked! There were just a few people waiting in front of us and we could have gotten on the first cable car leaving the turnaround, but it was the wrong line. But this made us first to board when the Powell-Hyde car came around! My mom took a seat on an outside bench and Guido and I took standee spots, in front of her.

It was a completely different experience from last time, it was really exciting to hang of a moving vehicle while going through the beautiful streets of San Francisco. But it's also a bit dangerous, especially when you're standing at the head of the car. The gripman commanded me to keep my eyes on the road at all times for my own safety. Just a tad of danger only adds to the fun anyway, right?

The Dutchies have arrived!

I woke up very excited this morning! Because today was the day I got to pick up the Dutchies from San Francisco airport! I have been busy preparing for our road trip with the Dutchies for weeks, and I was glad the time was finally there for it all to start. In the arrivals hall at the airport they have TV screens showing people walking from luggage claim to the arrivals hall. I found myself under one of those big screens, tirelessly craning my neck to look intently at it for about an hour, when they finally popped up on the screen, the Dutchies!

After a warm hug, some welcome kisses, and a quick cry (of happiness) we took off on the BART to go home. The home they've seen through many Skype conversations and pictures on Flickr and were about to see with their own eyes for the first time. And also the home that had a large batch of fresh colorful cupcakes waiting for them to welcome them to the States.

Cupcakes wasn't the only thing I prepared for them, there was also dinner with way too much garlic (yummy but stinky) and a nice and firm airbed waiting for them on the floor.

After the Dutchies refreshed in our tiny bathroom, settled in our small apartment, we all filled our stomachs, and a quick grocery trip to the local Lucky, we turned in early for our first day of sightseeing in San Francisco tomorrow! I'm so happy they're here and that our trip can finally begin!

Guido's almost American birthday

Guido is turning 46 today! Congrats Gui, hope you're having a fantastic day.

Cooking practice

When the Dutchies are here in little over a week, I want to welcome them with a nice home cooked meal. And I want to impress them with something they've never tried before. Guido is quite an adventurous eater, so I'm not worried about him, but my mom can be quite picky and strict about what kind of foods to combine in a meal. Some of the things I've cooked since we've moved to the States sound downright scary to her, and others just weird. So I kind of want her to try something scary and weird like that and I really hope she'll like it.

So I'm practicing some new things this week and I hope to find some good menu items for their first night here. Tonight, we're having Tomato Peach and Basil Salad, and Roast Beef with Slow-Cooked Tomatoes and Garlic.

The dressing for the salad was a tiny bit scary to me, but I made it just as described and it's delicious! I have no idea how the roast beef will turn out, as I've never roasted a beef before, I'm not sure I bought the right cut of meat (it's so confusing) and I'm using that roasting pan for the first time.

I kind of feel bad for Yasu, though. He's doesn't really like tomatoes and, like my mother, he doesn't think fruit should be 'cooked' with. But I'm trying to expand his culinary horizons, by just exposing him to things he thinks he doesn't like. Thankfully, he's being a good sport about it.

When I first got to Japan there were loads of things I didn't like, like miso soup, barley tea, curry rice, and more. But my taste changed over the years I was living there and I now love the things I used to hate. So that's what I hope will happen with Yasu. Besides he absolutely loves tomato salsa with his nachos, so I think him not liking tomatoes is just in his head and I'm trying to make him realize that. And I also used to think that fruit was just to be eaten as it is, but every time I eat a meal with fruit cooked into it, I love it. It gives the meal something extra and surprising.

Yasu is almost home from his seminar and then we're going to have dinner! And after that, I really have to get back to booking hotels and reserving a rental car for our road trip! So many things to do before the Dutchies get here!

Roadtrip planning

In two weeks my mother and her husband will be landing at San Francisco airport! I'm really looking forward to their visit and we'll be spending most of their time here roadtripping! Yasu's busy summer semester will start right when my the Dutchies arrive, so we kind of have to plan around Yasu's new classes, as he can only miss each course once.

So we're actually doing two roadtrips, a long weekend trip and a whole week trip. I've been trying to plan a nice trip with new things to see, because us Dutchies already went on a major roadtrip through and around California in 2006, but Yasu hasn't so he's curious to see some of the same things we've already seen. 

It's quite a challenge to come up with a trip that isn't an exact repeat of our last trip, has a nice variety of sightseeing and doesn't involve too much driving, and -oh yeah- we're on a budget... After four days of puzzling on Google Maps, comparing surrounding States and National Parks, and checking hotel prices I've finally come up with two routes.

First up is the long weekend. The plan is to drive up to Napa, take in a winery tour and tasting, and then drive on to Sacramento and spend the night there. The next day we'll drive up to Lassen Volcanic National Park and stay there until the next day when we slowly head back home.