I've left my heart in San Francisco thanks to the cab driver.

Ok...I was getting ready to goto San Francisco and since none of us have been here before, I decided to e-mail a friend and asked where would she take vistors to sum up San Francisco or hidden places that you must see. She e-mailed back and suggested North Beach for dinner, walk through Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39 and visit the famous book store City Lights, wonderful suggestions! She also told me of areas that are not safe at all, and some that are fine in daylight, and the nusence pan-handle sections of the city. Thank goodness she's looking out for our safety i think! A word that I read somewhere in that particular section was Tenderloin, and I can not for the life of me remember what she wrote about it...was it safe in daylight..should you not be here at all? I remember reading a review of another hotel and the person wrote "even though it was close to Tenderloin district I felt safe". hhhmmm!?!?
So...needless to say once we arrived in the airport I pick up a map to look to where the Comfort Inn was and you guessed it..right between the "N" and the "D" of Tenderloin. The bars on the window helps me with feeling "safe"! We walked to "Tommy's Joynt" where I had a bowl of buffalo chili w/ rice which was sooooooooo good and we walked down to a corner market to buy some wine. As I looked across the street I saw a huge strip joint, a girl dressed in all black with a hoodie on and make-up tote runs in. Then from around the corner this lady comes scuffling by with her jellie shoes and so high she's just weaving back and forth down the sidewalk. Yep, there's something odd about this neighborhood.
Up early Wednesday morning for our morning hike all the way down Polk to the Bay. We went on the Red and White Bay cruise an hour long boat ride that you listen to the tour guide via headsets. You go under the Golden Gate Bridge, past Angel Island and Alcatraz, fair enough...so we did. It was a nice tour, I wouldv'e rather went on Alcatraz but I learned enough from the drive around it I guess. Once off the boat (I was starting to get sick) we stepped into a little musuem with old amusement arcade machines in there. Old fortune telling machines and Jolly Jack..once you put your quarter in he would just sit there and laugh...and laugh...and laugh, eventually you would just start laughing as well. We tried the early version of "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" metal shaped boxing men connected to gun-shaped handle and you had to punch the other one in the chin to set off a trigger to knock down your opponent, it was actually hard to do. I loved it in there, I took a ton of pictures and hopefully I'll be able to insert them in here.
Then we stopped for lunch down by Fisherman's Warf but not crab cakes :( no one in the group likes sea food so I had to settle for a big huge burrito which was also good. Then we were off to find the City Lights book shop! Yeah! So we found the beginning of Columbus street and realized it was at the other end. Fathers lady friend was getting tired so her and Krave took the bus while father and I hiked all the way down Columbus! We saw the famous Crooked Street from 2 or more blocks away took a picture and kept moving! Finally...there it was! I quickly ran through trying to look at everything possible in 15 minutes and manage to buy a couple of books before my hurried exit.
We then walked through part of Chinatown till we were able to catch a cab back to the Inn. The cab driver was probally going 35mph down the streets which made me feel as though I was on a roller coaster with all the hills. Burrito's are only good the first time.
So we went back to Tommy's Joynt again for dinner passing a couple of bums sleeping on the sidewalk, they all seem to have 2 couch cushions that they carry around until the find a comfy piece of sidewalk.
Tomorrow morning we're off to drive somewhere...not sure where...but somewhere down the coast of Cali.