The second leg is a little sunnier as we change buses in the Pier 39 area which looks lively. We have defrosted by the time we get back to Union Square and its taken a good couple of hours. The boys want something to eat so we end up in the food court in the basement of Macy’s. They have ham and cheese toasties from the Boudin Bakery with drinks and brownies and it’s a modest $28.
We are a little tired by now so around 2.30 we head back to the hotel for forty winks and messing about on Ipads for a couple of hours.
Good thing we had abandoned our original idea of spending the day in the Science Academy, I don’t think we would have appreciated it – I am sad we didn’t get to see it though. Anyway at 4.30 we decide to head out for dinner. The plan says we go to ChinaTown but we aren’t sure where the restaurant is and have rather stupidly forgotten to look up directions. This is always cue for a row as wandering about looking for food doesn’t bring out the best in us. We set off in the wrong direction for China Town and a helpful information chap points us the right way.
Its buzzing , very colourful and full of tat and weird looking food.
I’m suddenly not so keen on eating here and the kids are making those grumbly whiney noises that don’t help. After several circuits and fraying nerves we end up outside the Great Eastern – where it seems President Obama ate once so if he ate here and didn’t fall off his perch then that’s good enough for me.
It’s a slightly disturbing place as we are seated next to the tanks of food that are unknowing of their future fate. We order quite a feast , especially as soup for 1 comes out as a bowl for 5 and the rice for 5 never arrives at all but isn’t really missed . The boys have the crispy fried chicken which was very nice until we discovered the chicken’s head on the platter
, which I had to cover up with prawn crackers as it freaked me out
Andy had mixed appetisers and we shared some sweet and sour chicken with noodles. It was nice and they gave us a discount for missing out the rice. Our fortune cookies were disappointing in their predictions – who writes these things. Anyway , the meal plus 4 sodas and 2 beers was a very reasonable $89 so around $100 with the tip. We feel a little better on the walk back and we discover the place we had originally planned to go ( the R&G lounge) – that looked nice too.
We make a stop at Walgreens to pick up some snack fodder like Pringles and cookies and we try some Twinkies ( first and last).
Still tired so its lights out at 9pm. I think we all feel a little disappointed with today – it didn’t quite turn out as we expected – we had thought we would do more but were just too tired in the afternoon and a tired family doesn’t make for a happy family.
We have an early start tomorrow – it transpires that we have booked to go to Alcatraz on the morning on the SF marathon and Pier 33 is on the route – the Alcatraz and muni websites all say to allow extra time and the concierge has advised us to get a taxi rather than try local transport due to all the diversions. How on earth did I miss this major event in my planning !