I had my one and only free morning on the second day of my San Francisco trip. There was one ‘tourisy’ attraction I’d been wanting to visit – The Aquarium of the Bay. I’d advised my students that the place was well-worth a visit, but at the designated meeting time, no one showed up, so I went out on my own.
The place is well north of my hotel and about a 3 kilometre walk. Quite manageable, so I set out at 7:45 am, and took a leisurely walk along Stockton road, a long straight stretch of road that’d bring me right to The Embarcadero, a stretch of road that runs alongside San Francisco Bay.
Stockton Road intersects the Chinatown area, and on the early morning there was an amazing bluster of life. It really was Chinatown, with Asian Chinese everywhere: going to school, going to work, having breakfast, elderly Chinese shopping for fresh produce etc. There were dianxin shops, provision shops, vegetable and fresh meats, and plenty of little eateries – even char siew rice LOL.
The Chinatown area is adjourned to Little Italy, though the space occupied by the latter seemed a lot smaller than Chinatown. I stopped for a while at Washington Square too where Saints Peter and Paul Church is located. Quite a magnificent institution. There were many elderly Asian persons doing their morning exercises in the park.
I eventually got to Pier 39 at 9 am, an hour early before the Aquarium’s opening hour. So, took the opportunity to further explore the shopping and eating establishments along the stretch (there were very many), stopping by at Boudin’s for a takeout bacon and egg sandwich on sourdough bread for USD 7.53. The sandwich was prepared piping hot, and very delicious in the cold weather.
The Aquarium as it turned out was a major disappointment. Specifically, it was undergoing renovation, which meant that huge sections of the site was closed. In view of this, there was no admission charge for entrance, but that’s small comfort as I’d already purchased the City Pass (the Aquarium is one of five key attractions in the city).
That said, the half dozen aquarium tanks in the areas that could be visited were colorful, vibrant and well landscaped. It was hard to take great pictures though as lighting conditions go, but it could had been a lot worse if it wasn’t for the vibration-stabilization mechanism in the Nikon lens.
I couldn’t stay for long in the area as I had a visit to the EA campus starting at noon. So at 10:45 am, made my way back by cable car. Well, if I ever come back to San Francisco with Ling (and little Hannah?!), I’d want to revisit the Aquarium again and check out what I’ve missed.:)
I’ve wrote a short account for the school blog here of our industry visit here. Tomorrow’s program is gonna be packed from morning till night: a visit to the Exploratorium in the morning, then the California Academy of Sciences in the afternoon, then another industry networking event in the evening. Lots of walking to and fro. My feet’s gonna kill me LOL.
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