Day 13:

 

 

Day 13th began with my sister taking Fr. Doug and I on a walk. It was a novelty.  Along the way we saw some interesting architecture and even more interesting people.

 



A caravan headed through town



 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
After a light breakfast we headed into the San Francisco. Fr. Doug is sick of "Fr. Aron's Prison Talk" so we skipped the Alcatraz tour. When we got into the city our first stop was to visit the ruins of the Sutro Baths which are located right along the Pacific Ocean. First opened in 1896, the Sutro Baths were world's largest indoor swimming complex, housing a several pools and toboggan slides. While the baths are a thing of the past today you can enjoy the ruins which include a former pool that is basically filled with sea gull droppings.

 

 

While at the Sutro Baths we observed a group of models involved in a photo shoot. Right around the same time we noticed a man with a bicycle coming up from the restricted area. The man climbed the wall where the models were posing and threw breadcrumbs all around the area summoning every sea gull between San Francisco and Tokyo. The models were about to be micturated upon by the gulls when one of them, as shown below, yelled at the man, who then left and climbed a large rock in the sea.

Man on bicycle invites the birds to dive bomb the models
 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
After visiting the Sutro Bath remains we went a short distance down the road to the beach. San Francisco's beaches are cold and as a result do not attract a typical beach crowd. While I visited my sister last year, due to our itinerary and the fog I never actually saw the Pacific Ocean. Today I not only saw the ocean, but even waded into the waters which remind of the Soviet beach in Murmansk.
 
 
 
 

 

The robust waters of Kamchatka

 

After our brief visit to the beach we made our way to the "Little Saigon" section of the city. We stopped at a Vietnamese sandwich shop where I had a banh mi chu lua, aka the fancy pork sandwich. The sandwich includes pork, cilantro, sauce, carrots, and hot peppers. I had a drink called "Grass Jelly Drink," which reminded me that I should have had a Pepsi instead.

 



 
 
 
 
 

"This way to the fancy pork sandwiches"

 

Where Fancy Pork Sandwiches are born



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
After lunch we paid a visit to the city's St. Ignatius Church. There was a wedding going on when we arrived. While they had a Rolls Royce parked out front I hope that somehow the reception was at a fire hall.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After leaving St. Ignatius we stopped at the famed Mission Dolores, the old Franciscan mission in town.
 

 

Following a trip back to the house we returned to the city and visited Japantown. Center of the Japanese population of the Bay Area we ate at a restaurant that served food in the shabu shabu style. It took me the better part of an hour to figure out the concept. Basically you take thinly sliced meat and vegetables, swish them around in a hot pot of broth on your table, pull it out (using chopsticks), dip it in some sort of sauce, and eat. I worked up a sweat. Fr. Doug felt he should get some part of the tip because he had to cook the meat himself.

 



Cooking my own food

 

Finally we took a walk around Chinatown (we had to complete the trip between Little Saigon, Japantown, and Chinatown).