Thanksgiving and Tourism

 My coworker and his roommate were going to volunteer to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving and asked if I'd like to partake in the holiday spirit of helping those less fortunate.  I decided it would be a good thing to do--the church they selected was sufficiently far away from the Tenderloin, the district downtown you want to avoid, so I figured the people we would be serving would be harmless as well as homeless.

The morning turned out to be a waste of time, pretty much.  The organizers of the event were more concerned with getting the fruit and coffee out for the volunteers than they were about getting stuff ready for the homeless.  Apparently they didn't even need volunteers to help feed people--we were just there to prepare.  Except we prepared absolutely nothing except cutting up bread.  And even that was unorganized--they had like one actual bread knife, so we hacked away at Safeway baguettes with plastic butter knives.  Not kidding.  Megan, my coworker's roommate, was about to freak out..She was so antsy at wanting to DO something, but there was nothing to do!  Everyone was frustrated.  The entire operation was a joke and we finally decided to leave.  As we were standing outside feeding some stale bread to pigeons, a "homeless" guy walked up wanting to get inside to be fed.  He was wearing a Raiders jacket and holding a dry cleaning bag with a dress shirt inside.  Seriously??

Anyway, later that day..My brother came out for a visit.  My digital camera had been stolen during a late night outing (shame on you, whoever has it now... I hope the piece of crap breaks) and I bought a new one to document Josh's visit.

He arrived on Thanksgiving around 2:30 and we went to my manager's for dinner.  It was a great time.  We chatted with appetizers while we waited for the food, then enjoyed a dinner with all the fixins..Including homemade ice cream!!  After dinner it was partay time--board games (the fun kind, not Monopoly), Wii, and flip cup were all in attendance.  The party ended early, around 11, but we were all pooped by then.  Turkey really does take it out of you.

We spent the next couple of days hitting the tourist areas with an intensity reserved normally only for fat kids who have been deprived of cake, and who suddenly find a giant mountain of Death By Chocolate in front of them.  Poor Josh has a stress fracture in his foot, and the miles we walked did nothing to help.. I felt really bad seeing him limp up and down the "hills" aka vertical cliffs of San Francisco's streets, but he was a trooper.

I found a group that gives free tours of certain areas in the city, so Josh picked out a few and we checked them out.  Chinatown was extremely informative, I highly recommend it.

Josh in front of world famous Ghirardelli Square

Josh in front of a trolley

At the Maritime Museum by the Wharf. This was an animated display about how steam power changed travel.  I got a kick out of the wind powered ship's course.

Fisherman's Wharf!

Apparently San Francisco bakers invented sourdough. This bakery is an exceptionally famous one: Boudin. They made bread animals!

Alcatraz

me in front of Alcatraz

A gray seagull

Nothing special about these guys except that they looked coool

These were everywhere

Lombard St, the crookedest street in the world!

Chinese Statue of Liberty...? In Chinatown

cool phoenix mural

cool dragons made out of twine

Chinatown!

Paper clothes, shoes, money, etc is offered to deceased loved ones so that they can use it in the afterlife.  Money, clothes, shoes, food, even a TV were available.  It was really sad to see dollhouses and other toys as well.  Family members burn the items along with incense to transport them to the afterlife.

A map of Chinatown's alleyways

Chinese apothecary.  You go to the "drugstore" and tell the pharmacist about what is wrong, then he/she makes up a special herb mixture and you drink it.

So that's it for Chinatown and the Wharf.  Part 2 will come later.