Day 2, Saturday
8am – go somewhere to have a light breakfast
10am – do the hop-on hop-off Big Bus Tour to hit up all the tourist spots including the Golden Gate Bridge, and Palace of Fine Arts, during this tour may or may not hop off and have lunch in Chinatown.
3:50pm – Alcatraz
7:00 dinner at Epic Steakhouse
Back to the hotel
Up there were my original Day 2 plans before I arrived in San Francisco, but after Day 1 went awry, I had to switch it up a bit. Here’s the itinerary I cooked up for myself on the night of Day 1.
9am—croissant at Arsicault
10am – do the hop-on hop-off Big Bus Tour to hit up all the tourist spots including the Golden Gate Bridge, and Palace of Fine Arts, but no plans to get off at Chinatown like before.
3:50pm — Alcatraz tour
7:00 – Dinner at Epic Steakhouse
Back to the hotel.
So there was a little variation in plans – not much. But once Day 2 arrived, the real change began. First of all, I didn’t get up in time enough to make it to Arsicault by 9am. It was more like 11am when I got there. I went to the one that was closest to my hotel first, which was in the downtown area. There was hardly any line there, but there was also no parking. After circling a couple of times, I figured I’d take my chances with the other one that Google said was a 13 minutes’ drive away.
When I arrived, the line was much longer than the first one I went to. By the time I found parking, and walked the couple blocks over, the line had doubled in size. Be that as it may, I never thought once about not waiting in that line. Trying these croissants was one of my most anticipated ventures of this trip. There was literally no turning back.
The guy waiting behind me was alone like me, then about 15 minutes into the wait he was joined by friends – two girls: they were techies. They all lived in San Francisco now, one of the girls just moved from Seattle, the other relocated a couple years ago from LA. The guy was a Stanford alum, I believe, perhaps the girls were too. They were talking about shit that happens in tech offices before wondering if they should stay in or go out that night. One girl decided that they needed to go out and the others agreed.
Then they began talking about the croissants and how good they are. I was there for the almond croissant. While doing my research, I saw several times on YouTube that their almond croissant was really good and I just had to try it. But the tech bunch behind me mentioned a chocolate almond croissant as well and now I was curious.
Forty minutes later (that’s 40 minutes from when I first got in line) I was finally at the counter to place my order. I got the almond and chocolate almond croissants. It came out to $12.25. They put each croissant in that little thin paper pouch that you get single donuts in at the donut shop. When I asked for a bag as well, the girl at the register told me they charge 50 cents for a bag. Normally I don’t like to pay a ridiculous fee like that, especially when they could just include it in the price of the croissants and we would be none-the-wiser. But I was on vacation so, I’m like whatever – I’ll buy the paper bag. She went on to say my order didn’t reach the minimum threshold to get a free bag, and that they figured if you have two hands you can carry two croissants. The fuck? But again, whatever, just throw it in the bag.
I walked out of there, swinging my bag, headed back to the residential street that I parked on that was lined with average-looking homes I’m sure were worth multiple millions in value. I was feeling ever so slightly accomplished that I got what I came for. I waited till I got in the car before digging in, still somewhat skeptical about all the hype surrounding these croissants until I bit in.
I took that first bite, and oh my God was it delicious! It was just some flaky, buttery, sweet –but not overpoweringly sweet – rich goodness, all up in my mouth. Honestly, I would have waited 40 more minutes for that fucking croissant. And the almond stuff in the center – it tasted like toffee. It was like almonds and sugar and butter, not that almond extract tasting stuff you get at pretty much every other place I’ve ever had an almond croissant. That almond croissant was truly remarkable, incomparable. I almost want to drive back up there right now and get another one. Mmm, so good!
Next I tried the chocolate almond croissant. While that one was good too, I’m not a big fan of chocolate, and this croissant had some thick rich chocolate inside – it was like a melted candy bar. I wish I would have never listened to those techies behind me, and just bought two almond croissants. But actually, if I didn’t listen to them, I would have just bought one almond croissant, so I guess I’m glad I listened to them and got two out of it. The croissants were so rich, I could not finish them both.
From there, I headed back to the hotel to drop off the car, put my left over croissant in the fridge and do the hop-on hop-off bus tour. I bought my ticket from a guy at the hotel, then took the city bus to the Ferry Building where the guy at the hotel said I could catch the tour bus. I arrived at the Ferry Building and could not find the tour bus stand anywhere. I asked someone who gave me bad information. After about 30 minutes or so, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make the tour and be back in time to go to Alcatraz at my ticketed time of 3:50pm.
I remember those techies behind me in the Arsicault line mentioned something about an empanada spot in the Ferry Building that had really good empanadas, so I went in there to try them out and kill some time before my Alcatraz tour.
There was a line there too – nothing like the Arsicault line, but about a 7 – 8 minute wait. I got two chicken empanadas – they were out of the beef. They tasted okay, nothing to rave about. Matter of fact, there’s an El Salvadorian place less than five minutes away from me with better empanadas than that.
Fresh out the oven those empanadas were hot. I walked around the Ferry Building trying to find a boba spot to wash my empanadas down, but there really wasn’t much to choose from. I ended up getting a hibiscus tea from a tea house, and then had boba added, for the exorbitant total of $6.25. Though a bit refreshing, the tea was pretty flavorless.
The empanadas were $14.12 for two, also a crazy price, but what do I care, I was on vacation.
From there, I ventured out to the back of the building and ate an empanada on a bench on the pier overlooking the water…people watched. I passed the Holcombe ice cream spot on my way to the pier, but just couldn’t stop. Those croissants ruined me for anything else fatty and sweet. Looking back, I really wish I would have tried it anyway and had something to compare Garden Creamery to. Oh well, next time.
Perhaps I’ve said this already, but it bares repeating – those empanadas were not that good. I bought two, but only ate one and was pretty full after that. I could only sit out there for so long, before I had to be on the move. It wasn’t a ideal place to kill time.
So I got up and walked from Pier 1 (I think that’s where the Ferry Building is) all the way down to Pier thirtysomeing, or maybe it was twentysomething…I don’t know. It was about a mile from where I was to get to the Alcatraz ferry dock. Normally, a mile walk would be nothing for me, but I’d switched from my sandals to my combat boots, due to the cold weather. Those shoes are big and bulky and walking around in them all day proved to be more than what I bargained for. Plus, I’d tied them pretty tight at the top and it was now pinching one of my legs. I don’t know why I didn’t just loosen it up, but I didn’t. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered much given the rest of my foot was in pain. Not like high-heel pain, but heavy boots that I’ve only worn about five or six times before, so they’re not as broken in as they could be pain.
I walked slowly to the Alcatraz dock, trying not to irritate my feet anymore, picking up one of those Mexican fruit cups from a vendor on the way. They had some already premade out there, but I only wanted watermelon and mango in mine, so the guy had to make a custom order for me. He didn’t speak English and the lady in line next to me translated for me. Now looking back I should have just said “sandia y mango solamente, por favor.” I don’t even know if that’s right, but I think he would have understood it. I can say a few things in Espanol, but I have to think about it first. It doesn’t just roll off my tongue.
Anyway, maybe the language barrier is why he dumped a whole mess of Tajin on my fruit, and not enough chamoy – I didn’t know how to properly communicate what I wanted. He also squeezed lemon instead of lime – I prefer lime, but I don’t think they had any. When I saw that little red pile of Tajin on my fruit, I knew it was a lot, but I thought maybe after I mix it it wouldn’t be so bad…It was pretty bad. The fruit was not that sweet, and there wasn’t enough chamoy to balance the saltiness of the Tajin, plus the tart of the lemon was not helping any. Still, I was eating it because that cup cost me $10. When I finally got to the Alcatraz loading dock, they told me I couldn’t eat the fruit in the waiting area. Matter of fact, I couldn’t even bring it in there without it being covered. So I had to walk back to the fruit stand and get a plastic cover.
Thankfully, I got to the Alcatraz loading dock early, had about a 30 minute wait before we boarded the ferry. Once I got in line to board, this couple in front of me started talking to me. They asked me about the fruit and said they thought food wasn’t allowed. I told them I was told I could bring it as long as I didn’t eat it until I got on the boat. The woman was quite talkative. I could tell she felt sorry for me because I was alone. But it’s like, just because I’m alone doesn’t mean I want to talk to you. I made sure to distance myself from them once we boarded.
On the ferry ride over you could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. People lined up against the railing taking pictures of it. As I sat there taking it all in – the people snapping away, the bridge in the distance — I was struck by how ordinary the bridge appeared to be, at least to me, from this vantage point. It didn’t look majestic, striking or even pretty. From my vantage point on the Alcatraz ferry it just looked like just another bridge. I don’t think I even bothered to take its picture.
Once we got to the island, we had to stop for a short little park ranger talk, overview, before heading up to the cellhouse, or just exploring the island in general. The island is now a state park or some kind of official government park, so there’s several things to see and do outside of going to the prison building. My main interest however was going to the prison building or cellhouse as they called it.
After the park ranger talk which was like five minutes, if that, you had to hike the 130 feet up, aka 13 stories, to the cellhouse. They had a little tram for disabled people, and I tried to hitch a ride on that. I went up to the guy and was like how do you get to ride on this tram, as a man with a boot on his foot hobbled on. The driver was like you have to be disabled or can’t walk. I almost said I’m fat, let me on, but I felt convicted. I knew I could make the trek, I just didn’t want to. My feet were hurting, and well I am fat, it was not going to be an easy hike for me. But as I so other fat people huffing and puffing their way pass me, I was like wait minute nah. Beside, I was in no mood to argue with that man who clearly didn’t want to let me on. And so, I began my ascent.
The incline wasn’t as bad as I thought. There were no stairs, it was flat all the way up the zig-zagging road to the cellhouse entrance. Still I had to stop a couple times and take a breath, because 130 feet ain’t no joke.
Once I was inside the tour was fascinating. It was a pre-recorded, self-guided audio tour. During the tour I learned about the prisoners, the guards, what type of food they ate and how the conditions there were later thought to be inhumane. One thing I thought was interesting is how racism played out in the prison. Black prisoners were separated from all other prisoners. And the tour recording stated something about them not hiring smart black people to work in the prison because it would have caused a problem with the uneducated white prisoners. It’s just interesting to know how intentional they were in their hiring practices.
Anyway, I also learned the story of the guys who escaped, and the story of the last days in the prison before they shut it down.
After touring the cellhouse, I made my way back to the ferry, taking a few pictures along the way. The Shawshank Redemption is…well, I won’t say it’s one of my favorite movies, but it’s a movie that I really like. Apart from the incredible storytelling, one thing I really love about that movie is the cinematography. That movie is just really beautifully shot. One of the ways I judge whether or not a movie is beautifully shot is if you can pause it and whatever is on the screen looks like a photograph rather than a paused movie. And there are several times in The Shawshank Redemption when I paused the movie and it looked like a photograph. So in keeping with that, as I headed back to the ferry, I made a couple of stops taking pictures trying to get my paused Shawshank Redemption cinematography on. What do you think? (pics coming soon)
Back on the mainland, it was five something and I had a dinner reservation at Epic Steakhouse for 7pm. It wasn’t far, about a mile or so away, but I didn’t know how to get there via public transportation and I wasn’t about to walk – my legs were killing me. When making my plans before I arrived in SF most of my dining options were foreign food – Caribbean food, Chinese food, Ethiopian food, but I really wanted to do like an all-American meal as well – just a classic American steakhouse. So I made my reservation for this place. But after the day I had, from waiting in line at Arsicault to searching for the hop-on, hop-off bus tour stand, to hiking at Alcatraz, I just wasn’t in the mood to be dining alone in a sit down restaurant. I cancelled my reservation at Epic Steakhouse, and walked the half a mile or so to Fisherman’s Wharf, or was that Pier 39? Anyway, I walked to one of those places instead.
There I got some cash to take the bus back to my hotel. I popped into one of their many souvenir shops and bought a couple t-shirts and a keychain. Finally since I wasn’t going to have dinner at Epic Steakhouse, I still needed something to eat for dinner. I decided to drop in this place that had a sign saying they were the original clam chowder in a bread bowl people. I was going to go to Boudin, but they have those back home as well, so I thought I would try a place that I could only find in SF.
Their clam chowder in a bread bowl was just okay. I mean, it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t OMG good either. The best clam chowder I’ve tasted by far is what they serve at Disneyland in New Orleans Square at that little stand, I forgot what it’s called. But that clam chowder is the business. It tastes like they use real butter, real cream, and it doesn’t have that fishy taste to it. This clam chowder wasn’t fishy but something about the chowder part seemed like it was rife with preservatives or something, like it came out of a can rather than made in house.
Anyway, after that I was trying to find the bus stop so I could go back to the hotel, and came across a Ben & Jerry’s so I got me some ice cream first, then headed to the bus stop.
Back at the hotel, I got some garlic fries and an orange juice – they were out of lavender lemonade – from the restaurant to use my $25 meal credit for the day. The orange juice was significantly less than the lemonade so my order only came up to like $16 instead of the $22 it came up to with the lemonade. It wasn’t until I got up to my room that it dawned on me I should have gotten two or three orange juices.
Back in my hotel room, I finished the chocolate almond croissant from earlier. Ate the fries which were limp as fuck this time, but didn’t feel like going back downstairs so I just ate them, and watched the tail end of the Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics game 5 – what a finish.
My Day 3 plans were to go to the Fantasia concert in Concord. I hadn’t bought my ticket yet, just in case, but there is always room for one, so I knew I could still buy it the day of. The concert, Summer of Soul, started at noon and went till 4pm. If I did that I would surely miss the Golden Gate Bridge unless I was going to drive there on my own, and Lord knows I didn’t want to do that – especially not in that windy weather. Even though I saw it in the distance on the Alcatraz ferry and was unimpressed, could I come all the way to San Francisco and not do the Golden Gate Bridge?
I’d have to sleep on it.
To Be Continued…
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