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We were up bright and early but it was very cool. We’ve noticed a definite weather pattern, cold and windy in the morning, with the sun brightening things up at around 11am to midday.
We headed to Boudin for a delicious breakfast of clam chowder in a bowl of sourdough bread. This place must make an absolute fortune as it is busy all of the time.
We then headed towards the cable car stop on Fisherman’s Wharf at Beach and Hyde. This was to take us on a ride to Union Square. It cost $8 for a single ride or $24 for a day pass. We decided on the cheaper option so we could walk back via Chinatown. We had a bit of a wait at Beach and Hyde because there was a big queue of people all wanting to do the same as us. It was about a half hour before we got on.
There are two staff on each cable. One us the conductor who sells tickets and looks after the passengers.
The other person is the driver, also called a grip. They use levers and handles to grab or release a moving cable that runs in a continuous loop beneath the street.
To stop, the grip puts on the brake, which is just a big piece of wood that drags the ground. The grip is also the bell-ringer, signalling the cable car’s approach. There was plenty of bell ringing as the grip negotiated the steep hills and busy roads of San Francisco.
It was standing room only for us until a few people got off. It then gave me the opportunity to stand on the outer platform of the cable car to get the best experience of riding the car.
https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/cable-cars
We got off at Union Street and made our way up to Grant Avenue where Chinatown begins. It is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and was busy with locals and tourists. There are lots of eateries, especially places that sell dim sum. There were Chinese supermarkets, banks, souvenir shops and restaurants. The streets are decorated with Chinese lanterns and even the street lights have dragons adorning them. There are lots of murals on the walls of buildings depicting Chinese dragons and also the famous Bruce Lee.
http://www.sanfranciscochinatown.com
We ended up at a Chinese restaurant for lunch called Beijing 49er. A Chinese lady on the door handed us a leaflet offering free pot stickers and green tea ice cream before taking us upstairs to the first floor restaurant. We sat outside on the balcony in the sunshine and ordered a Chinese beer and just one course of food. The pot stickers, which are Chinese dumplings, soon arrived. I then had black pepper beef for my main course followed by the green tea ice cream.
Once we’d settled the bill we headed further down the street where we came across an alley which I later learned was called Jack Kerouac Alley. Formerly known as Adler Alley, it was reopened in 2007 and named after the novelist following a suggestion by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He was also owner of the City Lights Bookstore, which is at the North Beach end of the alley. There are plaques embedded down the alley including one from Ferlinghetti himself, as well as Jack Kerouac. Kerouac was also a frequent visitor to Vesuvio Cafe, a bar at the opposite corner to the bookstore, which was our next stop. This place is a gem, bohemian in design with plenty of interesting pictures hanging on the walls. Some were in reference to Jack Kerouac himself. We sat at the bar and were well looked after.
http://www.vesuvio.com/index2.html
After that we headed in the direction of our hotel but didn’t get far before we stopped at another bar, called The Saloon. It was fairly busy being single handedly run by a 69 year old lady in a pork pie hat who served us very generous measures of whisky. There was a duo playing guitar and singing blues songs. The main singer was called Peter Lindman, a bald guy with a large handlebar moustache and a great singing voice. His companion was called Roger Rocha and is a musician who played guitar in the band 4 Non Blondes. The music kept us in there far longer than we expected before we got an Uber taxi back to the hotel.
jctraveller 
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