Chinatown {Our San Francisco Anniversary}

So now that you have seen all of my favorite pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought I would show you another of my favorite places in San Francisco: Chinatown!

We actually stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which is right next to Union square. So our hotel room was only a block from the entrance to Chinatown. I walked through Chinatown one evening with my husband, but there was so much to see that I went back another day while my husband was at his conference.



Of course I had to take a picture of the Chinatown entrance, the Dragon Gate. But the fun really starts once you start walking down the streets. Walking is definitely the only way to really experience Chinatown. It really is a world unto itself!

 Did you know that Chinatown in San Francisco is the oldest Chinatown in North America? It is also one of the largest Chinese communities outside Asia.

 For me, walking the streets of Chinatown is probably the closest I will get to experiencing Chinese culture.  The streets are lined with red lanterns and brightly painted buildings. Even the street lamps are beautiful.

It was fun to walk down the street and see the shops in Chinatown. You could find souvenir shops, clothing shops, restaurants, herbal shops, toy shops, temples, kite shops and shops that seemed to sell a little bit of everything!

 
 It seemed that there was something interesting to look at no matter where I looked.

Chinatown was bursting with color! It is definitely a photographer's playground.

I spent hours walking through the shops in Chinatown, checking out their wares. Many of the shops sold similar items like parasols, silk and paper fans, postcards, chopsticks, dragon statues, paper lanterns, Buddha statues, silk dresses, incense, dolls, candles, scarves, bags and jewelry. But there were always fun and unique items to be found.

One thing that I did not quite have the courage to do on my own was eat at one of the restaurants in Chinatown. One restaurant that I thought was particularly lovely was the Empress of China. I only went into the lobby of the restaurant, but I thought it was beautiful.

Maybe the next time I am in San Francisco I will talk my husband into taking me to eat at the Empress of China. I hear that the restaurant itself is also lovely.

Or I could be brave and go eat lunch by myself at one of the other many restaurants in Chinatown. The only problem is that there are so many that I wouldn't know which one to choose!

In addition to colorful restaurants, there was also lots of colorful street art in Chinatown. I particularly liked these murals.

As you would expect, there were lots of dragons to be found in Chinatown. Many of the shops sold dragon statues and there were some pretty cool dragon decorations to be found.

It was nice to be able to walk through Chinatown and explore at my own pace. I am sure that my children would have enjoyed seeing Chinatown, but they probably would have been done much sooner than me! The same could be said for my husband, though it would have been nice to have a shopping companion. I did end up buying several souvenirs from Chinatown, which my children loved. I also got a nice leather coin purse for myself so that I can always remember my trip to Chinatown in San Francisco.

San Francisco Anniversary and the Golden Gate Bridge

It's been a while since I blogged. Did you miss me?!

Can you believe that less than a week ago I was in San Francisco? I would have posted about my  trip sooner but I took over 1200 pictures in less than a week. That's a LOT of pictures to look through.

Of course I did not go to San Francisco alone, I went with my husband who was attending the VMworld 2012 conference. I tagged along to play tourist but we left the kids at home with the grandparents. After all, it was our ten year wedding anniversary trip!

I had a blast in San Francisco! It was the longest (and only) trip my husband and I have ever taken without our kids. Although I did miss them, it was wonderful to spend some time alone with my honey.

We went to San Francisco a couple of days before the conference started so we would have some time together before my honey got busy with the conference. The first place we decided to visit was the Golden Gate Bridge.

As you can see, the day we got there it was foggy at the Golden Gate. It was also windy! Check out my hair in the picture below.

The wind was really blowing! I wished that I had a jacket, but it wasn't too frigid. Of course we had to walk across the bridge and take in the view. It was amazing to me just how BIG the Golden Gate Bridge is. I love the orange color of the bridge and it was interesting to see all the rivets and metal panels that hold the bridge together.

While we were walking along the bridge the fog cleared up a little, but we never really saw blue sky. Apparently this is typical weather for the Golden Gate Bridge!

My husband and I walked more than halfway across the bridge before deciding to head back to the hotel. We also got to do some other sightseeing together, which was really fun.

Since I had plenty of time to roam around San Francisco while my husband was at his conference, I decided to go back to the Golden Gate a few days later when the skies were clear and blue. I LOVED the pictures I got that day.

Isn't the bridge beautiful with blue skies behind it? There are many interesting things to look at before you walk on the bridge, including this cool lenticular sign that shows you the stages of the bridge as you move from side to side and change your perspective. I thought it was really cool.

On my second visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, I was determined to walk all the way across the bridge. I actually planned to walk across the bridge and then cross over to the west side of the bridge and climb up to the Marin headlands. In particular I wanted to get a picture of the bridge from Battery Spencer.

So I started my journey. This time as I crossed the bridge it was easier to see the large cargo boats and other ships on the bay. I also had a much better view of Alcatraz in the distance.

I took many pictures of the Golden Gate that were similar to pictures that I took on my previous trip, but they turned out much better without the grey skies!

I finally managed to make it all the way across the bridge. As I got to the other side the fog started to pick up a little bit.

I knew I needed to climb up the big hill on the other side of the bridge, hopefully before it got too foggy. I crossed under the bridge on a pedestrian underpass and then headed up the hill to Battery Spencer. It was a pretty good hike, but luckily I packed plenty of water and snacks.

When I got to my viewpoint I was dismayed to find that the fog had definitely made it there before me! I really wanted to see the bridge from the west side, especially after I had hiked all that way! The fog was really thick and sometimes I couldn't see the Golden Gate at all!

But I decided to wait a while and see if the fog would lift. There were other tourists and hopeful photographers who came and left, but I waited. It was incredibly windy, so the fog was constantly shifting. In the end I was probably at Battery Spencer for almost an hour, but I got the shots I wanted and I think it was worth it!

The sun came out and there was the bridge, with San Francisco in the background. It was stunningly beautiful!

What a great day! Even though it took me several hours to go across the bridge, climb up to the Marin headlands to Battery Spencer, and then walk back across, it was definitely worth it. I had a great time!

As you can imagine, with close to 1200 pictures of San Francisco there is no way I can share them all in one post. So I plan to do a few more posts with the highlights of my trip including Chinatown, Coit Tower, the Bay Bridge, Crissy Field, the Palace of Fine Arts, and graffiti/street art. So come back and see more of San Francisco!



Linked up to Wordful Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, and Wordless Wednesdays all over.