Our flight home wasn't until 9 p.m. on Tuesday night so we had the whole day. I got up early and walked through Chinatown. There were some places I wanted to see. I went back after everyone was up and took them to a temple. The owners were curt to say the least. At first they told us it wasn't open yet to then we came back. The temple was half Shrine half storage room. Very interesting place. After we looked around for a few minutes we appeared to be standing in the way of the guy who was dragging a table across the shrine slash storage room. He said, "Okay that enough bye bye!" These people are not shy!
Earlier I had been standing on the street looking up at the temple. A Chinese American woman walked right up to me and demanded "What you want?" I said I wasn't sure if I could go in the temple and she shoved me. She said, "You go! Go in!"
I love the energy of this neighborhood.
And in the top 10 free things to do with kids in San Francisco is the cable car museum. It was actually really interesting.
At this point we separated and Araceli went shopping around Union Square with cocoa and Bill. I took the three other kids with me to the Contemporary Jewish Museum where they have a kid area. The kids were highly involved in building in creating with blocks and a giant Lite-Brite for a while. Unfortunately the exhibits were not my favorite so we moved on.
I took them to the Museum of Modern Art. SF MoMA. My plan was to just let the kids go in by themselves and look around for a little bit because they could get in free but my ticket would have cost $25. We didn't have a ton of time so I didn't want to pay that. Especially when I was with kids that I didn't know how long they could appreciate Modern Art. I told the lady at the ticket counter that I just wanted 3 student tickets and that I wouldn't go in because I was too poor, har har. She slyly held up four tickets instead of three and put her finger to her lips. She really made my day. I was so grateful for that free ticket and so grateful for her generous heart. It doesn't take much to make someone really happy and to make the world around you a better place with your positive vibes.
Even the bathroom struck me as art. I have to say I love modern art. I love how it makes you feel uncomfortable or inspired or how it makes you think of things in a different way or see things in a different way. I convinced Frank to go look around by himself and I walked around with the two little kids. I was so pleased that they were so interested in the art. I think we saw everything in the whole place and stayed longer than we had planned.
On our walk back through Chinatown we happened upon the Golden Gate Bakery when it was open which according to Legend is not an easy thing to do. We rushed in and bought eight or nine of the famous egg custards. They were warm and delicious. Worth the wait and worthy of the hype.
I was genuinely sad to leave San Francisco. I don't think I've ever enjoyed it quite so much as I did on this trip and I think it was just because we were in Chinatown during their magical time of year, thinking of Golda, and watching the reactions of four of our cute little kids including Frank. It was nice to see him get some good Chinese food. And it was fun to see Araceli back in her favorite city in the whole world. My parents were in good health and strong and fun to be around. It was a great 4 days with beautiful weather and wonderful people. I love traveling with my people. There's nothing better.
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