San Francisco

 For Christmas four of our children got a trip to San Francisco. We decided to take Frank, Araceli, Xanthe and Ptolemy. Coco and Bill also went because they know the city and love it and it's always fun to travel with them. We couldn't pass up hundred dollar round trips on Alaska Air.

 Ptolemy just loves to travel. He hadn't been on a plane since he went with me to Miami a couple years ago so he was very excited to be the traveler again.

 This was Xanthe's first flight since she flew home from China when she was one. It was so fun to take her on a trip. She is not the best traveler, I have to say. She likes it when everything is very predictable, and there are way too many unknowns on trips to make her comfortable. All Things Considered, she did great on this trip and loved it. I was so glad she was there.

 First stop, Chinatown. Our hotel was in the heart of it, right around the corner from Grant Street.

 While Coco and Bill took a little nap, the kids and I walked over to Washington Square. We went inside the cathedral and I was explaining to Xanthe that Catholics sometimes pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus. She said, "Okay I'll do it." And got down on her knees and started praying. She's such a sweetheart. She is similar to Golda in her pure love of religion, except Golda would have totally freaked out about praying to Mary. Lol

 I have never walked up to Coit Tower so we did. That is quite a hike! The views are spectacular and the day was just crystal clear. I was glad we did it.

 We timed our trip to coincide with Chinese New Year. We wanted to be there for the parade and we got there the day of. All down Grant Street there was celebration. Carnival atmosphere, firecrackers being thrown at the ground. Everyone went off exploring and I wandered with Ptolemy. I let him buy some poppers to throw at the ground. He is so much fun.

 Parades came through periodically. I think this is the biggest CNY celebration in the U. S.

 Lots of bubble tea. Ptolemy said, " I haven't had bubble tea since the beginning of last year. I'm not kidding. The beginning of last year." Poor deprived kid.

 I tried shrimp chips. It's an acquired taste.

 I love the erhu. This guy inspired a wave of love and affection that rippled through my heart. I thought of Golda and how she loves these people. The Chinese people of San Francisco are largely from what used to be called Canton, the region where Hong Kong is located. I've always felt an affinity towards this culture, and now Golda is living in it.

 I took Ptolemy to my favorite restaurant, Yee's. I love to get duck there. Ptolemy was not quite so enamored. In fact he was terrified.

 Teenagers, always on their phones.

 This little guy just had to have a peacock feather from a guy selling them for a buck.

 The parade was a 5-hour-long spectacle. It was insane. Truthfully, we couldn't see most of it. It was just packed. Coco and Bill ended up taking the two little kids home and they fell instantly asleep. I stayed out with Frank and Araceli and we watched part of the parade from inside of a little cafe where we got - you guessed it - bubble tea.

 The parade was very exciting. By the end there were a lot of drunk youngsters roaming the streets. They were no match, however, for the true Chinese revelers who lit off firecrackers non-stop constantly until the wee hours of the night. Grant Street was alive with noise and celebration all night long. Our hotel room window opened onto Grant Street and I left the window cracked so we could hear all the celebration. After a 6 a.m. flight and a 5-hour parade we were way too tired to join in anymore. We had to get some sleep! Not even firecrackers could keep us awake.

 Of course we had to do all the tourist things. We walked to Fisherman's Wharf and checked out the sea lions. We wanted to go on a bay cruise but they were all too expensive for seven people. While the others were shopping I found a guy who did shorter boat rides for less money. So we went with him and it was really fun. The captain was ridiculously cute and Araceli was instantly smitten.

 Ptolemy felt pretty important driving the tug boat.

 I didn't know there was a national parks Museum right down on Fisherman's Wharf. It's a pretty good Museum. And even if it wasn't, I was still going to go in. National Parks? Museum? Both in the same place? I'm all over it.

 I also didn't know that these ships you can wander around in are part of the national parks. I went up to the ticket window and said, "So, would my national park pass have gotten me in here if I hadn't left it at home?" The guy at the ticket counter asked me to show him a picture of us and a national park and I pulled out my phone loaded with hundreds of pictures of us at a national park and he let us all in for free. I love my national parks pass. The kids absolutely loved wandering around those ships. There was a big tug boat, a ferry boat, and a ship that told the story of the Chinese immigrants who came initially to California to work in the salmon industry. Truly, it was fascinating and gave the kids plenty to run around and see.

 Requisite. We all shared a giant brownie sundae.

 Walked back to the hotel via Lombard Street.

 Frank treated all of us to dinner that night at the house of Nanking. The food was delicious. I just let Frank order everything. Coco told Xanthe how to use chopsticks. Xanthe was a little bit worried that the food wouldn't come fast enough because I think she was just hungry. But when it came it was really good and we loved it. Frank said it was very Americanized and food in China would never be that sweet which is probably true. That's probably why we liked it so much. Haha

 We stayed at the SW Hotel. I would highly recommend it. It was really really clean and nice and the staff was super helpful. When we arrived I found out that the SW stands for Sam Wong. Sam Wong is the man who bought the hotel way back when. At breakfast each morning I would read the articles that the hotel has posted on the walls and I pieced together his story. It really touched me. Sam Wong was a successful businessman in California at a time when Chinese weren't necessarily accepted in American society at large. He had a nephew who was captured in Germany during World War II and I gathered from the various newspaper articles that Sam Wong took care of him while he was imprisoned and also took care of his family and paid for all of his nephew's children's education later in life. He was a good man and I was honored to stay at this hotel and thankful that the hotel was keeping the Wongs' legacy alive.