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I’ve lived in the bay area most of my life but have never visited Alcatraz, so I thought it’d be a good idea to pay a visit. The only tickets left online were for the combination Angel Island and Alcatraz tour for $58.

My morning ride.

We stopped briefly at Alcatraz for a photo opportunity before heading to Angel Island which is where we would disembark.

Upon arriving at Angel Island, we boarded the trams for the 1 hour tour (included with your alcatraz/angel island combo tour ticket).

Their is an audio tour inside the tram. Although the tram itself was pretty noisy so it made it difficult to hear everything. We stopped near the top for a photo opportunity.

Our tour was around perimeter road, passing by all the soldier homes and the old hospital. Beautiful buildings just waiting for restoration.

The last sight on the tour was the immigration station where the Chinese and Japanese were first held before being allowed on the mainland. We didn’t get to stop here though so I’d like to go back at some point to learn more.

We had a short break for lunch before catching the ferry to Alcatraz. I settled down at a park bench to have the lunch I brought. Surprisingly they do have a small restaurant there that serves some pretty good looking eats. The view from the park bench.

My lunch buddy.

Only on the water do you get to San Francisco streets this way.

Alcatraz Island. An audio tour is included with your ticket as well and it’s pretty good. You follow a certain route through the cell block with some great history and well set up exhibits.

On thing though, you better not be super sensitive to urine or bird dropping smells. It’s either the public toilet or the sea water or the birds that cover the island but there is a distinct odor throughout the island. There are lots of birds, including this baby one.

My tour started at 9:40am departure from Pier 33
Arrival at Angel Island 10:30am
Angel Island Tour 10:45am – 11:45am
Departure for Alcatraz Island 12:45 pm
Alcatraz Island Audio Tour 1:30 – 2:30pm
Departure for Pier 33 2:45pm

Ron came to pick me up and we went to have a late lunch/early dinner at Doobu in Japantown.

Their yummy side dishes.

I tried their chicken bi bim bap. There was plenty of the meat the stone bowl was super hot so the rice on the bottom was yummy and crispy.

Ron had the spicy pork and tofu soup combo.

It’s been quite a day. Alcatraz is quite a hike up to the top. Ready for some rest.

John’s Snack & Deli

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http://www.snackanddeli.com/

After reading about it on SFGate, I’ve been wanting to try the kimchi burrito at John’s Snack and Deli and today I got my chance.

I arrived a bit after 11:30am and was one of two customers. By the time 12pm rolled around, there was a line of at least 8 people. I wasn’t sure what to order besides the kimchi burrito but the owner kindly pointed out the specials sign on the outside window. I decided on 2 kimchi burritos (one for Ron and one for myself) and a kalbi soft taco.

We brought it home to eat since there isn’t anywhere to sit inside.

The soft taco had plenty of meat and some great spicy pickled turnips and kimchi on top. It was a bit weird on a corn tortilla though. Still quite tasty.

Next I dug into the burrito which had lots of meat, greens, kimchi, rice, some cheese, and that delicious Korean spicy sauce. It was still a bit weird to be eating a burrito that didn’t taste Mexican but I know I’m going to be craving this again.

The place has specials each day and can be found on their website at the beginning of the week. Today was soft tofu stew day and the wait time was up to 30 minutes (and customers were willing to wait in that little store). This Friday is my favorite Korean dish, rice cakes, aka rice pinkies… may have to go back for more.

Parking there is difficult but it’d be worth the trip by public transportation or if you work around the area. The owner is really friendly and efficient in taking your order and phone orders.

I still have 1/3 of my burrito to enjoy tomorrow… yum, can hardly wait. I also want to go back to try their spicy pork soft taco, spam kim bap (Korean sushi), bim bi bap, and ramen… sometimes I wish I could eat more.

John’s Snack and Deli
40 Battery Street

California Academy of Sciences and San Tung

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http://www.calacademy.org/

I spent the morning at the California Academy of Sciences. I decided to purchase an individual membership so that I would be able to take my time to explore and not worry about having to keep on purchasing tickets plus I can bring a guest. I started out with the planetarium show, the penguin feeding, then the coral reef dive before heading out around 1pm. It was getting way too busy to be enjoyable and the passes for the rest of the shows were already gone. So I’m glad I can go back during members hours so hopefully it’ll be less busy.

Just some photos to share:

The turtles were having their breakfast when I arrived.

The penguins in anticipation of their feeding.

The harlequin shrimp (feeding on a blue starfish).

The coral reef dive show.

Jellyfish.

Wax frogs.

The rare white alligator.

The living roof.

One of Google’s Favorite Places.

Can’t wait for my next visit.

Ron came to pick me up and we went to lunch at San Tung for their yummy dried fried chicken.

Their kimchi seems to have gotten spicier, in a good way.

The sticky, gooey, crispy, yummy dried fried chicken. Finger licking good! We ordered 2 orders to go with the sauce on the side.

The spicy peanut noodles (the warm one, not the cold noodles) with shrimps, scallops, mushrooms, and cucumbers. It wasn’t very spicy but I liked the noodles, very fresh. Ron felt it didn’t have enough peanut flavor.

Lastly, tofu with vegetables. I wouldn’t order this again. It had no flavor and was just kind of sloppy to eat.

Another good day in San Francisco. My week is going by fast…

San Tung Chinese Restaurant
1031 Irving St

Berkeley… 9 years after graduation

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I had the sudden desire to visit Berkeley and have lunch at Intermezzo on Telegraph Ave, dreaming of their green salad and honey wheat bread sandwich.

On the way to campus, we got off the freeway at Ashby Avenue so stopped by Urban Ore. It’s a really cool place where they sell lots of reusable goods, including but not limited to: doors, blinds, sinks, tubs, toilets, wood, clothes, computers, chairs, desk, tables, cabinets, dishes, kitchenware, electronics, etc. It’s really useful if you need some stuff for home remodeling and don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it but you also have to be patient and dig around for the gems. We got some simple stuff like plates and cups for me to keep at work but next time, I’d like to get a dresser, sand it down, and repaint and decorate it… I think it’ll be a fun project.

Afterwards, we headed to Telegraph Ave to find Intermezzo. We found the location but the restaurant has changed to Cafe Mattina but with the same menu as Intermezzo. Apparently ownership had changed and the name changed in December.

I ordered my favorite combo of half a green salad with poppy seed dressing and half a chicken salad sandwich. Plus a strawberry lemonade with free refills (the cashier was kind enough to let me know refills were free so that I didn’t have to order the large size). Lots of strawberry and lemon pulp in their strawberry lemonade, a good thirst quencher.

The salad seemed a bit smaller and the dressing a bit thinner but overall, still the same. It was missing the extra chunk of bread though that comes with the salad.

The chicken salad sandwich was thick with filling but the bread sliced thinner than usual. It’s still sufficiently too large to fit the entire sandwich into your mouth for a full bite but I remember it being at least 1cm thicker. Ron didn’t like this as much because it was too sweet, not enough dijon mustard is my guess.

After lunch, I went for a little walk on Telegraph and was sad to see how many of the stores that have changed. The Gap is now a Walgreens. Bath & Body Works is now American Apparel. The hair salon was closed. There’s a Subway Sandwich in one of the cafes. There was a Beard Papa’s on the corner. A lot has changed in the 9 years since graduation.

But some things remain the same, like Sather Gate (apparently newly restored). Beautiful weather at Sproul Plaza today.

After some additional shopping on Bancroft Ave, I met up with Ron at Caffe Strada. I ordered the drink that got me started drinking coffee: Strada Bianca Mocha topped with a dollop of whipped cream. I loved it back then but I think it’s too sweet for my taste now… but made me very nostalgic.

Good ol’ Berkeley. We bought Zachary’s Pizza for dinner to top off a great day. Yum yum. Order for pick-up, it’s the best choice if you don’t want to wait for a table.

Can’t wait for the next visit to Berkeley…

Urban Ore
900 Murray St

Cafe Mattina
2442 Telegraph Ave

Caffe Strada
2300 College Ave

Zachary’s Pizza
5801 College Ave

Lazy Sunday

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Spent a relaxing Sunday at home after just going out for lunch. Thought I’d take a break from eating my way through San Francisco and let Ron catch up on work.

In the morning, we shared the croissant we got from Tartine yesterday. We toasted it in the toaster oven so it got a little burnt on top. It was super buttery but oh so good.

Also, I got the new camera Ron bought for me so hopefully my pictures will be a whole lot better from now on. My new camera is the Canon PowerShot SD960 IS in the lovely blue color. Check out BeachCamera.com!

So new picture of the kitties:

For lunch, we went to Hai Ky Mi Gia in the Tenderloin. I ordered the Beef Stew Ho Fun Soup.

It came with lots of tendons (which I love) and beef. A strong tomato-like flavor and a bit oily but overall not too bad. Not sure I like the neighborhood though.