Morphy Visit: Day 7 - Downtown Neighborhoods

To finish our first day in San Francisco with your family from Winnipeg, we decided to take you, Rai, into unfamiliar territory: Chinatown. Sure, you've met your Chinese great grandmother and dined at Empero Taste already, but you haven't yet had the full immersion into Chinese culture. Chinatown is just that. Having traveled around China for 3 months, we know what a Chinese market and commercial district looks like and San Francisco's Chinatown is as authentic as it gets.
To ease you into the experience, we began with some neighborhoods that you're already very familiar with. First, we went up Telegraph Hill via the lush gardens that are the Filbert Steps. We took in the views of downtown, then passed Coit Tower, and went down the other side of the hill into North Beach's Little Italy. From there, we crossed the invisible boundary that marks the fringe of Chinatown and entered a neighborhood like no other in San Francisco.
Finally, we were ready to show you a new culture, a new way of life, a plethora of sounds, smells and sights from chickens hanging in shop windows to the incense and colors of a rooftop temple. This would be an experience like no other for you Rai. We left Little Italy and walked into Chinatown. At the sight of the first Chinese streetsign, we looked into the stroller, ready to show your wide open eyes that you were now in a very different place.
But, where were your eyes? All we could find were your fingertips. Whereas you had been wide awake at the gelato shop in North Beach, you had now pulled the blanket over your head and were fast asleep. I guess you weren't as excited about travel to exotic lands as we thought you were.