Morphy Visit: Day 7 - On the Waterfront

Many visitors to San Francisco see not much more than the tourist frenzy that is Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. This area is filled with hotels, restaurants, and cheap souvenir shops and is perpetually crowded with tourists, buses, buskers, and street 'artists'. Despite the fact that it is a completely unauthentic San Francisco experience, tourists continue to flock there and some end up spending their entire visit there without even a glimpse of the real San Francisco.
Seven days into your Canadian family's visit, Rai, we finally had a full day in San Francisco. Naturally, we decided to spend the day at Fisherman's Wharf. Actually, the plan was to 'follow the tourist trail' which involves following the waterfront from the Palace of Fine Arts to the Ferry Building downtown, passing Fisherman's Wharf, Little Italy, and Chinatown on the way. Fisherman's Wharf was to be a quick 15 minute walk by in our itinerary for the day but ended up taking up most of the afternoon. Why? Because the kids couldn't get enough of all those tourist traps and it was so enjoyable watching them have such a good time.
Every street performer, every knick knack stand on the street, every tacky statue or cut out with faces was an attraction as Lauren and Connor examined each carefully, laughed and ran around happily. Even the 'authentic' Italian restaurant that served spaghetti with butter was a huge hit with the kids!
It was a great first day in San Francisco as we did the whirlwind tour of downtown San Francisco as we followed the piers along the waterfront, ate chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, walked the historic boat pier, saw the seals at Pier 39, watched a handful of street performances, had that Italian feast, and enjoyed fabulous views of the Bay the entire time. It's great fun being a tourist in San Francisco and even you, little Rai, enjoyed every moment of it!