Cable Cars and Chinatown

Cable Car Ride:

On our next day in the city we rode the world famous San Francisco cable cars.   There are three cable car lines in the city.  Two of the lines originate at the Fisherman's Wharf area.  These are the "Powell-Hyde" and the "Powell-Mason" lines.  Both begin their inbound run at the famous "cable car turnaround".  (that will be on another post later)

On this day we rode the "California Cable Car" which you can catch after a short walk up Market Street.  Market Street is located across from the ferry terminal building so it was really easy to get there.

On our walk up Market Street we passed lots of vendors that set up each day with their goods for sale.  There was quite an assortment of handmade items and artwork for sale. 

 

Riding the Cable Cars!  I can check this off the "Bucket List"!

 

 

 

We rode the cable car to the end of the line which passed Chinatown.  On the ride back down, we got off and walked through Chinatown.  

This was early in the morning and it was not crowded yet.  We were able to take a few pictures getting on the cable car.  Later that day the cars were so full they would not stop at the cable car stops and we would have to wait for another one to come by.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw the  Powell-Mason line (picture below) as it was crossing  the California line cable track.

 

 

Looking back down the hill on the ride up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinatown:

 

San Francisco's Chinatown is the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.   It is centered on Grant and Bush Streets.  Chinatown is 24 square blocks and is roughly 1 mile long by 1.34 miles wide.  Most of the tourists walk up and down Grant Street because that is where the cable car lets you off.  It is also the most "touristy" street because of all the Chinese souvenir shops.  After walking down Grant, we turned the corner and went down Stockton Street.  Stockton is less frequented by tourist and has a more authentic Chinese feel and look.  Stockton was more crowded with Chinese people actually going to the different markets and stores than Grant Street.   In fact, at one point I was beginning to feel uncomfortable because it was so crowded and I didn't see any other tourists.  We really did enjoy seeing the "real" Chinatown.

We passed many of their open air markets with chickens hanging in the window, or dried fish in pans or fresh fish on ice right off the sidewalks.  A few of the fish markets stunk so bad that I thought I wouldn't be able to eat fish again.

 

    

The famous Dragon Gate at the entrance to Chinatown.

 

 

 

 

One thing I really enjoyed was that it was so colorful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Chinese is that?

 

 

How much?

 

 

 

 

Not sure what I was so focused on, but it wasn't the million items in the store behind me.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say What?

 

 

 

 

These colorful tights are really popular here.  So, how many did each of you want?

 

 

 

 

These are the pictures we took while walking down Stockton Street.  You can really tell the difference between the two streets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of the fish shops that smelled really strong.