fisherman's wharf

after coit tower, we decided to walk to fisherman's wharf which is a famous tourist attraction.  i first went there in the early 90s with mummy and it was not so well developed then.  today it is a must-see on any tourist itinerary.

the name of this restaurant bubba shrimp may have come from the forest gump movie. forest gump is an interesting movie where they filmed tom hanks (who played gump) and put him into old footage of various scenes, including one where he shook hands with the former president john f. kennedy (one of the most iconic presidents because he launched the space program to put a man on the moon, and also made many stirring speeches including the one where he said, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country").  but anyway, in the movie, gump made friends with a fellow soldier in vietnam, a black man called bubba who always talked about shrimp and after the war, they went to work together on the shrimp farming business.

look!  a shop for left-handed people!  in case you are wondering what the fuss is about because none of you are left-handed, there are many things in the world that are made for the majority of us who are right-handed.  like scissors i think.  and left-handed people either can't use them or find it very difficult to.

on top, a panoramic shot of the sea in front of the wharf, and a close up of the infamous alcatraz island which used to house a prison. for many years, it maintained a proud record of having no one escaping from it - the water is very cold and you will freeze if you try to swim.  but eventually someone did.  tours there are very popular and someone in the class went to buy tickets and was told, that yes, they have tickets, but for a couple of days later.  alcatraz was featured very prominently in the movie, the rock.  it is also the location for a famous san francisco triathlon called escape from alcatraz.  i can't stand the cold, so no way will i do this one:)

the sea lions have become a big attraction here.  they make quite an interesting sound.

we walked on and then saw this street busker who was playing the blues on his guitar and he was really good.  i wish buskers back in singapore were as good.  one of the lecturers in stanford actually made a comment about the government campaign to allow buskers on the streets.  he said he spoke to a singaporean lecturer who said it was a campaign to introduce spontaneity and the stanford guy then told us that it was illogical to him to have a program trying to encourage spontaneity (like an oxymoron - two words that have opposite meanings used together e.g. pretty ugly, clearly confused).  actually he was wrong - it wasn't a campaign but a plan to have a lively or livelier street scene or atmosphere.  that's why we now have the flyer, the casinos and the shows like the lion king, and formula one.  but there are always people who are willing to believe examples that fit their mental image or stereotype of what singapore is about.  to be fair he did praise our efficiency and competency.

we had lunch here at boudin, where there is a window for you to see them making their famous sourdough bread.  do you like the alligator made of bread?:)

at boudin, you place your order at the counter and then wait to have your name called to pickup your food.  i just had the clam chowder in the bread bowl.  i could not finish the bread!  people here really can eat. or else there's just a lot of waste.  like back at schwab, there's lots of food left over everyday - but i heard there is a group of students or volunteers who distribute the leftovers to the needy.

these are the places that i recall from my first time here.  you just walk up, buy your clam chowder or whatever seafood you like and eat it standing up or on a bench somewhere.  i remember doing that with mummy back then.