US San Francisco : Pier 39 & Fisherman Wharf (Do I and Don't I?)

"Make sure you get all the itineraries sorted out and all the places we want to go planned ya ..." my wife reminded me again and again like a spoilt CD repeating itself. Well, her concern is well justified as I am one who would like pro-castinate and pushes things till the very last minute before I actually act on them.

Forcing myself, I googled for the top places and must do activities for our up and coming visit to San Francisco and checked through the various reviews from the different sites. One such apparently `must do' place is Pier 39 and Fisherman Wharf of course. However, checking on the numerous reviews written on this site left me rather uncertain as to whether I really should waste time getting there. To be honest, while it does get some rather good reviews from visitors, there were also almost an equal amount of bad ones, ranging from over crowded, too commercialized, bad food and some puts it as outright `rip-off'. It seemed that the only repeating consolation to warrant a visit is to see the sea lions who have made Pier 39 their home. It seems that this place is a darling to visitors of San Francisco but locals seemed to avoid it like a plague.

So, do I or do I not include this as a place to visit, but, hey, I am a visitor and I am a tourist and visiting San Francisco for the very first time. Why not? What could possibly be more wrong then not seeing this much hyped about place with my very own eyes. Moreover, I am a photographer. How can I visit San Francisco and not come back with at least a picture of her in my travelling album. With that, I went ahead googling for restaurants found at the Pier and hotels that I could stay within our budget and not too far from her.

Pier 39 was the first `tourist' site I went the moment I touched down in San Francisco. We found out that we could actually take a 20 to 30 minutes walk from our hotel and we did just that. Despite being summer, the breeze from the Bay can still be rather chilling. Despite all the negativity, I had one of my best shots of Pier 39 in the evening sun ...

Yes...the place is definitely crowded, mostly with tourists from all over the world. At every turn, you will bump into people taking pictures (like yours truly), looking or waiting to be seated for a meal, hunting for souvenirs or simply just being there because she is Pier 39.

But then, what would expect from her, after all, she is rated as the third most visited site in all of United States. This place is like a huge fun fair at night with all the neon lights and bright colourful carousel. I especially like the scene of the many yachts moored at the pier which made a nice composition for a picture.

 The best part of the pier of course to me, was the end of the pier where I could catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge from afar (if there is no fog) and a good view of Alcatraz, the notorious ex maximum security prison. It is true that most things here are expensive but then again, which top tourist attraction is not, but some of the best things to do here or to enjoy here is absolutely free ........which is simply to sit back, relax and enjoy the many sights and sounds that place offers ......

To avoid the crowd and savor the moment of peace and tranquility that Pier 39 still offers, I would strongly suggest getting there early in the morning before 9am. Unlike the busier times of the day and evening where almost every inch is crawling with people, you can take an unhurried walk down the pier, listening to the callings of the gliding seagulls, breathe in the chilling air of San Francisco Bay, feast your eyes on Alcatraz, uninterrupted by the constant clicking of cameras or jostling tourists posing for their travelling photo album, repeating the process again and again....and of course, take some time to watch the funny antics of the ever famous ambassadors of Pier 39, the sea lions .....

No one knows exactly why the sea lions choose K dock at Pier 39 as one of the homes but apparently, it got started with the appearance of one single sea lion after the Loma Prieta Earthquake. None were reported prior to 1989 but the number grew quickly after the arrival of that single stray sea lion which grew to a total of over 500 in a span of only 5 weeks. The numbers of sea lions at Pier 39 vary greatly from a few to thousands depending on the season. I managed to catch a glimpse of a dozen or so when I was there in July.

Be the first customer to buy some absolutely delicious cherries or strawberries dipped in chocolate....

There are plenty of cafes and restaurants here at Pier 39 and most have been reported to be expensive and where better food for better value could be found elsewhere. I would have to agree with that statement but after all, as I have stressed earlier, Pier 39 is one of the world's famous tourist attraction and I seriously don't think that the food here is ever going to be any cheaper, considering the high rental the retail shops would have to fork out annually just to be there.

I would not rate the food as bad. In fact, we love the food and the moments we have when we had our breakfast, sitting outside Eagle Cafe, with a hot cup of coffee in the cold San Francisco's morning with an occasional interruption of a stray uninvited, sometimes irritating gawking seagull and the view of Alcatraz from afar....

During our 6 days stay over at San Francisco and several visits to Pier 39, we have tried Fog Harbor Fish House and Pier Market Seafood Restaurant (both managed by the family of the late Warren Simmons who build Pier 39 in 1978), Eagle Cafe and Crab House.

Pier 39 is a result of a vision from one single man, the late Warren Simmons, a former pilot with Pan Am airlines. A visionary, risk taker and savvy businessman, he saw what Pier 39 could be from a run down unattractive site. Undeterred from various objectives and obstacles, he finally realized his dream after five long years of multiple presentations to neighborhood groups and city permit officials.

Pier 39 is located in the Fisherman Wharf district, who got her name during the Gold Rush era, when fisherman came and settled to fish for the Dungeness crab. Till today, this place still remains as the home base of San Francisco fishing fleet.

This place is famous for this guys and you must at least try once when you are here. I personally like them so much that I ordered three times, twice at Fog Harbor Fish House and once at the Crab House at Pier 39.

So, did I make the right choice to make this one of my `Must see, must visit' when I visited San Francisco? I am sure I did, despite some of the negative reviews that I have seen on her. Maybe it is because I was more than just a single visit at different times of the day, and hence I was able to see her bright and early before the tranquility that she offered a long time ago was broken by tourist crowd and her beauty as she basked in the golden sunlight as the sun sets over the San Francisco Bay as she comes alive with her neon lights and bustling restaurants....

San Francisco : Boudin Bakery (The Origin of San Francisco Sourdough?)

Long before I arrived at San Francisco, my wife has been talking about the Clam Chowders that she is going to wallop when she gets there. So did a few of our other friends who would be making their way there too.

Well, we did have our `several' (ahem) Clam Chowders at different restaurants and they were really out of this world. This is definitely something that one must try when you are in San Francisco. Now, Clam Chowder can served in a cup or a bowl, but I would strongly recommend that you try Clam Chowder in the San Francisco traditonal sourdough bread, which by itself has a story to tell....

Sourdough is a bread product made by a long fermentation using naturally occurring yeasts and lactobacilli, a bacteria that can convert lactose and other sugars to lactic acid, which in turn give the bread a mild sour taste.

It was reported that the San Francisco air somehow create a sourdough quite unique and different from those produced elsewhere and hence, the sourdough in San Francisco has become an icon of sorts to the city itself. There were several bakeries that of course claimed to have the original recipe of the sourdough in San Francisco and one of such is the Boudin Bakery.

Boudin Bakery started way back in 1849 and after going through her ups and downs is one of the larger bakery chain in San Francisco who is reputed to be still baking her sourdoughs with a portion of the `mother dough' (pre-fermented starter in the traditional bread baking process). Apparently during the great San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906, the bakers at Boudin, saved their `mother dough' in a bucket while they escaped from the fire.

We had the privilege to visit the Boudin Bakers Hall located at Fisherman Wharf, San Francisco which was opened in 2005 for one of our breakfast. This outlet covering over 26000 square foot featuring a demonstration bakery, Bakers Hall market where one could buy freshly baked breads of any shapes or sizes, Bistro Boudin, a full-service restaurant and private dining room and the Boudin Museum & Bakery Tour.

Customers queuing up to have their order taken, paid and collect their breakfast....

 Demonstration on how the breads are made. Take note of the huge alligator bread in front ...awesome!

...and not only do they make alligators, but they made teddy bears and turtles too .....isn't this cute?

Freshly baked breads being transported overhead from the bakery to the retail section for sale ....

We were there for breakfast and hence a little too early for clam chowder in their sourdough break. Instead we ordered their breakfast instead.

I ordered their sourdough French Toast set with bacon on the side.....

My wife ordered the waffles with fresh strawberries ....

Boudin has several cafes all over town including one at Pier 39 but I would strongly recommend that you visit this one located at Fisherman Wharf.

So the next time, you visit San Francisco and order your Clam Chowder, do considering it with the sourdough bread.....:)

San Francisco : Eagle Cafe, Pier 39 - Waking up to a Hearty Breakfast!

Leaving Atlanta after 5 days, we took a Delta Air and flew back west across the States to San Francisco where we will spent the next 6 days and 5 nights.

My wife have been to San Francisco some years back and this is definitely her all time favorite US city. I am excited and looking forward to see the many sights of San Francisco in particular the Golden Gate Bridge, an image that I have grown up with, the windy and hilly streets, something I remembered from the TV detective series starring a very young Michael Douglas, "The Streets of San Francisco". I wondered how many of you are `young' enough to remember this series or have even watched it. Well, I grew up with it....

I must said that San Francisco is everything I expected and more. She is definitely different from Atlanta, from the people, the streets to the weather. While Atlanta was hot, San Francisco was cool and chilly even.

Before, I start yacking about the many sights and sounds of San Francisco, which will probably take several post because each site has so much to share, I would like to share something that strikes me while I was in US.....breakfast! (since I am writing this in the morning now and having my normal double espresso as my norm)

I was surprised myself at the volume of breakfast that I can eat while I was there. Back home in Malaysia, my normal breakfast is nothing more than just a cup of double espresso, but in the States, I must said that my breakfast was nothing short of wholesome and full.

Pier 39 is probably one of the most visited sites at San Francisco. The pier itself has an interesting history of how it all started but I will save for a later post. For this post, I would like to highlight Eagle Cafe, one of the few cafes and restaurants located here that is opened for breakfast.

The setting is comfy and nice but if you dare to brave the chilly morning sea breeze, then I would strongly recommend that you sit at their balcony outside the cafe where you will have a full view of the pier, of the many yachts that are moored there as well as a full view of Alcatraz!

Imagine, sipping a hot cup of coffee in your hands, your faced slightly `frozen' by the very chilly sea breeze while seagulls glide gracefully across the pier...the silence occasionally broken by the call of the sea lions basking in the sun further out at the pier, as you take in the magnificent sight of the morning sun on the scenic San Francisco bay and the awesome sight of a golden Alcatraz in the morning sunlight.

 With a view like that, how can anyone NOT enjoy his or her breakfast and enjoyed the breakfast we certainly did, especially if the food is out of this world, well, at least to us, they were ......

I had this for my breakfast...Corned Beef Scramble Egg and what a meal. Now, I normally do not fancy scramble eggs back home and I would definitely prefer my eggs sunny side up. But I was gamed for an adventure and I was pleasantly surprised! The corn beef certainly tasted nothing like the corn beef that I used to have back in Malaysia, out of a can. On a normal day, I could not finish this even for my lunch or dinner cause the portion was huge but surprise, surprise....there was nothing left on the plate by the time I get through with it.....Price : USD14.95 before tax and tips.

Now, did I tell you that my wife could really eat when she goes on a holiday? I didn't? Well, she can and this is what she ordered - Crab Cake Benedict. The egg benedict was done just right and the crab cake, heavenly. Price : USD17.95 before tax and tips.

And when you are in the States, you really really have to have their bacon. Trust me when I said that you can never have the same back home in Malaysia. At least, we have not tasted any as such back home yet.

Sinful but simply to die for .....hehehehe. Price : USD3.95 before tax and tips.

If I eat like the way I ate in the States, I would probably put on so much more weight and I guessed I must have after this trip because everyone I met seemed to say that I have put on some weight....