Day 6 of our trip and we finally became ‘real tourists’, ditching 4 wheels for our 2 legs. Figuring out the public transport system (especially when buses are involved) is daunting to me, so that is one thing that I hardly look into when trip planning. Leaving that to Alfred to figure out! We chose to stay in this Noe Valley airbnb because it was conveniently close to the light rail station: J Church line which takes us straight to downtown after a 30-40min ride. It was interesting how these street cars also end up in the underground station too.

San Francisco is often associated with eating clam chowder out of sour dough bread bowls on the pier – so that was one of our top must-do’s. We decided that shall be our brunch for the first day. There are a few Boudin Branches along the wharf, I wasn’t too sure which stop we were meant to get off at. There looked like there was a bit to see at Pier 39 so we got off there. Found a Boudin cafe but it wasn’t the branch I had in mind (which was actually at Fishermans Wharf – next stop!)., surely its all the same anyway.

I don’t think I’ve ever had clam chowder before so didn’t have anything else to compare it to but it was a pretty good first experience. We enjoyed dunking pieces of sour dough into hot creamy soup after being out in the cold, whoever came up with this idea is genius!

We weren’t sure whether people actually eat the whole bowl too, but seriously by the time you scrape every bit of the inside you’d be too full for more. We later saw bread bowls on the wharf being feasted on by seagulls. I’m not a fan of crust anyways.

They sold the chowder in cans too, I wonder how it compares to what is served? I also wonder if all the chowder is actually made else where rather than cooked fresh in store? Have to say that the seafood bits in the chowder tasted fresh and not too overcooked.

There was definitely a lot to see at Pier 39, we wandered in and out of stores most of which were novelty stores, collecting souvenir pennies whenever we spotted a machine.

Alcatraz souvenir store – which stripy shirt would you like?

‘Think Out of the Box’ was Alfred’s playground for a good 20-30mins. I’m simply not smart enough for these kind of stuff. I’ll gladly step back and be amazed at each time he solves a puzzle 😎

I wonder what time of the day this place comes alive at?

NEXT: We cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito!