I'll be honest- this was the outfit I was the most excited about wearing on my trip. It was inspired by Lauren Becall's outfit from the film Key Largo , but translated just as well to the crowded streets and alleys of Chinatown, don't you think?

Before we hopped a cable car over to Chinatown, we stopped by the Yerba Buena gardens. We were originally aiming for one of the "privately-owned public spaces" rooftop gardens*, but these gardens were only around the block from the hotel, and it was so delightful to see people out and about on in the cool, overcast morning. People were bringing their tiny children to play on the carousel, while senior citizens took leisurely walks with friends, and a day camp of school-aged kids started singing songs.

Afterwards, like I said, we got on the cable cars. The Market-Fisherman's Wharf cable car line was right by our hotel, but the lines grew to a wait of two hours or more! We skipped that in favor of the California street line, which passed right by Chinatown, and never had any wait (I'm not sure we ever saw a car that was all the way full there even, though that might have been timing.) The cable cars may have been a favorite part of our trip (oh, who's kidding. It was all our favorite part!). But there was something very exhilarating about standing up, gripping tight to a cable car pole and seeing traffic whizzing by you! Exploring the streets of Chinatown can seem very touristy at first (especially depending on the street you walk down), but there are the non-touristy parts too, and anyway, coming from an area that relies on tourism, I'd argue that there's a place for that sort of thing too. We tried our first ever Pork Buns, got all sorts of cheap souvenirs, and loved the real bustle beneath the tourism that bespoke of the sheer numbers that the most-densely populated neighborhood in America has.

We also bought some fortune cookies and there's a funny story with that- With a bag of fortune cookies in hand (to keep from any getting busted) we were  crossing the same four streets over and over, trying to find the right way to get to our next destination (Hayes Street and then the Haught, which was my favorite shopping area). After running about like chickens with our heads cut off, I made Amos stop and consult Google again. FINALLY, a clear answer. After we got on board the bus and sat down, I noticed on of the cookies had indeed broken. "You cannot travel in all directions at once," it said. How did the cookie know?

*PS Have you heard of these "privately-owned public spaces in San Francisco?"