Breakfast
Vacation Day 6 (Thursday!) started out with the typical s’bux ritual: Iced coffee and a maple scone.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Then we again hopped on the F line street cars and headed to Pier 39 on the Embarcadero. One of the first things we saw were the famous sea lions who’ve been lounging around here since the 1989 earthquake.
They have quite the personality! They bark at one another, push each other off the docks – they’re quite amusing to watch.
Bay Aquarium
While at Pier 39, we also visited the Bay Aquarium. It was a nice aquarium, but one of the smaller-scale ones I’ve visited. All the staff we encountered were very friendly.
We did watch a 30 minute shark feeding presentation in this tunnel which was very cool.
The sharks are only fed twice per week (which is considered well-fed, since sharks have a slow metabolism), by scuba divers who hop in the tank with baskets of fish. The divers hold long poles out in front of the sharks as they swim by, with whole fish attached to the end. I was surprised by how uninterested the sharks were in the fish! The divers practically had to force the fish into the sharks’ mouths, and often the sharks would then drop the fish from their mouths.
We also saw kissing froggies and a pair of chinchillas, to which I took a liking.
After the aquarium, we wandered around, looking for a place to have lunch.
Seafood Lunch
We ended up eating at Pier Market Seafood Restaurant in Fisherman’s Wharf. Tom ordered steamed clams in butter and white wine sauce. I was brave and ate two!
Apparently Pier Market’s Clam Chowder is “award-winning,” so I figured I should try it out, and ordered this clam chowder in a bread bowl with a baby greens salad on the side. The salad was nice and fresh (homemade croutons and honey mustard dressing), and the clam chowder was awesome! There was no way I could eat this entire bread bowl, but I did have a go at the insides of the bowl with a spoon as if I were cleaning out a pumpkin at Halloween. Mmm – all that yummy bread!
The huz ordered fish and chips.
Wax Museum
After lunch we visited the Wax Museum. Guess who was featured in the first exhibit??!! After walking down a winding set of ornate stairs illuminated by grand crystal chandaliers, to the tune of My Heart Will Go On – LEO! Gotta luv him. :: swoon ::
The late, lovely Princess Di, and a collection of artists, including Beethoven, Mozart, Shakespeare, and the like.
I was delighted to see two of my favorites – together! Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud! Much of my college education was based around these two individuals.
The Wizard of Oz exhibit was also well done.
There was also a set of exhibits featuring paintings brought to “life,” at least in the form of wax figures, that was very cool, including the painting of Mona Lisa and a Norman Rockwell self-portrait.
Men of Hollywood. Tom Cruise looked the most real!
The Wax Museum was a lot of fun – I’m a sucker for these things. I think I liked the Las Vegas version a bit better, since guests are allowed to pose with the fax figures, which makes for excellent entertainment… Like this:
…Tee hee hee.
After strolling around the wharf for a bit longer, we headed back to Union Square to see Water For Elephants at the movie theater. I just finished reading the book on my iPhone Kindle app (like, I literally read the last 20 pages before we left for the theater!) and was excited to see the movie! I really did like the movie, but obviously, and as always, the book was better. I wasn’t super-impressed by Robert Pattison playing the role of Jacob, but I do think Reese Witherspoon made a great Marlena.
Thai Dinner
For dinner we originally had burger plans, but after a walk-by of the burger joint, we decided it was a bit too “sketch,” so we instead tried out a Thai restaurant called Ar Roi, which was filled with several people (always a good sign!) and looked inviting inside.
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We started with an order of “Pla Murk Tod,” golden fried calamari with a sweet and sour sauce. Of course it was good.
The huz wanted to order a barbequed half chicken, but was informed by our server that this dish was unavailable, and her suggestion instead was a barbequed prawns and chicken dish, which he agreed to. I tried a bite of chicken and of a prawn, and they had a great grilled flavor, but the spices were a bit odd to me.
For my dinner, I ordered “Pad Priew Warn – thai style sweet and sour sliced chicken sautéed with bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, pineapple and onions.” I absolutely loved this, it was divine, and I shared some with the huz. It was chock full of veggies (which I love!) and the sauce was similar to your typical Chinese sweet and sour sauce, except with a bit more exotic depth of flavor.
What is your favorite Thai dish? …I’m still learning my way around Thai menus!
