Day 9- Duck Tour! :)

Floram and Clarisse left for Vancouver early in the morning.  It was just me and Mary, who took 2 days off so she can be with me.  To humor ourselves, we did the duck tour!  

I have always wondered what a duck tour would be like.  There was one in Singapore but I never tried it. All I know is that you get to ride a vehicle which travels both on land and water.

It turned out to be a fun ride.  Our "Captain" is a hilarious guy who gave us very interesting information as we went through the major historic streets of San Francisco (which we should reward, btw, by blowing the duck whistles every now and then). It's a great way to get an overview of the city. Our very energetic captain drove us around the Fisherman's Wharf, China Town, Ghirardelli Square, Union Square, and many other places.

And then we splashed down into the bay.  Children (and some adults) had fun driving the "duck" themselves.  We enjoyed the view of the city, the Bay Bridge and the Ballpark.  

Cape Hudson and the Bay Bridge

Lovely seals!

All in all, it was one fun, quacky ride! Then it was time for late lunch at Applebees. 

(Note: As of September 2015, the Ride the Ducks , has stopped its operation in San Francisco).

USA Day 5d- The Fisherman's Wharf

We spent the rest of the day exploring another San Francisco attractionat the waterfront: the Fisherman's Wharf,  There are a number of seafood restaurants, boats and souvenir stores in the area.  There are also different ways to explore the place : by bus, go cart, or by segway. 

Fisherman's Wharf.. weeee!

Segway tour

But first off, the hungry tourists needed to eat. We had late lunch at Alioto's, a seafood restaurant where we ordered biiiiiig crabs.  They tasted so good- and are cooked fresh.  (But then of course, crabs in the Philippines are as good, and much less expensive). 

We took a walk around the Fisherman's Wharf, checked out the stores and bought a made-in-China selfie stick, which we felt was a necessary gadget for tourists . We also had fun taking pictures with Leonardo di Caprio's wax clone at Madam Tussaud's. (He surely looked real!)

We walked to Ghirardelli Square , a shopping center across a park, which used to be a chocolate factory. We put our newly purchased selfie stick to good use. We went inside the Ghirardelli store and I went gaga over the many different kinds of chocolates they have on display.  Ghirardelli has been making and selling chocolates in the US since 1852- so their chocolates can only be one of the best.   We had a cup of chocolate drink at the Ghirardelli store. And our American citizen friends got us bags of Ghirardelli chocolates (yay!). 

We then headed to Pier 39 , where visitors get a good view of the bay and the city, eat some more and shop some more. I liked the view of the small boats ducked by the pier- I have always dreamed of owning one. It was getting dark so we hurried to buy some souvenir items and while at it, we had a blast trying on those krazy hats.  

Then,  it was time to call it a day (or so we told Mary. It was her birthday so we have planned a surprise celebration tonight for her).