Ms. Hen reviews San Francisco

San Francisco, California

Ms. Hen and The Golden Gate Bridge

Ms. Hen recently went on a vacation to San Francisco. She doesn’t travel as often as she would like, but she tries to go on a trip once a year to a place she’s never been. She chose San Francisco this time because she’s heard it’s a beautiful city, and she had never been to California. She had the idea that it would be similar to Boston, but on the West coast.

Ms. Hen had some downtime at work before her trip, so she investigated the map of San Francisco to find cool things to visit. For her first day, she went on a meandering journey around Chinatown and North Beach, which were within walking distance of her hotel. She went on a mission to find the first Buddhist temple in the United States, the Tin How Temple. She found it, but got there a half hour before it opened, so she killed some time in a Chinese bakery and drank an iced tea and ate a bean roll. She thought being in that bakery was not that different from being at home, since the suburb where she lives has one of the highest Asian populations in Boston. She went to the temple, and it was charming; the morning light shone through and she observed bowls of fruit and incense sticks readying for the day of prayer. Photos are not allowed at this temple, which Ms. Hen understood. Red cards hang from the ceiling, which are prayers made during the New Year for the rest of the year.

After the temple Ms. Hen went on a hunt for the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, which was the first fortune cookie factory in the United States. Her map did not direct her in the right place, but she found it in a small alley. The factory was open and women were pressing cookies into machines. Someone handed her a sample of a fresh cookie that was flat like a quarter. It was delicious! There were cookies for sale, and T-shirts, but Ms. Hen didn’t buy any cookies because she thought she would have a hard time carrying them home.

A festival was happening in Chinatown the day Ms. Hen was there. She doesn’t like crowds, especially when she is traveling, because she feels like a target when she doesn’t know where she’s going. She found her way to the famous City Lights Bookstore, which was started by Lawrence Ferlingetti, the Beat poet. She wandered through the bookstore, and bought a book and a T-shirt.

After her visit to the bookstore, Ms. Hen went to the Beat Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the Beat writers of the 50s and 60s era. Ms. Hen liked the museum, and spent time watching the film inside, but you can read her review of BIG SUR to find out her conclusion about the Beat writers and their lack of female involvement.

Ms. Hen did a lot in one day. After her tourist adventures, she had lunch at The Stinking Rose, a restaurant that serves everything with garlic. She had barbecue chicken pizza, because as a hen, she loves chicken, and it was a big pizza, but she left some crust on the plate. Ms. Hen loved the restaurant and the food, but she ate a lot! But she was on vacation, so she allowed herself that.

Ms. Hen at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

On the Tuesday Ms. Hen was there, she decided to go to two art museums, the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. She decided to take the Muni light rail, and had a difficult time knowing her location on the train. There were no announcements, and no signs outside at the station. She discovered she could look at her phone, and it told her where she was. She got off the train and went to Golden Gate Park, where the de Young museum is located. She stepped into the Japanese Tea Garden first, which was lovely and peaceful. It contains a café, but Ms. Hen didn’t want any tea at that time, but she sat down and looked at the pond. The de Young Museum is beautiful and had an exhibit about war propaganda, and also a lot of Mayan and Incan artifacts. She walked a long way to get to the Legion of Honor. Ms. Hen thought that was beautiful, but by the time she got there, she was hungry and needed caffeine. She had a surprisingly delicious salad with chicken in the restaurant. The Legion of Honor has a large collection of Rodin. Ms. Hen didn’t feel like dealing with the public transportation going back to the hotel, so she took an Uber, which she does not usually do.

The Thinker by Rodin in front of the Legion of Honor Museum

There are a lot of homeless people in San Francisco. One of the tour guides on a tour she went on said there are 10,000 homeless in the city. To Ms. Hen, they seemed more unstable than the ones she sees in Boston. It made her sad to see so many people like that, but she knows she can’t help everyone. A person who knows about traveling told Ms. Hen that some homeless people move there because of the nice weather.

Ms. Hen rode the cable car from Powell Street to Fisherman’s Wharf to go to the tourist area to buy souvenirs and see the sea lions on Pier 39. She thought they were cute! She was not impressed with Pier 39, because she though it was just like Quincy Market in Boston, a big tourist trap. She had salmon for lunch at Ciopinno's that was scrumptious.

Ms. Hen with Alcatraz in the background at Fisherman's Wharf

Ms. Hen spent six nights in San Francisco. She felt safe in the city by herself, even though she stayed downtown, which is not the best area. She thinks it is similar to Boston in the way that it’s crowded and full of tourists, and there are lots of things to see. She’s happy she went because she thought the city was fantastic. She loves to see different parts of the world, and is not afraid to go by herself. Some people don’t understand why she does this, but she thinks she has to travel to prove that she can survive in the wide world, and come back safely.