I wanted to sit and blog at the Starbucks Coffee Shop on the corner of Grant Avenue and Bush Street. But all the seats were taken. So, I decided to have an early start on my trip to Fisherman's Wharf via Cable Car.
As I walked down Grant Avenue, guess who I ran into? Yep, the Buddhist nun was coming up the street. She was dressed in a gray jacket and pants today; she was dressed in black yesterday and the day before. She and I smiled at and greeted each other.
From Grant Avenue, I turned right on Geary Street because I thought I saw a Chinese buffet restaurant here last year. I didn't see any. I turned left on Stockton Street to get to O'Farrell Street because, maybe, that was where I saw the buffet restaurant. When I got to O'Farrell from Stockton, I turned left until I was close to Grant Avenue again and realized that there was no Chinese buffet restaurant to be found in that vicinity. I turned around and walked until I got to Powell Street where I turned left to go to the Cable Car passenger waiting area.
This is the Burger King Restaurant that I ate at last night.
The Burger King Restaurant, above, is near where people, local and tourists alike, get on or off the Cable Cars that go to and come back from Fisherman's Wharf. There was a long line of people waiting for the next Cable Car. In front of me was an elderly Chinese couple. I asked them if they knew how much the fare was. The lady couldn't answer me; her husband said, "I don't speak English." Yet, I understood him well--he didn't sound like he had an accent!!! Oh, well ....
It costs $6.00 for a one-way trip on a Cable Car, I soon found out. The photo of the Cable Car below is that of the one that I disembarked from, near Fisherman's Wharf. It is on the corner of Taylor and Francisco Streets.
There were two amphibious trucks parked at the side of the street, the "Ride The Ducks" tour trucks. I've got to check this out someday.
Below is the Fisherman's Wharf Ferry Terminal. The Vallejo ferry actually comes to port here, something I should consider when I decide to visit the wharf again.
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This is a faraway view of Alcatraz Island from the wharf:
Below is the entrance to Pier 45:
I've never seen a submarine in real life before. So, I entered Pier 45 for a close-up look at the WWII veteran, USS Pampanito. She patrolled the Pacific Ocean six times during WWII and is credited with destroying six ( 6 ) Japanese Navy Ships and damaging ( 4 ) others.
Below is a memorial in honor of the brave submariners lost at sea during WWII. Although the submariners comprised the least in both manpower and war machinery in the Armed Forces, they suffered the most losses during the war. The black object at the foot of the memorial is a torpedo, by the way.
Below, you'll see one ( 1 ) battery cell and USS Pampanito's bronze propeller. The USS Pampanito had two batteries for underwater operation. And each battery had 126 ( !!! ) cells in it. Together, the two batteries added 208,000 pounds ( !!! ) to Pampanito's weight. The propeller is 7 ft., 9 1/2 in. in size and weighs 3,084 pounds. A male tourist remarked that the bronze propeller would command a hefty price on the black market today. ( Just in case you find out in the news that people are going around stealing old bronze propellers, you read it here first. Of course, if such bad guys can carry a heavy bronze propeller around, I'd hate to be the one to try to stop them. )
The poster below reads: "80 men. 75 days. No shower. See why we're smiling."
Below is another view of the USS Pampanito.
Liberty Ships were merchant marine ships mass-produced during WWII, built and ready for service in sixty ( 60 ) days or less! It was a mass production record then, which still holds to this day! The US churned them out faster than the German U-Boats could sink them; that was the plan--and it worked! Jeremiah O'Brien made eleven ( 11 ) roundtrips from England to the Normandy beachheads during the war.
The Jeremiah O'Brien was built in South Portland, Maine, in just 56 days, with the help of "Rosie, the Riveter." And she was launched on June 19, 1943.
The Jeremiah O'Brien, named after the first American Hero during the War for Independence, is the last remaining ship from a convoy of ships that went to Normandy during WWII. Of the 6,939 armada of ships that stormed the beaches of Normandy, SS Jeremiah O'Brien was the only large ship to return to Normandy in time for the 50th Anniversary Celebration back in 1994. She also saw action in the Pacific Theatre of War.
If you do a close-up of the photo below, you'll see to the right of the red lifesaver a painting on the gun turret of a topless lady. And, yes, she has erect nipples. Hey, it was chilly out today! Ha, ha, ha.
The poster below talks about how the SS Jeremiah O'Brien was retired and sent to the Mothball Fleet in the Suisun Bay of Benicia, CA. She sat there for decades and was saved from the scrap heap when she was turned into a WWII Floating Museum.
The poster below talks about the important role of SS Jeremiah O'Brien as a supply ship for the Allies in the Normandy campaign.
The poster below talks about SS Jeremiah O'Brien's new function as a floating museum and as a tour boat at certain times of the year.
The photo below shows the top part of the gang plank attached to the deck.
Below is a scale model representation of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien's sections. I actually thought that it was just a bench for tourists to sit on!
Do you remember the movie, TITANIC ( 1997 ), with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in it? Well, the ship engine shown in that movie is actually that of SS Jeremiah O'Brien's.
The two boards below show USS Pampanito's Battle Flag on the left and an explanation for how a submarine floats and submerges on the right.
The boards below lists all 56 submarines lost at sea during WWII on the left and shows the main parts of a submarine on the right.
I couldn't afford either of the above tours because I didn't bring enough money with me. So, I just enjoyed the free sights of both ships. Next, I went to Musee Mecanique to look at old arcade games. Funny, they have a picture posted on the front and rear doors with a man pointing at the restaurant across the street, Chowder Hut Grill, and a caption saying that the restrooms are behind that building. Of course, I went there--I had to!
Below is a photo of Fisherman's Wharf's Ferry Terminal in the background. In the foreground is the dining area of Chowder Hut Grill.
This was what I ordered for lunch: Spicy Fried Fish Sandwich w/ a side of Fries and a 23.6 oz bottle of Crystal Geyser, all for the price of $12.48 ( for this price, I could have eaten lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant ). I ordered this meal because it didn't have any dairy in it that could possibly upset my stomach like the burger that I ate last night.
While I was eating my lunch, I saw a pigeon limping around because something was wrong with its right claw which was held in the closed position. Even though a sign read: "Don't Feed The Pigeons", I took pity on it and threw a French Fry near it. It flew to fetch the French Fry before a flock of other birds ( i.e. pigeons, crows and sea gulls ) could get to it. And there was a swarm of birds that came swooping down to the floor by my left foot! And that is probably how the restaurant workers can tell who has been feeding the birds and making the "feathered nuisances" poop all over their food establishment. Oops, sorry .... My bad!
Having learned my lesson, I went back to eating my lunch. And the limping pigeon kept walking back and forth, back and forth, trying to get my attention and my sympathy once more. Meanwhile, a scrawny crow was just standing there looking at me, expecting some freebie, too!
After I finished my lunch, I took this photo of Musee Mecanique:
I took a photo of Chowder Hut Grill on my way back to the Cable Car Stop.
At the intersection of Taylor and Jefferson Streets, as I waited for the stoplight to turn green, I looked to my right and saw Joe's Crab Shack ( shown below ). Aah! this was the first thing that I went looking for the moment that I arrived here at Fisherman's Wharf. And I just had to discover it after I had lunch! Ooh, that made me so mad. Well, at least I now know where it is at. This will be my main objective the next time that I come visit Fisherman's Wharf--whenever that will be ( the last time that I was here was in 1994 ). Hopefully, a Chinese buffet restaurant will have taken over the location by then---LOL
I stopped at Oriental House Gifts and Silksware ( Is this even a word? ) because they seemed to have plenty of personalized California bicycle nameplates. I looked for my name but couldn't find it. A store clerk told me that they have more nameplates in the back of the store. And she handed me a list of names that are not on the spinner rack. My name wasn't even on that list even though I was named after one of the most famous men in military history! Go figure ....
Below is the intersection of Taylor and Bay Streets where a Cable Car is shown waiting to take passengers back to Powell and Market Streets.
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When I got off the Cable Car, I made a right on Ellis Street from Powell Street to go looking for that Chinese buffet restaurant that I was sure I saw last year. There was no Chinese buffet on Ellis Street.
I walked up Grant Avenue on my way back to the hotel. On the corner of Geary Street sat a young woman breastfeeding her baby and begging for money. I gave her a dollar. She thanked me for my charity.
I took a photo of my hotel room's desk which has my Acer C7 Chromebook displaying my blogsite--a familiar sight by now to all of you, I hope. Right above it is my insulated lunchbag and hat resting on a shelf.
The wall-mounted hotel room TV screen by the door shows a Discovery Channel show about two men using animals to help them find oil in their own backyard. One man used a dog; the other man used a rooster. The man with the dog struck oil. "Loser, loser. Rooster dinner." Ha, ha, ha. I saw this whole episode last night, by the way, before I went to see THE SAPPHIRES.
I rested for a few hours before I went back to Far East Flea Market to buy another pick-up/reaching tool ( a blue-handled one this time ) to give to the Vallejo, CA, Selecta Pilipino Buffet Restaurant owner, as a gift since I know that he needs one. They also sell Samurai Swords at this flea market at bargain prices ( but they don't sell fleas, not even in lucite blocks ). I wanted to get a set of Samurai Swords but I'm not sure that BART Train officials would want to see me carry sharp Samurai Swords on board a train, especially during busy commute hours---Banzai!!! Ha, ha, ha.
Outside of the Far East Flea Market was a middle-aged Chinese beggar humming a loud sound as he shook a cup that he held in his right hand. I put two quarters in his cup. But the beggar neither looked up nor acknowledged my charitable act. I was offended by his irresponsible sense of entitlement!
I went to the Chinatown Food Court on the corner of Grant Avenue and California Street to have dinner. I ordered Steamed Rice with a 3-item combo of Sweet & Sour Pork, Chicken Curry and Tofu & Vegetables. And I had a 20.0 oz bottle of Deja Blue Water to go with my meal. I paid $10.48 for the whole thing.
After I ate my dinner, I went back to Eastern Bakery to buy a Puffed Pastry w/ Filling, a bag of crystallized Candy Melon and two pieces of some brown-colored sweet rice "thingy" that had to be heated first in their microwave. I paid $5.50 for everything. I ate the rice "thingy", the pastry and some of the crystallized Candy Melon as my idea of "dessert".
On my way back to the hotel, I purposely walked by the beggar. He looked up at me then as I walked by, but I just ignored him.
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