japan in san fran?

it was our last day in the city- and we all had an agenda of our own. it was tough to decide, but here is what happened:

for starters, we had heard that all events at golden gate park were half off for one day only. hoping to score cheaper admission to the aquarium, natural history museum and all the other cool points of interest, we hurried over to the park early. well- we weren't the only ones hoping to cash in. the park was PACKED. the line to the aquarium stretched farther than you would ever believe and there was actually an official standing at the end of the line telling all people who were crazy enough to get into the line that there was no chance of them making to the front before the aquarium closed (which was HOURS and HOURS away...).

that was a little disheartening.

but we decided to make the most of our time and chose to tour the japanese tea gardens instead.

it was fun to see all the pagodas, cool garden pieces and beautiful landscape. those japanese sure are regular green thumbs...


i really felt like i was back in japan for a minute. as great as the sights all were, we soon found ourselves freezing cold and ready to split. all of the vans had a different place they wanted to go (which is the tough part about traveling with 25 people) so we all took off in search of more sights.

i was still in such a japanesey mood so we decided to check out japantown. I LOVED IT. to me, this is a must see in san francisco. first of all, the entire cultural center is indoors- what a relief for our frozen bones. inside are tons of yummy restaurants, interesting shops, hyakuen stores and japanese people a plenty. i was in heaven. we ate yaku niku, bought all sorts of cool stationary (which is something i loved buying in japan), loaded up on hichew and melon pan, did a couple of overpriced purikura photos and literally ran from store to store to oogle over all the cute things they had for sale. i was too busy shopping and giggling to even take out my camera. thus, no photos of the magical place.

late that night we celebrated lori's birthday in the hotel room complete with cake and presents. we were all so pooped that no pictures were taken... but trust me, it was great.

after three, jam-packed days in the city- it was time to get some fresh air... and see some giant trees...