2016-02-20 - Full Day in San Francisco
My friend, brother, and I started the day taking a BART train to the Exploratorium. I had been there once before and wanted to show it to them. We spent 2.5 hours exploring the family-friendly science exhibits. Playing the card games was a lot of fun. One involved each player picking out four picture cards out of the same deck of cards to match up to a theme like cooperation or dilemma. When we picked different cards, it sometimes led to an interesting realization about each other, a photo of a baby for "Selfishness" for example. I led them to the outside Camera Obscura with a wonderful view of the Bay Bridge before we had to leave. My friend's favorite part of the museum was a video of a cockatoo dancing to music.
Our next adventure was a 1.5 hour walking tour about Silent Films led by City Guides. It was a very informative walk but none of us were super passionate about the topic. I found the story of Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle the most interesting. A wildly popular entertainer, he was charged with rape and manslaughter with very circumstantial evidence by an ambitious D.A.. He was acquitted after two hung juries but with a ruined reputation, it was not until 10 years later that he could act again under his own name. Sadly, he died of a heart attack celebrating after finally signing a contract to make a feature film.
The Chinese New Year Parade was next on our schedule. We staked out our own piece of sidewalk outside of McDonalds and sat in wait of the parade. The entire thing lasted about 3 hours and involved a hundred acts by schools, politicians, models, and sponsors. Some acts were a lot better than others and some involving young kids were a lot cuter. I found the lion dances, martial artists, and dragons to be quite entertaining. The entire thing ended with a giant Golden Dragon made in China that took 100 people to manage.
It was really dark and cold by the time the parade ended. We had Japanese food for dinner. My brother and I ordered noodles while my friend ate edamame and drank sake. I remarked on how Japanese that seemed, something I imagine samurai would do. On the way back to San Bruno, we got on the wrong train and ended in Daly City by mistake. We missed the San Bruno train there and waited for the next one. We almost missed our San Bruno stop too but eventually we made it back. It was a great day.