A great final day in San Francisco, enjoying a hop on, hop off tour of the city in an open trolley-type bus.  We were very happy that the weather forecasters were wrong again - we had perfect weather!

The tour made a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Presidio, then we hopped off at Ghiradelli Square.  I had a Ghiradelli chocolate milkshake (at the tour guide's suggestion) that was incredibly rich, and then we poked around some of the shops.  There was a pampered pooch store which carried Hawaiian 'shirts'.  

We walked down to the wharf where I planned to buy a t-shirt we'd seen the day before... but that sidewalk store wasn't set up today.  Sorry, Alex!  Wandering around Pier 39 was fun, with lots of intriguing shops where I took a number of pictures.  We also visited the sea lions, who were crowded onto half of the platforms (where 'disagreements' seemed to keep breaking out due to the over-crowding) while other platforms were totally empty; we found it strange that none of them figured out there was empty real estate available.  

Tom and Lisa got lunch there (I was still full after my milkshake) but Tom's fish was so incredibly greasy (his hands were dripping oil) that he took it back and got clam chowder in a sourdough bowl.  Not only didn't they charge him for the new order, they refunded his money for the original meal.  He was astounded.

Back on the bus we next got off at the Embarcadero and headed for the Farmers' Market, but found a street fair first.  It was fun to wander the booths, and I bought a small watercolor of a trolley which reminded me of a picture we had when I was growing up.  I also found a booth that carried flint-knapped knives, though they were not as nice as the ones Tom makes - and that guy was very interested in getting material from Tom.  

It turned out that the farmers' market had packed up by that late in the afternoon, but we had fun cruising the food shops inside the Ferry Building.  We tasted all sorts of stuff, including chocolate from around the world.

Once back on the bus we learned all sorts of things on the last leg, including the origin of the term Sugar Daddy.  In Union Square there's a statue of woman modeled after a beautiful woman who lived in San Francisco.  A sugar baron was so taken with the statue he pursued the young woman for five years until she agreed to marry him.  She was 26 and he was 52, but the marriage seemed to work out because she was happy with the material comforts provided by her Sugar Daddy.

We had dinner in the Haight at The Sparrow.  None of us thought we were hungry, so the original plan was just to sit and visit for a bit while Tom had a beer.  We decided to nibble, and it was absolutely delicious!  I had cold avocado soup with mango (excellent!) and shared some of the roasted cauliflower with garlic and sage (absolutely decadent!) and kale/quinoa/cheese salad (scrumptious!)  It turned out to be the best meal we had here, hands down (even though I didn't think I was hungry) and we even complimented the chef and cooks (it's an open kitchen) as we were leaving.