I was trying to wrap this up and realized how crazy this day was. We went hard. We last left our intrepid tourists in Little Italy. It was mid-late afternoon, early dinner time. I kept thinking there was no way we went from Little Italy to Levi’s Plaza to Pier 39 to a ride across town on the Powell & Hyde Cable Car Turnabout to Powell and Market to 54 Mint Ristorante Italiano to the hotel. It’s like packing a whole extra day of activity.
Victoria Pastry
I blame the Princess Cake. We should have gone to the hotel and ordered room service. Instead, we walked from Victoria Pastry to Beach Street. On the phone it looks like 3 blocks, actually more like TEN.
Pier 33
We hopped a street car, rode it past our destination, which was VERY closed. We then cross the street to
Levi’s Plaza
Levi’s Plaza is a very pleasant place to walk, if you are still interested in park walking. We moseyed over to
Pier 39
We messed around a bit a Pier 39. found a fancy bathroom. Then rolled over to
Lush
Lush has free handwashing. No restrooms. But I was super excited about washing my hands, because Pier 39 was so crowded, I was sure I was going to get Super Covid. I also learned about soap rests. Soap rests are things you set bar soap on so it makes a soapy mess on the soap rest and not on the the counter.
I also had a revelation, that my travel soap container was a piece of crap. Lush doesn’t sell a metal one that holds Dial Soap, so I didn’t buy anything. It wouldn’t have been any good anyway. Luckily, Mrs. JonTheBruce was able to pay off both employee’s college debt and founded a school in Africa for underprivileged children with a couple of soaps and sundries.
Powell & Hyde Cable Car Turnabout
There was a pretty long line for the Powell & Hyde Cable Car as closing time was fast approaching. They had four cars stacked up and about a 30 minute wait. The people watching was strong here.
The young teen attempting to disassemble the wrought iron fence was saving a space in line for his “grandma” with a mirror ball cane who was sitting. Luckily, we found after twenty minutes of waiting that she was saving a space for her thirty-something “son” and his partner and a baby with a stroller, the early teen’s early tween brother, AND a little girl who was in a cute dress, absolutely charming and wasn’t biologically related to any of these line cutters by a mile. Also they brought snacks, but not for everyone who was losing a spot in line, just them.
Karma
The difference between
Jon Bruce 2022
the number of people you think you can save a spot in line for
MINUS
the number of people the person in line in front of you can save a spot
EQUALS
Your Karma
I am going to spend the rest of my life trying to figure out the relationship matrix of this weird ice cream treat family unit. Not to mention the “30 something son” was sitting on “mirror ball cane grandma”‘s lap, at one point. “30 something son” also seemed to be a happy, thriving, living the best version of his life doppelganger of my cousin who took his own life several years ago. I hope everyone saves a spot in their heart for weird, mismatched line cutters. It might not make sense to anyone else, but if it works for you. Good for you.
The Mismatch Line Cutters decided to wait for the good seats on the next cable car so we got on as the sun was setting. I took a gorgeous picture of two Germans on the back the cable car with perfect light. It would have been more useful if I had taken it with their camera.
We rode for a while inside the car. The MUNI guy with the non-brake job said there was a spot up front. He was incorrect, but I bounced and surfed most of the way back. I had a hell of a good time hanging on for dear life. My phone DIED. We got off at the end of line. And some how stumbled to
54 Mint Ristorante Italiano
It was pretty good. They didn’t have any Diet Coke. Luckily, I was carrying one for just such a crisis. We had a bottle of wine and all the water. Additionally, I had the broccolini which almost killed me. I tried to swallow a piece that wasn’t all the way chewed and still stuck between my teeth. I have never had this experience before. An ungraceful self rescue. I haven’t run into broccolini in a restaurant very often. I will be better prepared for it the next time.
Uber to the hotel
We got an uber to the hotel. Mrs. JonTheBruce would like you to know that she got 17,000 steps. Which is basically a 100 miles.
Jon The Bruce 
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