Today was a rest day, and our first day staying somewhere with more than one food option. Heck, there were even several exclusively vegetarian options.
We started our stay in Oakland where we had an Airbnb with the most important task of all, laundry. When you are camping every night you have to resort to cleaning your clothes in the shower or in a dry bag. It’s not super effective. But the place in Oakland had laundry included.
In the morning we ventured out into the city and Lisa started the day right with an enormous English muffin for breakfast.
Because an English muffin really isn’t enough for breakfast we next stopped at Tartine. Tartine is a famous bakery, and the line out the door proved it.
Second breakfast.
After our second breakfast we set off for the Mission District. We visited the mission San Francisco de Asis, the city’s oldest standing building. It was built in the late 18th century when California was a Spanish colony. The building hosts a small chapel, museum, and burial ground, all next to a basilica.
Our next stop was Rainbow Grocery. A sort of Mecca for bulk bin buyers and the crunchy granola set of foodstuff foragers.
Lisa agog at the selection.
Lucky for us they had many flavors of kombucha.
After lunch, we headed in the direction of City Lights Books, Ferlinghetti’s old bookstore and home to West Coast literary luminaries since the 50’s. Their non-fiction section was matched only by their poetry section. Unfortunately for us we have no room in our panniers for books.
We finished the night with a meal of dim-sum at a small restaurant in Chinatown. We had some excellent dumplings and the best fried tofu we’ve ever had.
We also grabbed a little ice cream on our way back into Oakland because we need to carb up for our ride tomorrow.
