05 Apr Rainy Day Adventures in San Francisco

Written By: Tereza Cermakova

When it starts raining in San Francisco and the weather forecast doesn’t look much better for the next few days, one would like to lie in bed with a warm cup of tea and a favorite TV show or movie. But what if you’re an exchange student or just have an adventurous soul and would rather explore this amazing city and its surroundings on a rainy day? If you don’t want to run around the city all day with an umbrella, you need to find another activity. Today I want to tell you what I did in this rainy weather.

One of the rainy days, my friends and I decided to visit the San Francisco Premium Outlets, located in Dublin. In the morning, we had to take a bus downtown to get to BART. Then we took the train to Dublin and another bus took us right in front of the San Francisco Premium Outlets. The whole trip took us about 2 hours, but at least we had time to recharge enough for a full day on our feet.

San Francisco Premium Outlets has some aisles roofed and some aisles opened. However, rain is not a big obstacle, as you can quickly run to the store or under the roof. The outlet has many well-known brands with discounts, and when you’re tired, you can stop for a meal at the food court. An interesting feature for me was the robotic arm that prepared my entire drink, including whipping up the milk. After a few hours of browsing the shops and spending time with friends, we returned to our apartment tired, but with new experiences and a smile on our face.

But not everyone enjoys clothes shopping. That’s why I’d like to share another activity I did with one of my friends. Chinatown is very well known in San Francisco and it’s also huge. I believe a lot of you have also heard of Japantown, even though it is much smaller. However, it is a magical place that I can definitely recommend.

For most people, the shopping mall is probably the most interesting. It’s not that huge, but there’s something for everyone. There are shops with all sorts of little things, be it jewelry, interesting souvenirs or key chains. There are also shops selling clothes with Japanese motifs or kimonos. There are also a variety of restaurants and food stalls with delicious treats. For anime lovers, there are of course shops with anime merchandise, collectible figures and stuffed animals of all sizes. I can’t forget the shops with various gaming machines where you can try to win some prizes.

What was a surprise to me was the functioning of the running sushi. In my country, you pay a certain amount of money, then you can stay in the restaurant for an hour or two (it varies depending on the restaurant and the occupancy) and during that time you can eat as much as you want. In San Francisco, the plates have different colors to indicate prices. At the end, you then pay the amount according to the number of plates and the colors on them left in front of you. For me, it was really a surprise.

I have to say that I really enjoyed both places and since we have more rainy days ahead of us, I plan to discover new places to spend time during the rain. Next time I could visit a museum, for example. A museum would provide me with a great shelter from the rain and allow me to spend hours browsing the fascinating exhibits. Another option is to visit Alcatraz. But I’ll leave that up to my future self to decide which place she wants to visit. But for those of you who haven’t been to either the San Francisco Premium Outlets or Japantown, I can only recommend that you visit these places! You’ll have fun and see new places.