FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Disaster Strikes!

We discovered by chance that entrance into the Japanese Garden was free before 10am on Wednesdays. So guess where we went! The Japanese Garden was in the Golden Gate Park, a park of around 1,017 acres. ie about 20% bigger than New York's Central Park! The Japanese Gardens was small but pretty. Although I wasn't sure if I would go if I had to pay...

We returned to our car and was greeted with the sickening sight of our rear car window smashed in. Whoever did it, did it for a bag which had nothing but water bottles and gloves. The bag itself was a good bag, ironically a pacsafe anti-theft bag! More importantly, it had our Mike Wazowski and Sully keychains, precious and much loved purchases from Walt Disney World :(

In the end, even though it was inconvenient, we were grateful that it wasn't worse. When we returned the car, we saw two other cars also with smashed windows. The staff there informed us that in summer, they can get up to 300 cars a week with smashed windows in the Bay area alone. The family before us only stopped to take a picture on their way to the airport, and returned to find their luggage and passports taken. Another lady had a gun put to her head! In the end, even with ferrying the children back to the hotel, completing paperwork, filing a police report, and replacing the rental car, only 4 hours of our day had been taken. Other than having to file a claim on our travel insurance for the items stolen, wee also incurred no charges for the car itself. After we picked up our replacement rental, it started to pour!

The family decided to give the rest of the planned activities for the day a miss. No one wanted to return back to Golden Gate Park in the rain. We followed up yesterdays' ramen with sushi which was highly satisfying.