capping off the "princess diaries" tour

after we'd picked up the hub and got him all unpacked and settled at the hotel, we went out for a walk along fisherman's wharf.  during our hike at sutro falls, the old lady and i had learned that there used to be an antique arcade called the musee mecanique located in the golden gate recreational area.  it got moved into the basement at the cliff house, and then eventually relocated to fisherman's wharf where it remains today.

there are displays along the walls and sprinkled throughout the space that tell a bit of the history of the musee mecanique.  i always find this stuff really interesting, although most people just walk right by in search of games to play.

a scene from "princess diaries" was filmed here when it was still located at the cliff house.  remember when mia had the queen try out the arm wrestling machine?

and then the creepy "laffing sal" machine leered at them and let out her scary ass laugh?

people back in the day found entertainment in the creepiest shit, man.

there were plenty of fun games to play, too.  there was something for everyone.

the girls liked the fighting robots.

and the hub pulled me over to check this out.  intrigued by the sign, he waited till he found me to drop a quarter in to see what the fuss was about.

it was harmless, by the way.  nothing racist or horrible - just a bunch of farting noises.  and look - an arcade version of pong!

after we'd had our fill of ancient $.25 arcade games, we walked down to pier 39 and stopped here for a warm drink:

it was all biscoff, all the time.  yesssssss.

and of course, i had to try the biscoff latte...served with what else but a 2-pack of biscoff cookies.

in the retro candy store down the street, we found a ton of crazy sodas:

remember the movie "big" with tom hanks?

later, after dinner, we headed over to ghirardelli square.

and on the way back to the hotel, found the birthplace of irish coffee.

no better way to learn some history than with food and games, right?  works for me.