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Hello there! We're just back from an awesome vacation to San Francisco :) Ready to hear all about it???
We landed in Oakland Saturday evening, took the metro to San Francisco, and checked into our hotel- The Opal. Then, we went back to the metro and headed over to Berkley because John made us dinner reservations at some crazy fancy restaurant called Chez Pannisse. Here's a crummy picture of the restaurant from the outside:
You can't tell from the picture, but it was a very cool building. We ate upstairs in the cafe, where you can order from a menu rather than be served a million course meal of the chef's choosing, which is apparently what happens downstairs. I had a beet and avocado salad, which was so fancy I never would have known what it was if I hadn't ordered it, and John had some chicken thingy. We also had some excellent champagne, coffee, tea, and a tangerine and date dish for dessert. The food was delicious! After dinner we walked around the Berkley campus for a while. Here's a blurry picture of a campus building:
We didn't get back to the hotel until around 1am; I was exhausted and went straight to bed.
The next morning we woke up early and headed out to explore the city. The weather was gorgeous, I can't believe how sunny it was. We walked up some amazingly brutal hills, saw some beautiful views, enjoyed the San Francisco architecture, and watched the cable cars. Here are a few pictures:
At one point during our walk we were able to see Alcatraz Island out in the bay. It was much closer to the mainland than I thought it would be:
We eventually made our way to Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in America":
Next we went down to the piers and Fisherman's Wharf. We wandered around the waterfront and climbed onto the Balclutha, a cargo ship built in 1886:
After lunch at a seafood place on the pier we walked West toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped in the Exploratorium, a hands on science museum with lots of fun exhibits (mostly for kids). Here we are inside a "human kalidescope":
After spending some time in the museum we continued walking toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We didn't get all the way to the bridge, but the walk along the shore was really beautiful:
Eventually we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. Later that night we had dinner and just relaxed. According to Gmaps Pedometer we walked 12 miles that day!
The next morning we slept in till about 9am, which is late for me, then walked over to Chinatown. Prior to this trip I'd seen the Chinatowns of DC, Seattle, and Portland, but those all pale in comparision to San Francisco's. We walked up Grant Street, which is kind of a main drag with lots of touristy shops and restaurants, admiring the cool buildings and decorations. It's obvious that the residents and business owners of Chinatown put a lot of effort into the area:
While Grant St. had the coolest buildings, the millions of little side streets seemed to be where the actual residents hung out, buying groceries, or sitting huddled together in gender segregated groups, playing cards on an overturned cardboard box.
From Chinatown we wandered into North Beach, an area I remember reading about in Beat Literature. We went in the famous City Lights Bookstore, started in 1953 by beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. City Lights was the first all-paperback bookstore in America, and was a hangout for beat authors. In 1956 Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems, which led to a huge obscenity trial.
Next we walked to Telegraph Hill to see Coit Tower. Along the way we stopped at a grocery store and bought some bread and grapes, and John got some goat cheese. We sat in the park beneath Coit Tower and had a little lunch before going to the top of the tower to check out the view:
After leaving Telegraph Hill we walked back through North Beach and Chinatown and stopped in the Cable Car Barn and Museum. This is where engines wind the huge wheels that pull underground cables, enabling cable cars to move along the streets. The museum also had some historic street cars on display, and other cable car paraphernalia:
Our next stop was Mission Dolores, the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. The Mission was founded in 1776 and dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi (which is how San Francisco got it's name). Also, the Mission was featured in that Hitchcock movie, Vertigo, which personally I am not a fan of.
After seeing Mission Dolores we walked over to the Castro District, which is well known as the center of San Francisco's gay counterculture. We walked down Castro Street, got some food, and went in a few stores. The area was not nearly as flamboyant as I thought it would be- personally I don't think it has anything on Seattle's Capitol Hill :)
That evening John and I met up with Janna and Joe, friends from good ole St. Mary's College of Maryland. We met at a restaurant in between our hotel and their apartment, and sat around talking for a long time. Afterwards we walked over to Union Square to see the Christmas decorations. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we got to hang out:
So the next day was Christmas, which was very exciting. John and I left the hotel around 10:30am and headed out to Golden Gate Park. It was a very nice walk and took us through the Haight-Ashbury District, the center of the hippie movement in the 1960s. We walked up Haight Street, looked at all the little hippie stores (which were closed b/c it was Christmas), and had brunch in a crowded diner at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. The area was really cool- very colorful and friendly.
From there we went into Golden Gate Park, which is absolutely enormous. The park was packed with families and we had a lot of fun wandering around. We probably only saw about 1/4th of the park, but here are some pictures:
After spending time in the park we headed back to the hotel, hung out for a while, had sushi for dinner, then went to the movies. We saw "No Country For Old Men" in the biggest movie theater I've ever seen- it was 6 stories high! This was a big treat for us, we never see movies in the theater, and I really enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to us :)
The next morning we woke up early, packed, then went out for one last walk around the city. We walked up to North Beach then to the pier, then back through Chinatown. Unfortunately it was then time to head back to Oakland and fly back to Seattle. Now I'm sitting in my apartment, wrapped in a sweater and blanket, listening to the rain that will inevitably continue for the next 4 months.
EUREKA, it was a perfect vacation.
We landed in Oakland Saturday evening, took the metro to San Francisco, and checked into our hotel- The Opal. Then, we went back to the metro and headed over to Berkley because John made us dinner reservations at some crazy fancy restaurant called Chez Pannisse. Here's a crummy picture of the restaurant from the outside:
You can't tell from the picture, but it was a very cool building. We ate upstairs in the cafe, where you can order from a menu rather than be served a million course meal of the chef's choosing, which is apparently what happens downstairs. I had a beet and avocado salad, which was so fancy I never would have known what it was if I hadn't ordered it, and John had some chicken thingy. We also had some excellent champagne, coffee, tea, and a tangerine and date dish for dessert. The food was delicious! After dinner we walked around the Berkley campus for a while. Here's a blurry picture of a campus building:
We didn't get back to the hotel until around 1am; I was exhausted and went straight to bed.
The next morning we woke up early and headed out to explore the city. The weather was gorgeous, I can't believe how sunny it was. We walked up some amazingly brutal hills, saw some beautiful views, enjoyed the San Francisco architecture, and watched the cable cars. Here are a few pictures:
At one point during our walk we were able to see Alcatraz Island out in the bay. It was much closer to the mainland than I thought it would be:
We eventually made our way to Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in America":
Next we went down to the piers and Fisherman's Wharf. We wandered around the waterfront and climbed onto the Balclutha, a cargo ship built in 1886:
After lunch at a seafood place on the pier we walked West toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped in the Exploratorium, a hands on science museum with lots of fun exhibits (mostly for kids). Here we are inside a "human kalidescope":
After spending some time in the museum we continued walking toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We didn't get all the way to the bridge, but the walk along the shore was really beautiful:
Eventually we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. Later that night we had dinner and just relaxed. According to Gmaps Pedometer we walked 12 miles that day!
The next morning we slept in till about 9am, which is late for me, then walked over to Chinatown. Prior to this trip I'd seen the Chinatowns of DC, Seattle, and Portland, but those all pale in comparision to San Francisco's. We walked up Grant Street, which is kind of a main drag with lots of touristy shops and restaurants, admiring the cool buildings and decorations. It's obvious that the residents and business owners of Chinatown put a lot of effort into the area:
While Grant St. had the coolest buildings, the millions of little side streets seemed to be where the actual residents hung out, buying groceries, or sitting huddled together in gender segregated groups, playing cards on an overturned cardboard box.
From Chinatown we wandered into North Beach, an area I remember reading about in Beat Literature. We went in the famous City Lights Bookstore, started in 1953 by beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. City Lights was the first all-paperback bookstore in America, and was a hangout for beat authors. In 1956 Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems, which led to a huge obscenity trial.
Next we walked to Telegraph Hill to see Coit Tower. Along the way we stopped at a grocery store and bought some bread and grapes, and John got some goat cheese. We sat in the park beneath Coit Tower and had a little lunch before going to the top of the tower to check out the view:
After leaving Telegraph Hill we walked back through North Beach and Chinatown and stopped in the Cable Car Barn and Museum. This is where engines wind the huge wheels that pull underground cables, enabling cable cars to move along the streets. The museum also had some historic street cars on display, and other cable car paraphernalia:
Our next stop was Mission Dolores, the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. The Mission was founded in 1776 and dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi (which is how San Francisco got it's name). Also, the Mission was featured in that Hitchcock movie, Vertigo, which personally I am not a fan of.
After seeing Mission Dolores we walked over to the Castro District, which is well known as the center of San Francisco's gay counterculture. We walked down Castro Street, got some food, and went in a few stores. The area was not nearly as flamboyant as I thought it would be- personally I don't think it has anything on Seattle's Capitol Hill :)
That evening John and I met up with Janna and Joe, friends from good ole St. Mary's College of Maryland. We met at a restaurant in between our hotel and their apartment, and sat around talking for a long time. Afterwards we walked over to Union Square to see the Christmas decorations. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we got to hang out:
So the next day was Christmas, which was very exciting. John and I left the hotel around 10:30am and headed out to Golden Gate Park. It was a very nice walk and took us through the Haight-Ashbury District, the center of the hippie movement in the 1960s. We walked up Haight Street, looked at all the little hippie stores (which were closed b/c it was Christmas), and had brunch in a crowded diner at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. The area was really cool- very colorful and friendly.
From there we went into Golden Gate Park, which is absolutely enormous. The park was packed with families and we had a lot of fun wandering around. We probably only saw about 1/4th of the park, but here are some pictures:
After spending time in the park we headed back to the hotel, hung out for a while, had sushi for dinner, then went to the movies. We saw "No Country For Old Men" in the biggest movie theater I've ever seen- it was 6 stories high! This was a big treat for us, we never see movies in the theater, and I really enjoyed it. Merry Christmas to us :)
The next morning we woke up early, packed, then went out for one last walk around the city. We walked up to North Beach then to the pier, then back through Chinatown. Unfortunately it was then time to head back to Oakland and fly back to Seattle. Now I'm sitting in my apartment, wrapped in a sweater and blanket, listening to the rain that will inevitably continue for the next 4 months.
EUREKA, it was a perfect vacation.
