Our 1st of...oh...about 269 photographs taken on our 5 day trip to San Fran.
Me and Mr.Man.
Like his fancy pants?
Good cause your gonna see them a-lot.
Keep reading...
Checking in. Note the smile...
This was after a beer and a bag of chips in the airport bar.
Even Burger King was closed.
Who cares. We were on Vacation!
Our first trip solo.
In 5 years.
We highly recommend it.
No plane?
No problem.
See...here it comes. It was a wee one, but it got us there.
Too bad our luggage ended up in Toronto.
Hence the fancy pants comment.
At least our hotel rocked.
Drove up about 1am.
"would you like a hygiene kit sir since your luggage has not yet arrived?"
"Yes please."
"A shave kit as well sir?"
"Yes please."
"Madam...you as well?"
"Yes thank-you."
I think they felt sorry for us as they moved us to the top floor.
We were STARVED.
A small bag of Mrs. Vicki's can only take you so far.
Room service it is. They were the BEST Quesidillias EVER.
Fresh guacamole and salsa to boot.
On my god.
I enjoyed my meal with Mr. Beiber.
Even the glasses were fancy.
It was 2 am at this point so off to dream land we went.
We awoke to a lovely sunny 22 in San Francisco. The breeze is wicked though.
We hit the Garden Court in our hotel for some breakfast.
It was breathtaking.
So rich in historical architecture and visitors. American presidents have stayed here...if you really want to read about how it fell in the quake of 1902 and how it was totally rebuilt brick by brick you can read about it HERE.
It really was spectacular.
So was breakfast.
Blueberry pancakes. THE BEST.
Mr. Man chose waffles. Hit the spot.
Our waiter took this one. He even moved the vase with the rose so it would be in the picture.
I love it.
After breakfast we headed back to the room.
It was lovely.
Mr.Man did some work...just a bit...then we hit the strip.
The Apple store.
This is the staircase inside.
That place was hopping.
HOPPING.
Everyone had an iphone in SF.
EVERYONE.
I hardly saw a blackberry. Mr.Man was not surprised.
"This is silicon valley Erin...birthplace of the iPhone."
After some more exploring we stumbled upon Macys. Not just any Macys...a Macy's Men's Store!
Five whole floors.
For Mr.Men everywhere.
We were giddy.
Usually it is just a small corner in the back...perhaps a whole floor in a major department store if you are lucky...but 5 floors!
We had fun.
He had fun.
The credit card was smoking.
After all that excitement we headed to Chinatown for some lunch.
I tried.
The fuzz nest is so distracting though isn't it.
It was a something to be seen.
No not Mr.Man sussing out restaurants in his fancy pants...
All the tourist "stuff" you could buy...anything.
It was there.
We found a hole in the wall place and some beers.
It was awesome. The food was real, authentic and fresh.
We were lucky...we hit a good one.
We sat...we relished in the no kids factor and then ordered more beer.
We walked the strip...looked into many a shop and got some souvenirs for the kids...
chopsticks, a scorpion in an acrylic block...wooden streetcar ornament for the Christmas tree...
Then Mr.Man was drawn into this old tea shop.
It was more of a tea bar.
You sit and order samples of tea.
Amazing rare teas...like $60 per lb teas...they just mix up...
pour and you smell/sample/taste/enjoy/talk...
They were so informative and inviting. We were in there for about an hour.
Mr.Man was searching for a specific tea he had in China 5 years ago. As he stated that he has been searching for it for awhile, the owners were fixsated on finding it, creating it, concocting it for him.
Well they did it. They found it.
So we bought 4 packages and they threw in about 3 more.
Great experience. If you are ever in SF try to hit this place.
We made our way out...and got this photo in front of the dragons.
As you can see...still no luggage.
Boo. We are holding up pretty good.
Thank-goodness I threw in my flips at the last second and a spare pair of under there for me and Mr.Man. Must have been my Mommy brain working for me for a change.
We trekked on over to Union Square.
The shopping mecca.
The centre of it all.
"I left my heart in...well...you get it."
This was the view from the Macys store. Pretty good view I must say.
You want any big brand name...
It is here.
Even her.
Ya...some more beers...I see a theme for this day here...in a Irish pub off the beaten track then back to the hotel for a rest before dinner in Japantown.
Luggage came in!!
WORD!
Never been so pleased.
Here I am waiting in taxi queue outside our hotel.
Off to SPQR for dinner.
It was good. Not great. Not fab.
Not OH MY GOD.
Probably due to the fact that our first meal on our "no kids trip" was spent practically sharing a table with the two girls next to us.
It was basically a table of 4 with a small space in the middle.
Small.
Yes we spent the night with two long lost college grads discussing parties, boyfriends, Stanford and Brown University and giggling.
Piercing giggles.
Piercing.
I was numb.
Disappointed?
Maybe.
Poor Mr.Man.
He was disappointed too. The food was meh.
Not WOWZA YAZA.
But we leaned in and made the best of it.
Elbows down. Don't want to disturb the neighbours.
After paying the bill we practically ran down the street to DOSA
Buzzing...hot...fun...yummy smells...easy. We strolled up to the bar and instantly made friends.
With these.
Mr.Mans is his usual stand-by...Hendricks Gin Martini with a cucumber.
Mine is the pink one...Pink City.
Plymouth English Gin, Raspberry Nectar, Lemon juice and...
green cardamon infused vodka.
WOW.
Really...what can I say. Redemption is sweet.
We also made friends with the locals and they all asked about Luongo.
I know!!!
Great end to our first night in SF.
The next morning was Saturday.
It was packed at 9am.
Packed!
I could have taken a million more pictures.
Seriously.
Gorgeous.
It was almost like a Food Porn Convention...
Any kind of lettuce you could ever want. Nettles, dandelion, frisee...I was inspired.
Shallots as far as the eye could see. Perfectly imperfect.
Wicker baskets full of radishes, yellow carrots, garlic...
a whole table of sprouts...
vans full of artisan breads...
Lavender...and more flowers...
Heirloom Tomatoes...
Peaches...
Garlic...
Elephant Garlic.
Mr.Man asked for a picture as he has never seen it so big.
All this was OUTSIDE.
Then we went inside...
Like I said busy. Still super awesome.
Hee hee...
Mr.Man cruises the wines...
We stop to drool over mushrooms. Like every kind you could ever want.
Even fiddle heads.
We wanted to take it all.
Oh...we did stop for brunch.
Totally awesome of course.
Totally local, totally hand made, totally rad.
Our view from our bench while we feasted...
The Bay Bridge.
Awesome. Huge.
We will talk about that later.
After some more pointing and AWESOME COFFEE DRINKING...yes...I almost forgot...
Blue Bottle Coffee is TO DIE FOR.
Wow. WOW. We stood in line at the market for a cup and fell in love.
You MUST enjoy a cup if you get there.
Back to the Palace.
Drop some bags and we are off!
Fisherman's Wharf.
Waiting for our ride...
Here it comes!
There it goes.
PACKED.
Thank-fully the next train was not so full.
We arrived.
Thank-you random tourist person for cutting off our legs.
Oh well...you get the idea...
Wow.
This place is...
Crazy.
I wanted to buy this for a friend in Med school...
Tourist town USA.
We kinda missed the kids.
For a moment.
Then realized how BROKE we would be coming to this Pier with them in tow.
This whole store is full of magnets.
Popped out the back to see the rock.
I zoomed in. That was cool to see.
I forgot I had my zoom on and got this.
We got some saltwater taffy at this cool vintage (tourist) shop.
Mr.Man almost bought this for Little E. I had to talk him out of it.
Okay.
He had to talk me out of it.
The sea lions. They apparently go away for summer.
Boo.
If you don't look at the tire you would think this was real!
Ding ding!
We made it!
Too bad my hair didn't. It is WINDY in SF.
Got to be careful in this part of SF. Could end up eating at a place called the Chowder Hut.
I am sure it was a good one.
If you like it there I am sorry.
It was kinda a spectacle though...the whole place...but we lapped it up and hit a restaurant old school style.
Old black and whites showcasing the day..Frank playing on the radio, safe careful food...Mr.Man was foiled again.
Oh we did.
Then we sat here and ate our ice cream.
People watched.
Although the wind was blowing so I couldn't really see anything.
My hair was angry.
We saw the line for the train and the cable car.
We took a cab.
We went for a hot tub and then showered for our big dinner at
My word.
Where to begin.
Lets start here...
Welcome Champagne. About 3 glasses.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
We were giddy.
We were trying not to be too interested...cool.
It was so hard though. This place was unreal. We wanted to dive right in.
So we did.
It was a prix fixe...8 courses.
I wanted to take more pictures...but Mr.Man was giving me the look.
I loved it. It wasn't pretentious at all.
Really people...I am serious!
I remember listening to the song Maniac from Flashdance while eating this...
"and she' dancing like she's never danced before"
I can't explain it. The music, the food...it was just...perfect.
The whole night was beyond expectation.
Mr.Man almost wept.
He had finally found it.
What he had been searching for.
A transcendental religious experience.
We even played name that tune with our server.
The wine parings were perfection also.
The night progressed and I had to forgo the pictures...it was magical there at night. I wanted to just be...not capture.
The food kept coming and the flavours kept popping...surprising...inspiring.
We didn't want it to end.
We have the menu still.
We will return one day.
Mr.Man asked our server to please call us a cab.
He stated that he had and to please wait inside where it is warm. We did...then made our way to the court yard out front to wait. It was a lovely night.
You would NEVER notice this place walking by. It was magically hiding behind a dirty old wall that was next to newspapered windows.
Then a tinted window black town car pulls up.
The driver gets out and opens the door.
"Mr. and Mrs.Sparrow this way please."
And I get in.
Is this real?
Oh yes.
It's real.
This is as close to Sex in the City as I'll ever get...in fact...it was better.
I love you San Francisco.
E.
Ahh Erin captured beautifully as always. Can't believe they lost your luggage!!!! The market looked amazing too. Talk soon,
ReplyDeleteChristie