Well, not literally. It is a pretty fabulous city to be in though, and my visit was incredible. Jacquie planned an adventure-filled week of activities for us (there was a powerpoint itinerary). We took probably 5000 photos between the two of us, and our days were as busy as we could manage. I'm not going to go into detail, just the dime recap of each day. If you want to see the whole set, click here for the full experience!
DAY ONE
I arrived tired and dying for a drink and some non-airport food. So first of all, Jacquie took me to her local café where I got a beer, Jacquie got a latte and we got a number 17 for our lunch. That evening we headed out to book launch for the Not for Tourists guide to San Francisco, followed by even more beer and eventually dinner at an incredible restaurant,
Bar Tartine. See how happy I am?
DAY TWO
We spent our second day at the awesome
California Academy of Sciences. We did it all -- the planetarium show (narrated by Whoopi Goldberg!), the aquarium, the mini Amazon rainforest, the hall of African dioramas. And of course, the café. Afterwards we headed to an amazing brewpub,
Magnolia on Lower Haight, where I finally got to try crackling (yummy but a bit too crispy for my taste) and we had even more delicious beers and tasty charcuterie.
DAY THREE
On the third day we went to Chinatown for a
walking tour, where we saw many incredible sites and learned a lot about the history of the place. Highlights included a tour of a real Daoist Temple, a traditional Chinese herbalist shop and steamed pork buns (yum). We wrapped up the day with a stop at
City Lights Bookstore followed by a stop at Vesuvios for some touristy beers and photos of the bright lights in the neighbourhood.
DAY FOUR
A trip across the Bay Bridge and a tour-de-yarn took us to
ArtFibers,
A Verb for Keeping Warm and
Article Pract where we scored many tasty new yarns. There was also a stop at In-N-Out Burger for my first ever burger from there. This was also very tasty!
DAY FIVE
This was the day I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever. It was an incredible day, sunny and warm and apparently very unusual for the coast at this time of year, and I enjoyed every sunny warm minute of it! We walked all along the beach, stopped for a few beer samplers at the Beach Chalet and then climbed the hill for a gorgeous view of the spirals on the beach and a closer view of the Cliff House.
DAY SIX
This was our super-touristy day: we started with Irish Coffees at the Buena Vista, followed by a shared sundae at Ghirardelli Square. We stopped at the Maritime Museum to shoot the gorgeous Depression-era murals, and then traipsed through Fisherman's Wharf to eat steamed crab from the street vendors. After a somewhat messy lunch we rushed to get on the boat to Alcatraz, which was completely amazing. If you are able to, you should do this tour!
DAY SEVEN
On the seventh day we rested -- blowing off our plans and just wandering from café to teahouse to bar. Along the way we met a man with a motorcyle and a tiny dog named Deuce strapped to his back, saw some beautiful and quintessential San Francisco architecture. Somehow we ended up closing with some drunken knitting,
Jacquie Blackman style.
DAY EIGHT
Labels: photography, san francisco, vacation
