San Francisco - Days 1 & 2

Once again, we made the transition from country to city, and what a city! We arrived at night, got a surprise toll for $6 at the Golden Gate Bridge, immediately checked into the hotel, and went out for sushi to a place that had the biggest sake selection we've ever seen.

Wandering around for a while, we wondered why we encountered so many homeless people. We only realized later that we were in the Tenderloin district. (Not the most touristy area.)

The next morning, daytime proved to paint a different picture, even though there were still many homeless and not homeless but homeless-looking people around.

Ferry building

Our morning meandering ended up at the Ferry building, which housed many prime eateries, some of which turned out to be on another of Sharon's must-see lists.

San Francisco is also known for it's food. We were not disappointed at Boulette's Larder:

Post breakfast wandering included the farmers market, a pub (to figure out what we were doing), and some sights:

Oakland Bay Bridge

TransAmerica Pyramid

Chinatown

We were determined to take care of more restaurants on the list. After much studying, we took the BART transit system (equivalent to GO in Ontario) to Berkley, to dine at a place regarded as the birthplace of California cuisine and the local food movement, Chez Panisse.

We arrived a little early, so we ended up going to the place next door for pre-dinner drinks. We ended up being surprised at the bartender's skill, as well as the original India-inspired concoctions (e.g. Tamarind martini). Unfortunately, no pictures of those drinks.


We returned to Chez Panisse to eat, and we were not disappointed in the least.

Armed with full bellies and a signed copy of Alice Water's "Simple Food", we braved the BART subway back to the hotel.

In the cheap seats

Too sexy for the subway