San Francisco - Day 4

The next morning, we tried more goodies at the expanded Saturday morning farmers market.

As it was our last day, we had some final sights to see on the way out, this time with the car:

Crazy hills

The Golden Gate Bridge, in daylight this time

"Crookedest street in the world"

More crazy hills

Street Jazz on many street corners

Sadly, we had to leave. We were running late for our next hosts, and exited the city via the Oakland Bay Bridge.

At this point we got a call from my cousin Walter (our next host), where we confirmed that we were indeed running on "Trini time".

San Francisco - Day 3

We were running out of clean clothes to wear. We knew this day would come, and took our fancy laundry tablets that we smuggled into the US to the coolest laundromat we ever heard of:

Each machine is named, they serve a killer breakfast, and free wi-fi is provided. 

Dryers make me thirsty!

They even have happy hour. How much more hip can you get?

After lugging our fresh set of clothes back to the hotel, we again set out about town. First we had to figure out the transit system (that is not BART), whereby I landed a small deal by taking advantage of a poor French couple who was trying to get rid of a transit pass they didn't use.

Traveling via trolley, we were drawn back to the Ferry building to continue unfinished business with the to-do list, where we had a little something at the Slanted Door:

contains a "hand-carved ice cube"

... and grabbed a little something at Miette Pastry:

Enough eating! Time to continue with the sightseeing. Of course this includes more sightseeing musts, like the touristy Fisherman's Wharf:

Alcatraz Island

Lazy bums

It was getting cold, which apparently is normal San Francisco weather, unlike the hot weather we were enjoying earlier. We started back to the hotel using a historic cable car, not without some drama, as the car encountered some difficulty requiring a "transmission change" on a steep uphill.

After a brief rest at the hotel, we were off to find dinner. We took a bus, searching for and eventually finding much-hyped Flour and Water, but decided not to wait an hour and a half for seating, like others were. So we wandered, and unintentionally found ourselves in another area of the Tenderloin district again!

However there are a smattering of some cool places in the area, and we settled on the French bistro Garcon!.

"Good going, Joe."

We took transit home, observing the interesting scenery that happens at night.

It is truly a great way to see the city. 

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

California Dreaming

California dreaming - yes, this is my story so we are speaking of wine. As Joe said, we had a room pre-booked in Healdsburg (unheard of on this trip - and particularly with the man I am traveling with...but I had convinced him that in Sonoma you can't just roll into town) at the H2 Hotel, a new, modern, and green hotel. We arrived late, and after checking in decided to have dinner at the apparently happening Spoon Bar restaurant in the hotel lobby. Their fountain outside was a nice tribute to the name.We were happy we did. Local wines, beers and good food was a nice start to our time in the region. We loved our room, the pool, the organic soaps and pretty much everything about this place...including their own complimentary water (flat or sparkling - carbonated on site - if you please!). They had taps located throughout the hotel where you could refill any time you wanted.

Our time there included the use of their bikes, a picnic lunch and free tastings at sustainable wineries in the Dry Creek AVA of Sonoma Wine region. Biking in a hilly wine region in 98F sun proved to be a bit challenging.

Although it does look idyllic here, and I'll admit we're glad we did it.I swore I have never had to work so hard for my wine! But again it was worth it as we had some good ones in some beautiful locales with friendly people who were happy to have us rest up and enjoy their space until the next leg of our journey. So after making our way through a few wineries on the route, we returned to the hotel for a swim, and then wandered about the town square to visit some local tasting rooms of again small boutique or cult winesbefore having dinner at the well known Dry Creek Kitchen of Chef Charlie Palmer.

The next day we went to a few more local wineries - mostly sustainable and interesting small producers...but we couldn't resist stopping in at Francis Ford Coppola's winery. Really, it is a huge tribute to wine as well as his own accomplishments in film making...not only can you go drink his wine, eat his favourite foods (the pizzas are in fact pretty good) you can see all of his awards and some iconic props from the movie sets like the godfather's desk.After visiting Sonoma we decided to take a drive through Napa. While Sonoma does have some big producers, Napa is obviously more about the production from what we saw. We drove by huge vineyards which contrasted dramatically with the mixed farm productions we saw in Dry Creek where figs, olives and grapes all grew side by side as they did at Preston Winery (yep I was in my glory!!). At Truett Hurst where the farming and vineyards grew along side the Dry Creek where you were welcome to take your wine and enjoy it under the trees beside the water.
You could also visit with some of the locals on your way back to the tasting room...
We did just have a quick visit and drive by in Napa. Perhaps Napa has some of the small boutique wineries as well - and perhaps it calls for another visit, just to be sure...