Walkaholic

San Francisco Day 1

We woke up very early for a 7am flight from Newark to SF. We arrived San Francisco around 10.30am SF local time. We dropped off our luggages in a Hilton Hotel near Fisherman's Wharf. Since we were at the wharf already, we started off there. We needed some lunch (since it way passed our nyc lunch time) and stopped by at Boudin Sourdough Bakery and Cafe cuz we heard they had the best sourdough bread (because of the nice cool foggy weather in SF). We got some soup in a bread bowl and some shrimp salad sandwich. The bread was really good..crispy outside, soft inside.

After our stomaches were filled, we headed to the popular Pier 39. It was so over-rated. It was nice, but it was just too much like any Disney towns. The only cool thing were those sea lions!! They were just too funny!! We just standed there and watched them fight for priceless spaces on the floating docks while some were just sleeping on one another. I love them!! Pier 39 also had a pretty good view of Alcatraz. We decided not to go to Alcatraz because we wanted to do other things like biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Another cool thing about Fisherman's Wharf area was that the old wine barrels were used as trash cans.. pretty unique.. :)

Leaving Pier 39, we walked toward The Cannery. The space, used to be the Del Monte cannery factory, is now filled with restaurants, teddy bear shops, art galleries, some other random shops. It was nice, but a little quiet. I guess it was Friday afternoon. After the Cannery, we went to Hyde Street Pier. We saw some old ships, took a break, and sat down for a bit. After resting, we continued to Ghirardelli Square near by. It was a cute little square with stores and restaurants. As an icecream lover, I had to try the famous sundae by Ghirardelli. It was not disappointing. Getting a little tired, we headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Feeling better, we waited in a long line to take the famous SF cable car. We got off at the top of the crooked Lombard street and walked down the street. Seeing it with my own eyes really beated seeing from pictures. It was just amazing! We then walked toward Washington Square where we would meet Wei there. The street scences along the way were pretty cool...the up and down streets, the cable cars, the nice Victorian houses, the narrow secretive walkway between houses, and especially the incredible views of the city when we were uphill. At Washington Square, there was this beautiful white church, Church of Saints Peter & Paul. You could also see the Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid building from the square.

When Wei came, she took us walking pass North Beach area and saw some cool restaurants and bars. We decided to have dinner in Chinatown located next to North Beach. We went to Yuet Lee Seafood Restaurant. It was as good as it gets. After dinner, we went to a chinese-owned gelato store.. my second ice cream of the day. :) I had these interesting black sesame ice cream. On the way back to Wei's apartment, Wei showed us some SF red light district, (which was actually just right next to Chinatown and North Beach).

Labels: san francisco, travel

posted by usa @ 10:30 PM