About a week after the wedding Bruno and I took a trip to San Francisco, and had a wonderful time. We stayed with my friend Lilia, who I met in Paris a few years ago. She was gracious enough to invite us into her home for the long weekend, me who she hadn’t seen in a few years and Bruno who she’d never met. She made us feel so welcomed and it really contributed to the good impression we had of San Francisco. It’s a pretty amazing city…my feeling is that it has all of the advantages of a big city without really being a big city. We got around easily on foot and with public transportation, we ate really well and thought the city was really beautiful. One night I saw a bum digging in a dumpster for things he could salvage and some trash spilled onto the sidewalk and I saw him carefully pick up the trash and put it back in the dumpster. Gotta love San Francisco!
So, I'm no expert on the San Fran area- but I always love to pass on a few 'travel tips'. Here are some things we really enjoyed:
Friday night at the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park- we went and checked out the exhibit and there was also live jazz and a bar. Afterward we had some really good food in the neighborhood at Park Chow (1240 Ninth Ave.). Later that night we headed for the beach…bring stuff to make a bonfire if you want, or else just go and join one that is already blazing. People are friendly! But be sure to bundle up…it’s cold down there at night!
The Ferry Building- it’s down by the water and inside are little restaurants, a few shops/bookstores, fruits and veggie stands, wineries, places selling olive oils and spreads and the oh so delicious Cowgirl Creamery. They call it ‘artisan cheese,’ I call it ‘yummy.’ I have to admit, living in Paris has turned me into a cheese snob…but Cowgirl Creamery did not disappoint!
Taqueria Cancun – (at Mission and 19th) I’m sure there are a million good taquerias in the city…but this one has won awards like “Best Veggie Burrito in San Francisco” and I can see why. They served me the best damn veggie burrito I have ever tasted. We pigged out on delicious burritos, tacos, taquitos, chips, green and red salsa…and it cost $8.50 total for two people.
We met up with some friends from old Iowa City and had dinner at Magnolia Pub & Brewery at Haight & Masonic. I loved my beer, the food and the atmosphere…murals, little white lights and big wooden booths. I had a baked coriander and lemon chicken that was oh so good! Bruno had mussels with a spicy white wine sauce, and our friends really liked their choices: gnocchi and duck. Esperpento – Spanish/Basque restaurant at 3295 22nd Street (between Bartlett St and Valencia Street in The Mission) Our last night in town we went for tapas and paella at a great Spanish restaurant…the food was wonderful and the restaurant had great atmosphere as well. There was live Spanish music, which was very good (even if sometimes a bit loud) and if you love garlic then you cannot afford to miss this restaurant.
We ate really well and had a great time just wandering around the city, up and down the hills and getting the different views, checking out the bookstores, wandering through the different neighborhoods, we were really surprised by the beauty of the Place of Fine Arts (which we stumbled on pretty much by accident), 
but one of our favorite things we did was going sailing with our friend Lilia. She belongs to the Cal Sailing Club (www.cal-sailing.org) and she brought us on one of the Sunday open-house days. The club is at the Berkeley Marina and the membership is $60 for three months…which includes, sailing and windsurfing lessons, wetsuits, use of boats and equipment, bay cruises, races and BBQs. Whoa!!! Sign me up!!! We had such a good time and everyone was really friendly. If you live in the area- check it out! And if you are just visiting, go on the website to look for the dates for ‘Free Sailboat Rides’ and open-houses…it’s free to go out in the boats and you can pay $5 to eat at the BBQ. When we were there the BBQ had beautiful and seasoned tri-tip steaks, grilled chicken, tons of fruits & veggies, a delicious salad, fresh guacamole, chili, brownies and plenty to drink. Good times!If you’ve never visited San Francisco, we highly recommend it! And maybe if you wait a year, you’ll be able to visit us there………
1 comment:
hi. my name is nico. im from Boston and just grauated high school. i just googled blogs from people living in Paris... the reason for this is because im planning on moving to europe to be an english teacher this fall and im trying to decide where i want to go! i know this is really random, and ive never really done any blogging.. but i was just wondering what you thought of the city/france when you first moved there. was it hard to adjust? were people friendly even though you didnt speak french that well at first? im just trying to get in touch with some people in different cities to find out what things are really like.
btw some of your entries really made me laugh.
nico
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