A day in San Francisco — Memorial Day

If you have followed my blog for sometime, you probably know about my big move across coast. It's been a few months being a Cali resident, but I haven't gotten out as much as I would have liked. Maybe once we move to a place, it kinda loses the tourist charm that it has when we visit for a weekend. Don't you think?

I decided to make this right and this Memorial Day weekend, I spent my first Touristy day in San Francisco. Like anything else, I made a long list of places to see, and spread it across three days based on distance proximity. Yes, it was a whole weekend plan but life get in way and hence it ended up being just a day trip.

The day started with a little detour at Bay Trail, near Shoreline Park, followed by a quick brunch at Crepe Vine and a beautiful long drive to the city.

The Painting Ladies at Alamo Square was our first stop. These are basically just houses with a Victorian architecture and painted with three or more colors. The whole area looks very different and antique because of it. There's a small park opposite to the houses. There were many families and kids too- playing, and skating. The park is dog friendly too. I feel it was a nice start to our day.

Union Square is a lively area full of places to eat, drink, or shop. And even if you don't do any of it, it still is pretty enjoyable walking down those streets with big brands all around, and happy excited people on the streets. I did a little bit of shopping, and a lot of window shopping. The park in the middle was displaying some cool artwork and sculptures that day. And of course, who doesn't love big hearts!

Next stop was the famous Lombard Street aka World's most crooked street. I have visited this one before during a short stop in San Francisco last summer. But, this never gets old. If it's your first time, be prepared to get in a long line of cars waiting for a drive down this street. The view from the top is amazing too.

As usual, the parking spot we got was way to far, and we the had to walk up the hill to top of the Lombard street and walked down the stairs along to capture the view from bottom. Photos don't do justice to how amazing it is. Maybe this timelapse would do:

A video posted by Here I Scribble (@hereiscribble) on Jun 2, 2015 at 2:01pm PDT

After the short but hard hill-walking, we decided we deserved something to eat and we headed to The Buena Vista- It was my first time trying the Irish coffee and I am glad I saved it for this place. It was the right amount of everything- I loved the taste and would gladly go back there the next time I am there.
The seating at this place is a bit different; the whole area is open and no one comes to seat you unlike most places. There are tables of six and you are expected to sit wherever you find a place. We shared a table with two other people, who came separately. I can see how this kind of forces you to interact with others at first, and it is a cool experience. You can choose to sit at the bar too, but they won't serve food there.

Fisherman's Wharf: Buena Vista is at the Fisherman's Wharf, and so are several other restaurants. Obviously, most of them serve seafood. There is also Madam Tussauds and Ripley's museum on the wharf. I had seen both these places earlier so I skipped that, but if you haven't seen them before you should definitely go for it.

The Starlight Room: This is a rooftop bar on the 21st floor of Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The view is amazing at night, and I liked the whole lounge/club vibe they have. I ordered their famous Four-Three-Five Manhattan and my personal favorite- Long Island Iced Tea. A warning: they make the drinks a little stronger than other bars. Also, a FYI- there is a cover charge to get there. But the view, the vibe, and the music was great. I'd definitely go back. I forgot to take a picture- that might tell I actually enjoyed being there.


Mistake of the day: No jacket. As usual, it was windy and cold. It got so hard walking about that I almost bought a new one in desperation. And, we had to get out of most places because of this. Having a jacket would have allowed me to stay at some of the places to my satisfaction. Lesson learned!

OTHER TRAVELS:

Disneyland, CA

Friends & Harry Potter, CA

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