Heading Back Home

The weather this morning was slightly less foggy than yesterday, which is why this is the first that Naoko and I noticed that our hotel actually had a distant view of the Golden Gate bridge. (It was still a bit overcast so not many of our photos translate well, but at least we can point and say, that’s where it is.)

The plan for today was to enjoy an early breakfast in China town (Naoko’s craving for rice porridge ended up as rice porridge with a few dim sum sides), followed by a morning of shopping in Union Square.

Before we arrived Jemma had purchased a Coach purse at Macy’s and she didn’t know that Macy’s always offers out of town shoppers and 11% discount. (If you travel more than 200 miles to anywhere and shop at Macy’s be sure to pick up a visitor coupon card.) Macy’s even retroactively honored the coupon, resulting in a hefty return for Jemma.

Although I’d set a semi-strict departure schedule for the day (I didn’t want Naoko and I to get home too late), we spent a bit too much time and money in Union Square with Virgin Records taking the bulk of both.

Eventually we headed out, with Jemma hitching a ride as far as Palo Alto, where she’d be interviewing people at Stanford the following day. As we passed through Daly City (at just around 2 pm) we started to consider the idea of lunch. Learning that neither my Japanese nor my semi-Japanese friend had ever eaten at Todai, the agenda was set.

The challenge was that Todai was closing in 30 minutes, and they are very strict about their closing rule. The will let you in, will let you take as much as you want in advance, but once 2:30 rolls around, you better not need anything else. We, however, were up for the challenge. Covering two full tables with our culinary delights, we worked our way through the delicacies of several cultures, with a huge focus on Todai’s sushi.

Eventually we got Jemma to Palo Alto at around 4 pm, and after a quick peek at the Stanford campus, got her checked into her hotel. We’d had so much fun enjoying each other’s company that we were having a hard time saying goodbye. So we decided to enjoy a final Starbucks for the road, before Naoko and I headed home.

Naoko was a great traveling companion. She didn’t even complain when I started playing the CDs I’d purchased earlier at the Virgin Megastore. Unfortunately she wasn’t familiar with most of the music, but we did find one CD where she recognized five whole songs.

Eventually, I got Naoko back to her home at just past 11pm. Not that bad in the scheme of things, and I think we were both pretty sad to end our lovely adventure together.

Working the Wine Country

After a quick breakfast we were heading across the Golden Gate bridge in the convertible, with the top down, of course. Poor Jemma in the back was shivering under her six layers of clothing, but Naoko and I pumped up the heat in the front and were feeling just fine.

By the time we arrived at Muir Woods, the place was PACKED. There was no parking within a mile of the park entrance, and since we still had wine country to conquer, we decided to tour Muir Woods another time. A word to the wise, if your travels bring you here, come early or come prepared to hike a bit to the entrance.

We did make a quick stop at Muir Beach, which is an off-the-leash dog beach, so we had great fun watching people play with their dogs, and occasionally tossing a ball ourselves. It was too breezy to do any swimming, but the weather was clear and fabulous, and we lamented not having a picnic with us to enjoy on the beach.

Wine Country

Our next stop was to be Sonoma. There are many wine choices in Northern California, and while Napa is the most famous, it doesn’t have the Sonoma Jack cheese factory. Luckily the giris humored my need for cheese, and soon enough we were enjoying a picnic in the plaza outside the cheese shop.

On this beautiful President’s Day Sunday afternoon, people were out in full force. Kids were playing, adults were sipping wine and there was a general "gee, it’s good to be alive" feeling in the air.

My two traveling companions had never been on an American picnic before, so they were enjoying soaking up the local culture as much as I was. After lunch we did get to stop at two wineries to do a little tasting, but time was once again getting away from us.

Sausalito


With no real plans for the evening, we made a stop in Sausalito and wandered along the waterfront, overlooking the sparkly view of San Francisco in the distance. We weren’t actually hungry enough to eat yet, although Naoko was hoping to be able to enjoy some native Clam Chowder soup somewhere.

Back in the city we were feeling strangely mellow and couldn’t quite decide what it was we wanted to do (and/or eat.) We wandered from Union Square to Chinatown and back (a fairly adventurous walk) and maybe it was because it was late, or maybe because it was Sunday night, there were surprisingly few restaurants open at that time.

We finally settled on Lefty O’Douls (a little bit by default, because there weren’t a lot of options open to us) and were totally thrilled by the VERY affordable prices here, as well as the live music. We spent some time listening to the singer and just enjoying the cameraderie before returning to Hilton.

Open Your Golden Gate

I know that every time I travel I say “This is my favorite place to visit in the world.” In fact, I think I might have just said that in my previous blog post. (Because Fiji really is one of my favorite places on earth.)

Truth be told, though, San Francisco has always held a very special place in my heart. Ever since I was 12-years old and learned that San Francisco would replace chilly Ontario, Canada as our primary place of residence. Now that I live in LA, I can’t really imagine living anywhere else, but whenever I plan a trip to San Francisco, I still get the same joyful feeling I did when I was 12.

Road Trip!

This time was no different. I would be traveling up the 5 freeway with my friend Naoko (from the Japan National Tourist Organization). The drive took longer than it normally does (I think because I had company in the car, I was less prone to pushing my car to obscene over-the-limit speeds.) Rather than take the “northerly” route (as I call it) across the 580, I’d planned a trip up through Gilroy, where the drive requires more attention but the local flavor and scenery is far more interesting than the quick drive through Pleasanton could ever be. Besides, what’s a trip to San Francisco without a stop at Casa de Fruta?

Naoko was most amazed by the full wall of garlic products, and I made sure to stock up on my favorite treat, garlic-stuffed olives. After stocking up on candies, nuts and other supplies for the remaining hour or so, we were back on the road.

Hilton San Francisco

In San Francisco, we had reservations at the Hilton San Francisco in Union Square.

I’m a big Hilton loyalist (I love their double dip HHonors Points program that doesn’t make me split my loyalties between United Airlines and Hilton Hotels.) I can’t rave enough about how wonderful this property was, as well as how awesome the view was from our 20th story bedroom.

At the Hilton we met up with the third member of our party, Jemma, who is a Korean girl, living in Japan and visiting the U.S. Being an international crowd, we quickly decided on dim sum as our first meal, and were soon head to Yank Sing, one of the city’s finest places for dim sum.

After our LATE lunch, we enjoyed a leisurely, but long (this is a walking city) stroll along the waterfront, enjoying the new developments along the way.

Sunset Ferry Ride

In fact, our walk was so leisurely, we barely made it in time to catch a sunset ferry ride to Tiburon, Sausalito and back.

Those of you not familiar with San Francisco, there is a famous saying along the lines of “I never spent a winter so cold as a summer in San Francisco.”

It can get mighty bitter in the fog, and on the water, after dark, in February is certainly no exception. Although we were shivering our tails off, we just couldn’t resist staying on deck to watch the Technicolor sunset behind the Golden Gate bridge.

Upon our return we wandered through the stalls at Fisherman’s wharf tempted by the crab offerings along the way. Craving the city’s speciality, we ended up at Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner. None of us were starving, having only finished lunch a few hours earlier, but we enjoyed the specialty drinks and a host of crab-themed appetizers and entrees.

Upon returning to the Hilton, we caught our first look at the AMAZING view of the city from our 20th story hotel room, and fell in love. My camera doesn't do great night shots, but here we are overlooking the civic center, opera house area and the twinkling lights dotting the hills in the distance.