Alternate title: Saying "Ta ta!" to the ta-tas.
Friday night DH and I went to a birthday party at
Wine Vault on India Street. It's next to our favorite British pub,
Shakespeare's, but doesn't look like much from the outside so we'd never popped in. Well, color me shocked at how cute it was inside, and the EXCELLENT food. The 25-year aged sherry ice cream sundae is going to stick with me a loooong time. The host of the evening, N (the mountain goat from our Joshua Tree climbing trip), was a gracious host, and his wifey A was surprised he had put together such a fun group of folks. We ended the night at Shakespeare's but DH and I ducked out early.
So DH and woke up extra early on Saturday morning to take our 6am
Virgin America flight to San Francisco. (If you haven't taken a VA flight, do. It's a great airline, the planes are comfy, the AVOD is top-notch, and the prices aren't bad. As a Gold member of United's mileage program, it says a lot that I take VA whenever I get the chance!)
We landed in SF and headed to the Ferry Building
farmer's market. OMG - FOODIE HEAVEN. It was the greatest farmer's market I've ever seen. Dozens and dozens of organic produce farms, artisanal cheesemakers, free-range and organic eggs and meats, patissiers. HEAVEN. We picked up an amazing cherry pastry (a running theme, you shall come to see), and people watched. Odd observation: There are a *lot* of wiener dogs. Or as DH calls them "sausage dogs." Without exaggeration, we saw 20+ this weekend.
Anywho, we walked along the Embarcadero to Pier 39 where we saw the famous bachelors:
DH was mesmerized. Couldn't tear him away!
At Fisherman's Wharf we decided to rent bikes from
Blazing Saddles and cycle across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito. Oh my goodness. Elliott hadn't ridden a bike since high school. That was...quite a while ago. By the following, you can see we made it:
GG way away in the background.
We hadn't checked in to the hotel, so we carried our stuff in backpacks all day, in case you're wondering what's on my back. (Banana houndstooth swing jacket, summer 2008)
The ride across the bridge was really scary. DH and I are both afraid of heights (I know, we both rock climb. *shrug*) and were actually glad that the bridge was completely fogged in. We couldn't see more than a foot over the edge of the bridge! Phew!
After a few navigational errors, we made it to the other side. Sausalito was adorable but I kept thinking "One good earthquake and the entire town'll slide into the ocean." We picked up sandwiches from the Sausalito Bakery and Cafe (word: they are HUGE. Make sure to split one.) and took the ferry back over to SF. Also, make sure you get a seat on the right side of the ferry for AMAZING views of SF.
We cycled back to Blazing Saddles and then walked over towards Ghiradelli Square and stopped at the
Buena Vista for drinks. (The Buena Vista brought irish coffees to America but it was so hot that DH and I just ordered a couple of pints.)
After an hour wait (really!) we took the cable car to Union Square for a little shopping before checking in to the Hilton.
Here's where we say good bye to the ta-tas. DH and I figured out where all of my body fat has gone - my boobs are shrinking! I'm down a full band size and TWO cup sizes. As you can tell from the pictures, I've got large ta-tas and it's shaking me to the core that I'm losing one of my favorite things about myself. I mean, I'm still busty just not "OMG what a pair of knockers!" DH is also upset. "I don't like this game." - DH (HA!)
After a quick shower and change of clothes, DH and I walked from Union Square to North Beach (SF's "Little Italy") via Chinatown. Chinatown was amazing. I loved all of the little shops and the signs in Chinese. We settled down in a little Italian place. It was meh - I can't even remember the name. What was delicious, however, were the AMAZING cherry pastries we picked up at the Italian bakery, Mara's, across the street. I'm a total whore for good, flaky pastry.
After a lie-in Sunday morning, DH and I headed up to Nob Hill to
Honey Honey for brunch/crepes. It's a little out of the way, but totally worth it.
This picture doesn't convey how frighteningly steep is this hill. Nob Hill, indeed!
After yummy crepes, we headed to Golden Gate park. We walked around for a couple of hours, seeing tons of folks bicycling and rollerblading. (They close the park roads to cars on Sundays.) It was really uncomfortably hot, and we were carrying our backpacks again, so we then headed to Haight-Ashbury.
We took refuge from H-A's hippies, hipsters, and pot dealers (scary, but true) in
Magnolia. Magnolia makes amazing English-style cask beer. It was very refreshing after feeling like we were going to melt in the sun. (Thank goodness for SPF 70!)
We decided to pub crawl our way back to North Beach and therefore stopped at Rogue Ale's Public House.
Rogue makes one of my favorite beers - Dead Guy. Should you see it on tap, YOU MUST GET IT.
With a quick stop (again) at Mara's for more cherry flaps, we then headed out to the airport. 36 hours isn't enough time to see everything in SF but it was enough time to have one hell of a weekend!
Lessons learned:
*Put sunscreen on the back of your hands if you are biking. Ouch!
*Put sunscreen very far down your neck and back if you are wearing a backpack - it will pull your collar down. Ouch!
*Take very comfy shoes - SF is uphill, no matter where you want to go.
*The cable car is fun, especially if you get to hang off the side.
*However, make sure to keep your knees close if you are hanging off the side of the car. One good whack is all it takes to ruin a weekend.
*You can eat massive amounts of pastry, drink beer, and still lose weight if you are walking uphill everywhere and biking 10 miles, mostly uphill.
*Union Square has dangerous amounts of excellent shopping.
*Don't stay out until 11:30pm when you have to get up at 4am - it ruins your ability to party on a Saturday night.
*Or we might be really old.
That's all for now kittens. Ta ta!
