So last week (the week of memorial day) I got to spend the week in San Francisco. It was to attend a software conference for work, but I tagged on a few days and flew out with Kim to get a semi vacation in. We had talked about visiting San Francisco while she was still in college, but she opted to go to Las Vegas with her friends. It was odd trying to cram an entire vacation into 3 days (We arrived Thursday night and she left Monday morning) but it was very revitalizing (in ways).
The first day we got up early (still on central time) and I got her to climb one of the infamous hills of the city. The hills really add an awesome character to the city, especially compared to the ultra flat Chicago. The craziest part of these hills is how incredibly steep they get. But when we reached the top, we were rewarded with a very good view of the city. We then went down the north side towards the bay, checking out Lombard on the way down (it was super crowded early in the day, on a Friday). One of the neat things is that it seems every building in the downtown area has bay windows, so walking down the streets you get to feel a different “texture” on the sides compared to a relatively flat wall of houses in most other cities. While we were walking along the bay coast, there was practice going on for the America’s Cup which was very interesting to watch. There were three teams practicing, Italy, America, and New Zealand. The ships all had hydrofoils and were ultra light, so they would quickly get out of the water and could outrun the speedboats that were following along.
Friday night, we were going to meet one of my friends from when I worked in Indianapolis. He left to take a job working at facebook, so I got to hear about all of the interesting stuff going on there. He took us to this really awesome “gastropub” that had both great food and great beer. Afterwards we went to a few bars and eventually were sent back to our hotel in a cab (I wish I could take a cab home from drinking downtown… soon).
Saturday I was a bit hungover, so we slept in and then walked to Chinatown to check it out. It is a really cool Chinatown in how they have incorporated a lot of the Chinese style into such an American city. There were a number of street musicians and a bunch of shop owners out trying to get you to go into their shop (just like in Hong Kong!). We had dim sum at this place where it was all you can eat for $6, sadly I did not have much of an appetite after the previous night, but I will definitely return here sometime, hungry. We eventually ventured back to our room as Kim was going to meet a friend for happy hour at some pirate themed bar. I rested for a while, then met them in Japantown for some sushi. Japantown was a very surprising area in how small but very secular it is. There is a clear point where you go from San Francisco to Japan, which is pretty neat. We had a nice sushi meal with her friend, talking about his time in the city (he moved recently for grad school).
On Sunday, we ventured down to Fisherman’s Wharf to see the sites there. We were going to talk a cable car, but the line was insane (protip: catch the cable car at the next station, even though there is a line, they never fill a car at the end so there is still room for other people to hop on at the next few stops). We walked through Chinatown and then little Italy (man did the food smell amazing). Then we walked around the wharf some. Had clam chowder for lunch, saw the seals, got to see the street performers, and explored random places in the area. We then took a cable car back to the hotel area, had to wait about an hour in line (only 4 cars left in that time!) but got to experience one of those token experiences of the city. We then went back and dinner so Kim could meet her friend to go to some club.
… That’s a lot, I will write a second part soon