San Francisco: Hotel and Food

Ok, this is going to be a long post. Though I hope not too long.

We stayed in Touchstone Hotel.
Address: 480 Geary Street, SF

Location wise - it is a short walk to Union Square area, pretty convenient.
Though I think it could be noisy at night. I am not too sure if it is throughout the whole night cos I could sleep with noise and light but I did hear some noisy on the not-so-deep sleep times.

We picked a 2 single beds, ensuite room.
As below, there was a small table and TV. Complimentary a water bottle each every day and wi-fi. There was also 2 computers for use, free of charge. We didn't book with breakfast inclusive but were given a 25% discount voucher if we eat at the adjacent deli - David's Deli.

(1) Daily Grill
347 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Reason why we were there - looks pretty good from outside, and we were starving. But I do find the food taste good. Though it worry me that people has been saying how servings are very big in US. I find it alright. Am I eating too much? Deco is pretty cosy.

Tuscan Brick Chicken - Roasted Under a Brick until Crisp and Golden Brown, Served with Herb Brown Rice and Tomato Provençal $15.95

Chicken Quesadilla - Grilled Chicken Breast, Melted Cheddar Cheese, Salsa, Guacamole and Sour Cream $14.50


(2) Breakfast at David's Deli
- umm.. not recommended, so I won't put in the address :P

Classic deli feel, food nothing to rave about. For convenience sake and 25% discount, though I still feel the price is a bit too expensive.

Blueberry pancake and coffee $15. I find the salt taste is a little too strong. From memory, salt is part of the ingredient of pancakes but I find it a little too much.

3 egg salami omelette with hash brown and side of 2 pieces of toast. Ok, that was too big portion for me. Better than the blueberries pancake, so so. $17


(3) Eagle Cafe @ Pier 39Pier 39
Ste 103
San Francisco, CA 94133

Looking out to a nice view but shame it was too cold to sit outside to enjoy it. We got a table near the window anyway. This is also cos we were starving after Alcatraz but the food was good.

Oven Roasted Prawns stuffed with Dungeness Crab on rice. It was yummy though the garlic butter stuffing was a little too rich for me.

Fisherman's Platter

(4) Ghirardelli Cafe
900 North Point St.
San Francisco, CA, 94109

Some very delicious looking and sinful dessert. Per my earlier post, I only had dark choc sundae but my friend also had a cappuccino to go with the ice-cream.

(5) Deli Sandwich at Golden Gate Market
221 2nd St
Sausalito, CA 94965

This has got to be the best sandwich I had in the States. To set things straight, I wrote "the best I had", so don't go flaming other sandwiches out there. I don't know if all the cycling make me hungry and hence having illusion or what not, but it was really good. Yumm. Many thanks to my friend who gave up her order cos both my order were not available. But I did share half with her. :)
If you do the cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge, it is on the way to Sausalito after the bridge.

It doesn't even look much but let me present to you - Grilled Chicken with Bacon Ranch Dressing, lettuce, tomato.


(6) Delfina Pizzeria
3611 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

We had pizza in Delfina with friend's friend. This come highly recommended. I was refraining myself from taking pictures of the food, so unfortunately this doesn't have any photos to go with it. Friend's friend has been staying in SF for a bit, so this is a recommendation from someone who can be considered as a local.

(7) Farm:Table754 Post St
San Francisco, CA 94108, United States

This is also the recommendation from friend's friend. He did mention that this is a little pricey comparatively, however considering the price of David's Deli, I think this is cheaper than David's. If I'm not wrong, they change their menu everyday. It is a very small place with only a communal table in the shop, though there were 2 smaller table outside on the walk way.

House cereal with yoghurt and blueberry. Not in picture - Latte with house almond milk.


(8) Tartine Bakery & Cafe
600 Guerrero Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

There's a Bar Tartine as well but the one we went was just a few shops away from Delfina Pizzeria. Shame there were no sandwich at that time, so I had a quiche and bread pudding. Looks small but very filling, somehow.

(9) Burger Bar
Macy's
251 Geary St, 6th Fl
San Francisco, CA 94102

We initially planned to try the Cheesecake Factory. Have you watched The Big Bang Theory before? One of the character works in the Cheesecake Factory, and silly me somehow didn't link the connection between the two till my friend pointed it out. However it was fully packed and needed at least 40 minutes wait, so we went to the nearest option - Burger Bar.

Sorry about the pictures, we were hungry and I fear if I attempt to take a few more shots, the food will disappear under my nose. Joking.

Cobb Salad - I've never had salad for a meal but this is good.

Marinated Chicken Breast burger with jalapeno as a side - so so, looks a bit dry for a burger, doesn't quite bother me, but I know a lot of people cannot stand food without sauce.


Side note: How come the blister doesn't seem to reduce in size at all...? Bleh

San Francisco: Lombard Street and Cable Car

I didn't bring my tripod with me at that time, and it was difficult to get a good shot. I hope you can see the zig zag of the street. Can you?

Lombard Street is known as the croocked street in SF. However it is not the "crookedest" street in the world or SF. The "crookedest" street is actually Vermont Street. However Lombard Street is the famous one. The well-known crooked portion of Lombard Street is located between Jones St and Hyde St. There's a cable car stop at the top end of the crooked street. However, we got there by walking from Ghirardelli Square.

The way to view is from the bottom, hence we actually walked to the bottom of the curvy street. I took the shot and ... we walked up the crooked street, just nice to take the famous cable car back, it was threatening to rain too then.

Alright, don't strain your eyes trying to see the zig zag. I borrowed a picture from here to spare the eyes. :P

By the way, there's staircase by the side for pedestrian. There are some nice houses around the area.

I took the shot above on our way to Lombard Street. Apparently the light in the middle is the light from a cable car, assisting an elderly lady to get to her house on the top right, bypassing the staircase. I don't know how true that is, but a man who was walking his dog telling me I was taking picture of his house :P

Anyway, back to the cable car. From observation, the cable cars in SF stopped in the middle of the road, sometimes in the middle of a crossroad. I actually don't know if the driver can see us waiting at the stand with all the cars parking by the roadside. But somehow the cable car did stop. I have posted the picture of cable car before, so here's two on the inside of it.

So, if you want to get good pictures of Lombard Street, I'll say try to go before it gets dark :P


Side note: It's going to be a wet long weekend :(

San Francisco: Union Square, Alamo Square, Castro & the Mission

The last full day in San Francisco was spent walking and walking. We started with around city, checking out Union Square and nearby. To my shock, I thought I have blogged and included some pictures on Union Square in my earlier post under SF: City. Apparently not. I must be dreaming. = ="

So to make things right, here's how Union Square looks like.

According to Wikipedia, Union Square is a plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets in SF. It also refers to the central shopping, hotel and theater district that surrounds the plaza for several blocks. The area got its name because it was once used for rallies and support for the Union Army during Civil War.

There are heaps of shops and shopping centre in this area. Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue just a stone throw away from each other.

Then, it is tribute to the 'Painted Ladies'. Easily reached by bus, you can check the bus route needed on the free map from hotels.

These houses were made popular if you watched the sitcom "Full House" years back. The term "Painted ladies" is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colours that embellish or enhance their architectural details.

There's a park right in front of these houses where you can have a picnic, or just sit, enjoy the sun and watch the world go by. Though I can feel the uneasiness if I am to live in one of these houses. Imagine every 5 minutes there's a tour bus slowing down right in front of your house and 40 pairs of eyes looking in and 30 cameras snapping away. I am in the opinion that there are people staying in these houses cos there was a postman leaving the place.

From there, we walked to Castro District. We thought of flagging down a bus along the way but as things have it, we ended up walking all the way.

The Castro, is a neighbourhood in Eureka Valley and is one of America's first and best-known gay neighbourhood. As we stepped into the area of Castro, I noticed the colourful flags all around, not in other neighbourhood. Apparently those are rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBT pride.

As you wander down the road in Castro, there's a shop called Under One Roof, address: 518 Castro St, SF, CA 94114. 100% of profits goes to HIV/AIDS organisations, and they sells cute, quirky gifts.

From Castro, we walked towards Mission District ("the Mission).

There are some good food recommended by friend's friend around in this area. And he described this building as "a lot of people come here to take picture of this building."
The Women's Building - murals and paintings of Latin America culture.

Nearby here, one can find Dolores Park. It was said hipsters hang out there.

From Mission District, we walked back to the city again. That, was a pretty long walk. Good to shed off all the food I ate though. ^_^


Side note: 2 more days to long weekends ^_^

San Francisco: Sausalito

Cycling across the Golden Gate Bridge brought us to Sausalito.

Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California. Overall the road from the bridge to the port area was flat, there were bits of downhill and a little uphill.

As it was by the waters, there were nice bits of view, and some shops to keep you occupied :)

Of course you could cycled further on after dropping by Sausalito but it never crossed our mind to subject ourselves to that we decided to enjoy a ferry ride back.

There are 2 ferries company which operates the ferry from Sausalito back to Fisherman's Wharf. Do check the ferry schedule and where you want to travel to. There's a booth near the bicycle parking place. Depending on the time, the ferry might be going back to the Ferry Building or Pier 41.

We took the Blue & Gold Ferry departing to Pier 41, as it is located nearer to where we picked up the bicycles earlier. Tickets were sold on board - $10.50 per person including your bicycle.

It was quite a sight seeing everybody pushing their bikes to board the ferry. It's a first on, last off thing. So if you were right in front and get on the ferry first, your bicycle will be right at the front and furthest from the exit, so you'll have to wait for your turn. Also you will be reminded to have your tickets ready for inspection upon getting off the ferry :)

I have been going on and on about bicycle, here's the one I rode :)

And here's a picture to show the bicycles on the ferry. Hmm.. make sure you can recognize which was the one you rented oh :)

As of when I was at Sausalito, the public toilet was one of those temporary ones.


Side note: Sigh, looks like it is going to rain this weekend too :(

San Francisco: Golden Gate Bridge

This...

...is easily the highlight of my short stay in SF. The bridge, and the journey.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge links San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County. Total length including approaches, 1.7 miles (2,737 m). The pain colour is orange vermillion, also called international orange. Architect Irving Morrow selected the colour because it blends with the bridge's setting.
(source: gocalifornia & wikipedia)

It is a very touristy thing to cycle towards the Golden Gate Bridge from Fisherman's Wharf, onwards to Sausalito but it is also a very fun thing to do. Umm... yes, I say that despite my very unfit state.

We picked Bike and Roll, Jefferson Kiosk as it is nearest to the starting point of cycling path, minimal cycling on side of road. There's a cycling path starting at the end of Jefferson Street, with beautiful view along the way, all the way to the famous bridge. Here's the link of the trail map. Cost for bike rental for a day: $35

And you can see Ghirardelli Squre from far

Uphill towards Fort Mason - I had to get off the bicycle and push, true to its name - push bike

See, I told you it's a very popular touristy thing to do

And if you want, you could dropby Palace of Fine Arts. I'm don't think I have artistic gene in me but the building looks sugoii. We didn't go though :(

At this point, you pretty much already can see the whole bridge. I stopped ever so often to take picture of the bridge and everything else that it is only short of a miracle that my friend did not attempt to kill when I was asleep at night :p

Since we didnt stop by Palace of Fine Arts, I just have to take more pictures of it from afar.
But it does looks very relaxing does it, with palm trees and all too.

After more cycling, and an steep uphill bit (even before the above picture was taken, I've already started pushing instead of cycling up. *guilty*)

But hey! The bridge was near now... I didn't give up half way :p

Alright.. one last phone on the bridge. Seriously, if I have it my way, I would've stopped so often that we will not have reached the other side till late evening :P

Of course, there's an option of cycling back (return trip) or you can take a ferry back together with the bike. Considering the fact that we would love to try how it is like to by taking a ferry, we didn't cycle back. LOL. (how am I trying to kid? :P)


Side note: How long does it take for blisters on palm to dry out?