On Tuesday morning we left from Sacramento to San Francisco. The first stop was at a hotel nearby the airport. From there we picked up a new traveller, Markku, to join our road trip for the following two weeks. Instead of going straight to our hotel, San Remo Hotel, we decided to drive north to Muir Woods to see a redwood. This way we could leave the car alone for a few days and I wouldn't have to drive during our stay in San Francisco.
The trees were truly astonishing. The ones we saw were huge and ancient even though they aren't even the biggest or oldest trees in California or probably in Muir Woods. We kept the visit to the forest short as Markku was still tired from the long trip to the other side of the pond and we we're getting hungry and my level of grumpyness was building up.
We wanted to eat in Sausalito instead of going back to San Francisco. Sausalito is a charming little place just on the other side of Golden Gate and there are plenty of seafood restaurants to choose from. We chose a restaurant called Salito's which was a great choice as the food was great and our waiter, Skip, one of the best waiters on our trip so far. I tried to eat a crab for the first time. After the early shock I managed to find some meat to eat while giving Liisa and Markku an entertaining late lunch.
The San Remo Hotel was an excellent find. The hotel is a slightly like a hostel as it has restrooms and showers in the corridors and you have to share them with other rooms. The hotel itself is an old hotel with very cool details everywhere. And the prices are very affordable. After settling in the hotel we went to look for a place to eat, the food in Salito's was great but there could've been more to eat. Just a couple of blocks from our hotel we found a nice Italian restaurant, Café Pescatore, where we spent a few hours eating and drinking.
Day 24 / 9/26/2012 / San Francisco, CA [Alcatraz, Telegraph Hill & Coit Tower]
The next morning we had an early wake up as we had booked tickets to Alcatraz on a morning ferry. The ferry left at 9.10 am so after waking up and grabbing a little breakfast from the close by Trader Joe's we hurried to Pier 33. It was a great decision to go on a morning ferry since the later it got the more people kept coming to the island. The island itself is very interesting and has a lot to see, and the audio tour that we took inside the prison is a definite must. It has old inmates and prison guards telling their stories and history of Alcatraz.
An Alcatraz bad ass.
After behaving good, you could walk outside for a while.
We spent about 4 hours on the island and probably could have spent more but since there were no food on the island, meaning no restaurants or cafés, we had to go find a place to eat in San Francisco. We ended up going to Pier 23 Café where they served the most Mexican tasting food I've had outside Mexico, really good.
From the piers we headed for Coit tower, which didn't seem to be too far away but when you're climbing a very steep hill up the whole time, it takes a while to get there. On our way we found some beautiful gardens on the hill and the parrot gang of San Francisco.
Day 25 / 9/27/2012 / San Francisco, CA [Fisherman's Wharf & Chinatown]
Thursday morning we started the day by going to Fisherman's Wharf. There you can find a lot of souvenirs and memorabilia. Especially Pier 39 with its group of sea lions is something to enjoy.
After shopping in Pier 39 we went to Blue Bottle Café which was an important stop for Markku, our groups caffeine addict. We had spotted the café in Anthony Bourdain's program and although it took us a while to get there it was worth the trip especially as we could make the trip using San Francisco's famous cable cars. On our way there we couldn't really enjoy the trip as the car was packed of people the whole way there but when we came back pretty late in the evening we had the whole car to ourselves and then it was a really fun way to travel.
We were supposed to go walking on the Golden Gate but as it was yet again covered in fog for the whole day, we decided to go to Chinatown instead. I've always been a little against Chinatowns as I've felt a little silly going to the States and visiting Chinatowns instead of actually going to China. This time however I was happily surprised. The second or third shop we went in to was a small tea shop and the owner was just amazing. We were wondering what kind of tea we should buy when she asked if we wanted to try a few different kinds of teas. We expected to try a few but instead she just kept offering small samples of teas, I think we must have tried around 13 or 15 different kind of tea. She also explained how tea should be made and what different teas do for you, it didn't hurt that the teas were some of the best we've ever had. We ended up buying a bunch of stuff from the store.
After the tea store we found another great store with a lot of interesting stuff like Mao's little red book and really nice and cheap chopsticks, plates, cups and all kinds of little things. So all in all the visit to Chinatown was really great.
We really enjoyed our time in San Francisco and it seems like the kind of city you could live in. Just remember to book your Alcatraz tickets a couple of weeks beforehand, as you don't want to miss this attraction!
-Riku
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