Some Highlights & A Few Things I Learned

Some of the highlights from our trip to San Francisco include:

• Andrea's first time on the Subway and in a taxi
• The clam chowder at Neptune's on Pier 39 is the yummiest we found.  Seriously amazing.  Most everything else about the restaurant was over rated, but I would go back for the chowder in a heartbeat.
• Hot chocolate from Ghiradelli Square honestly is the best ever!
• Watching Mission Impossible 4 in the state of the art IMAX theater
• The shopping at Union Square!  I still can't get over the two huge Forever 21 stores on the same street.
• Boudin.  That was such a great restaurant.  You could be satisfied at any meal with anything on their menu.
• Joanie's Diner!  It is a tiny little place in the Wharf just a block up from The Cannery.  Hands down the best belgian waffle I've ever eaten.  I ordered the banana nut waffle and was so satisfied.  But even just a plain waffle would have been fantastic.  And the other food was seriously delish!  I've never enjoyed an omelet before and I wanted to eat all of Colby's.
• If you eat at Alioto's at Pier 45 enter to the left for the waterfront cafe.  The fine dining restaurant upstairs was sort of lame and overpriced.
• Walking from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square.  I know that sounds insane, but it was pretty dang fun.  The orange line in the map below roughly shows our route and I scoured the internet for an elevation map, but couldn't find any good ones... just know that walking this meant a whole lot of incline.  Which meant a 2 mile walk that took the same amount of time as a flat 4-5 mile walk.  Also know that I tried to suggest going over a block or two and catching a bus, but the men kept saying, "let's just walk" even after I showed them the map a few times.  So regardless of what they say, they wanted to walk.  I merely wanted to catch a cable car because they went directly to where we wanted to go, but they were super full and would never stop for us.

• Had we not walked that insane walk that night, we would not have another of our fondest memories.  We were in the Nob Hill neighborhood (which kind of borders Chinatown) and Colby was walking on the east side of the street and we other three were on the west side of the street.  It just so happened that the three of us all turned at the same time to totally see Colby get hit by a car.  Now don't worry, the guy wasn't blazing through the intersection or anything, so Colby wasn't hurt, and it was hilarious!!!  A car was stopped at the stop sign then turned left.  After that car drove away, Colby began to cross the street followed by some other pedestrians.  The next car never saw the pedestrians and never thought to actually stop at the stop sign.  So the little Asian man rolled through the stop sign and once he saw the road was clear of cars he stepped on the gas and failed to notice Colby in the crosswalk, directly in front of the passenger seat.  The car pushed Colby's legs out from under him so he reached down to brace his fall on the hood of the car then sort of rolled up and off the side of the hood.  The poor old man kept saying sorry and asking Colby if he was OK.  Colby was fine, the rest of us were laughing our heads off, and the car drove away with a good sized dent in the hood from Colby's incredible strength.  Hahahahahahaha!  I realize that I sound awfully insensitive to laugh at Colby getting hit by a car, but if you were there, you would have realized he was really in no danger and it was just plain funny.  We still get a good chuckle out of it.

A few things I learned:

• The F line (street car) was probably my favorite means of transportation.  They are old, but seemed cleaner than the buses and they went most everywhere we wanted/needed to go.
• The top three money makers for the city of San Francisco are 1) Hotels, 2) Banking, and 3) Parking Tickets.
• It is completely legal in the city of San Francisco to walk around butt naked as long as you have one article of "clothing" on.  So zero clothes plus a hat, or glove, or sock, etc is completely OK.  Oh boy...
• Boudin is pronounced boo-deen.  Yeah, I asked.  We were originally way off :)
• There is an architectural walking tour that I am totally going on when we go back.  It spans four blocks of the Financial District and highlights all kinds of historical and architectural details of the city.
• I love that charming city.  I truly am a city girl at heart.