Day 2 of our San Francisco weekend adventure started off with meeting our friends at this cool little place on Mission Street just kitty corner from the Yerba Buena Gardens called The Grove.
I wish I still had a picture of my breakfast, but I had taken it with my phone and I lost all my phone pictures recently. I had an amazing breakfast burrito with lots of fresh tomato, herbs, and avocado in it and Ryan had the french toast made with challah bread and smothered in strawberries. The orange juice was really fresh; they just dump huge boxes of oranges into a ginormous juicer and serve up the juice in huge tall glasses. The food was pretty good. The inside kind of reminds you of the inside of a hunting lodge.
Following breakfast, we hopped on the bus to head down to the Marina District to visit the Palace of Fine Arts.
Getting there was a bit of an adventure. Let's just say things were a little cramped until we got through Chinatown and most of the people on the bus got off.
The Palace of Fine Arts always makes me feel like I got transported back a few thousand years in time. It was built way back in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. The palace has many details in the style of ancient Greek and Roman architecture.
That day, there was a traditional Indian wedding going on there.
some more pictures of details . . .
In the lagoon, we noticed a small family of turtles . . .
Ryan and I in front of the Palace . . .
After walking all around the grounds, we decided to sit and chill on the grass and people watch. Also on the grounds is an amazing science museum called the Exploratorium which is great to take your whole family to. We have been a couple of times so we opted out this time.
From there, we jumped on a bus to head over to Fisherman's Wharf. We had the intention of trying to catch a ferry over to Angel Island, but the times for the ferry and the tram tour on the island didn't work out. We would have to do a lot of waiting around and we were not up for that.
The walruses and seals were missing. There was only a couple of them. The rest had gone elsewhere to mate or have babies.
We ended up just walking around for a short while and then having some clam chowder and calamari for lunch.
Following lunch, we headed over to Ghirardelli Square to pick up some chocolate for gifts and to enjoy some ice cream.
A great tip when visiting there is to not go to the Ice Cream shop right off the front entrance. Walk through toward the hotel and there is a 2nd gift shop and Ice Cream place where you can just walk in and do both. The regular ice cream place has a line out the door and then some.
From the Square, we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. Not sure why I don't do that everytime - you know, schedule an afternoon nap while I travel. I think it makes for a better travel experience. It is not fun to see things when you are exhausted.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant Ryan and I had been to before called The Crustacean. You go there for what is termed "The Crab Experience". They steam a crab in butter, olive oil, garlic, and spices. It is amazing. You order it with the garlic noodles. Again, it is amazing.
Following dinner, we decided to ride around on the cable cars. Riding at night is a bit of a different experience than during the day. Different people. And the city just has a bit of a different feel to it. Peaceful, but yet alive.
The next day, our friends had an earlier flight than we did so Ryan and I decided to sleep in. We went over to the Grove again for a late breakfast and then walked over to the Yerba Buena Gardens.
The red building is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I was trying to convince Ryan to go for a visit. He doesn't dig art like I do, and I have been before, so we didn't make a visit this time.
The building with the interesting architecture is the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
From the gardens, we headed back to our hotel to pick up our luggage before we jumped on the BART to go to the airport.
This is the bar in the our hotel called the Pied Piper. Apparently it is styled to the time of "Mad Men", the TV show and they have drinks and other things that our "Mad Men" themed. We don't drink so we didn't go in but apparently what makes this bar famous is the vivid mural above the bar painted by Maxfield Parrish, a famous American painter from the early twentieth century who was commissioned to paint the mural for fee of six thousand dollars way back in 1909.
The letter commissioning Maxfield Parrish
A document issued under the Prohibition Act to seize all the liquour from the hotel.
After leaving the hotel, we walked up the street and caught the BART back to the airport.
It was a short visit to San Francisco this time, but sweet, and we had an enjoyable little escape.
