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| I made a new friend at one of the scenic pull outs! His name was Tipper! |
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| First Golden Gate sighting |
We checked in to our lovely Hotel Frank right near Union Square, spent a few minutes admiring our lovely king size bed and clean ensuite bathroom before heading to Chinatown for a much needed yum cha hit (or dim sum as they call it). After ingesting enough yum cha for a regular sized Australian couple (only five dishes compared to the table of two next to us who had a total of 15 dishes between them, and were actually cut off due to the restaurant making last call, needless to say, they were rather corpulent Americans).
Luckily our next destination was downhill as we headed to Pier 39 to see some more sea lions. You would think by this point we would have had enough of sea lions and other aquatic mammals, but no. They are still cute as ever.
We then attempted to get on a tour to Alcatraz only to be told that as it is peak season we would have needed to book at least a month in advance. Who plans that far in advance? Anyway, we had to make do with seeing it from the shore.
We headed down the road to Fisherman’s Wharf and stopped at
Boudins Bakery with the intention of trying one of their famous chowders in a
sourdough bowl but unfortunately we were still full of dumplings (and I was a
little extra full after eating a custard tart on the way). We settled for photos of the bread and the hoards
of people ogling the creative dough designs.
From Fisherman's Wharf we followed the signs to Ghiradelli Square for a much needed hot chocolate. Here we also learnt of Off the Grid, a food truck street market of sorts where some of San Fran's best food trucks come together with the sole purpose of adding to the obesity problem. The food was incredibly delicious and a lot of it was locally sourced and seasonal. Food truck perfection!
The next day we breakfasted at Lori's diner for a good old fashioned American (read crap) diner breakfast. It was full of all the flare one would hope to see in an American diner, sadly in just lacked the flavour.
We then fulfilled a life long fantasy of seeing the Full House house. The Painted Ladies were very quaint but we couldn't help but feel bad for the people who actually lived in the houses.
Our last tourist stop was Lombard Street which lays claim to the windiest street. I thought it was pretty pointless really and the photos don't really show how windy it is but I have included them anyway.
That evening we started to head towards Los Angeles. We had an overnight in Monterey, a cute little beachside town on the west coast. On the way we stopped to check out a cute lighthouse and its friendly resident sea lions.
From Fisherman's Wharf we followed the signs to Ghiradelli Square for a much needed hot chocolate. Here we also learnt of Off the Grid, a food truck street market of sorts where some of San Fran's best food trucks come together with the sole purpose of adding to the obesity problem. The food was incredibly delicious and a lot of it was locally sourced and seasonal. Food truck perfection!
The next day we breakfasted at Lori's diner for a good old fashioned American (read crap) diner breakfast. It was full of all the flare one would hope to see in an American diner, sadly in just lacked the flavour.
We then fulfilled a life long fantasy of seeing the Full House house. The Painted Ladies were very quaint but we couldn't help but feel bad for the people who actually lived in the houses.
Our last tourist stop was Lombard Street which lays claim to the windiest street. I thought it was pretty pointless really and the photos don't really show how windy it is but I have included them anyway.
That evening we started to head towards Los Angeles. We had an overnight in Monterey, a cute little beachside town on the west coast. On the way we stopped to check out a cute lighthouse and its friendly resident sea lions.
