Weekend in S.F. - Day 1

Ricky and I just spent the weekend in bay area. I had another work trip that I had to be in Concord, CA for. Luckily Grandma and Papa Tutu, along with Aunt Natalee, were able to tend the boys so that Ricky could go with me.

We spent all day Friday in downtown San Francisco. I should mention that it felt like we were in Antarctica. It was SO COLD. It was 42 degrees when we got there. I wasn't quite prepared for it to be that cold. We started at Pier 39 where we ate lunch at a delicious crepes place. From there we headed up to Fisherman's Warf. We stopped at a pier on the way that had old boats/ships to tour. The next stop was Ghirardelli Square. You would think that my favorite thing was the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop but it wasn't. We didn't even order anything there because it was too cold to eat ice cream. Instead, we hit up Kara's Cupcakes. Yes, she is the one from the TV show the Cupcake Wars. 

We rode the cable cars up the famous Hyde St. It was a pretty fun ride. We passed Lombard St on our way to see the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Luckily we made it inside about 15 minutes before closing which was just enough time to see the ornate design and sculptures. 

Making our way down to Union Square we walked through Little Italy and Chinatown. We walked for miles through Chinatown and it was really like being in a different country. It reminded me a lot of when I was in Tokyo. The streets were lined with little stores overstuffed with either fresh foods or tiny trinkets. People crowded the streets and definitely in your personal space. A certain smell accompanied the environment adding to the experience. It was very interesting and quite fascinating to see. After what seemed like walking forever we made it to Union Station. It's a huge park surrounded by great shopping. We spent several hours there including dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We ended by taking the famous, and really old, streetcars up Embarcadero back to Pier 39 to our car. 

The Bay Bridge

You can see how foggy and overcast it was. 

When Ricky has his sweatshirt with his leather jacket we call it his Jack Bauer look. It was so cold, especially by the water. Thank goodness for hot chocolate.

There was nothing left of our crepes so I had to take a picture of the menu to remember how yummy those crepes were.  Next time I'm there this will be a definite stop!

I loved this old ship.  This was part of the pier boat museum.

Northeast San Francisco skyline behind me.  It was too overcast to really see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kara's Cupcakes.  

I really wanted to try a bite of all of them but I ended up with a smores one and Ricky had a Gluten free sweet vanilla cupcake. Ricky loved his and I will admit it was pretty good. 

I was sad to hear that there wasn't a factory tour for Ghirardelli.  The ice cream shop had a little section with machines that were running with signs that explained each step of the process for making their chocolates.  It was better than nothing but I wished there was an actual factory tour. 

We hopped in the cable cars at Hyde Park. I had no idea they still used the old fashion methods of a turn table to turn these cars around.  

This sign was on the fence right at the entrance gate.  We got a good laugh out of it.  We were quite surprised at how fast the cars were. 

The end of our ride. The drivers were switching shifts so they just park the cable car in the middle of the intersection for people to get off and on.  It was a bit crazy.

St. Peter and Paul's Church. 

It's always very interesting me us to see the different decorations.  This one had several pictures like this one made from tiny little tiles all placed together. 

Chinatown

There were several buildings with a very authentic chinese archetectual build mixed in with just normal old brick buildings. 

Gotta love this Bank of America branch.  It fit right in. 

St. Mary's old church.

Union Square - The park is the main hub for the area. There was ice skating going on in the park while we were there. 

The Macy's building which seems to serve as the anchor store for the block. (This is not my picture - I borrowed it from the Internet so you can see how cool my next pictures are.)

This is the "M" at the top of the Macy's building. 

The Cheesecake Factory is at the top so while we waited for our table we had a great view of the surrounding area.