Traveling on the bus in San Francisco

E and I just came back from a sisters' mini-getaway in San Francisco - let me just say that I fell deeply in love with the city. In my past trips, I never really had a chance to experience the city and its public transportation system the way we did this past weekend. On Saturday, we took the shuttle bus & BART from Oakland, then took two different buses to Sausalito/Marin City to get to Muir Woods. We took a nice short walk through the redwoods and made a note to stay longer in Sausalito the next time we're in the area (although I do not wish to diss the park, I do prefer the majesty of sequoia trees at Sequoia National...)

Then we took the bus again (you get the idea) to the Japanese Town Street Fair. E and I were moved to tears as we watched the SF Taiko Dojyo perform - their positive energy was almost overwhelming. The female members performed a set derived from a village in Japan where the women traditionally beat the taiko drums to signal the men to return home - very cool, since the men usually beat the drums. I bought a lot of cute things at the fair... oh, and a note to Nonnahs and Dis: there were a lot of home-based vendors selling their creative crafts. You girls need to start something somewhere...

I think that some in the bay area may consider Naan-n-Curry a Panda Express of Indian food, but the food there was delicious! E ordered the most tender tandoori chicken that I've ever had in my life. I ordered bhindi chicken (curry with okra - yup, K is cringing) which was fabulous. We need them to come down to SD. Then to SOMA (South of Market) where we saw a few bands perform at Slim's. Did you know that Billy Bob Thornton has a band? He'll be performing there in September. Ah...movie stars and their desire to be rock stars.


Next day...Lindy at the Park! There's a free lindy lesson every Sunday at Golden Gate Park. We met a very sweet man who lost his wife six years ago (seen above dancing with E.)

We saw the carnivorous plant exhibition at the nearby Conservatory of Flowers. Can you believe these are plants? Yikes!

Then to Fisherman's Wharf to grab some clam chowder. I really don't like the area, but will fight the throngs of tourists there in the future just so that I can dip a spoon into a sourdough bread bowl.

My friend A recommended that we check out Cow Hollow and the Union Street stores. A cute area with boutiques mixed in with some chain stores. Seriously, if I ever moved up here, I would have to file Chapter 13 because of all the great shopping.


Then to North Beach - we listened to a blues band at a dive, then walked to Stinking Rose. The place was a bit too touristy/Spaghetti Factory for my taste (I'm guessing that the one in Beverly Hills has a different ambience.) The garlic ice cream was interesting...I really liked the caramel mole sauce. I ordered crab, which was pretty tasty, but prefer the garlic roasted crab at Thanh Long (sister restaurant to Crustacean.) We wandered in Chinatown, then got a great quad work-out while climbing a hill to catch a bus back to our hotel.

Last day was spent at the Embarcadero and shopping around Union Square. We love Slanted Door! It got pretty crowded for lunch by 11:30. I'm definitely coming back here to eat. We took a brisk walk by the pier so that we could burn some calories and make room for green tea gelato and a chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting. Unfortunately, my cupcake got a bit banged up after carrying it around for a few hours - but still tasty! I bought a few things at H&M - I remember not liking the store when I was in Europe, but I am now a fan. Clothes are about a size smaller than the U.S. equivalent, but I love the cute, cheap chic! Again, none in SD (the closest stores are in LA/Pasadena. Hum.)

still yummy, despite its form