Urban Travel

At the start of summer, Ryan decided that we needed to plan a trip to celebrate our anniversary.

We tossed around several ideas and ended up choosing San Francisco.

Partly because it is so interesting and partly because it would be a fun place to be without kids.

So last week we packed pants and jackets in a suitcase and hopped on an airplane headed for San Francisco.  We landed at SFO and took a taxi into the city.  We decided that to fully experience the city we would explore it without a car.  We would walk, take public transit or take a taxi everywhere we wanted to go.  We stayed in Pacific Heights and fell in love with the charm of the hilltop neighborhood.

Shortly after we arrived we walked a few blocks to a main street of sorts.

We ate lunch and browsed in interesting boutiques.

Then we got our first taste of what walking would be like in this city

as we walked half a mile UP hill back to our hotel.

After getting back to our room we got our warm clothes packed up and started our trek down to the bay.  The goal?  To see the America's cup sailboats and just check it out.

After a long fog-filled walk to the bay we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf to catch a boat for a sunset cruise.  First, stopping to eat some Clam Chowder of course.

We were a little uncertain how much we would see because the fog was so dense at the pier and the wind was super cold.  But, after pushing off into the bay we were rewarded 

with some fun views of the city and Alcatraz.

And then, miraculously, we were able to see a little bit of sun on our sunset cruise.

The next morning we got up and headed to Hayes Valley to go on a 3 hour bike tour in the heart of the city.  We explored downtown, the Mission district where we saw amazing murals, we rode up Market Street to cruise through the Castro and then we took a bike route known as "The Wiggle" over to Golden Gate Park.  After catching our breath, we rode through the infamous Haight/Ashbury neighborhood.  We finished off at Alamo Square with a view of the famous Painted Ladies and the downtown landscape behind.

After a hearty lunch we walked to Union Square - 

through a very sketchy neighborhood known as the Tenderloin.  

Do not go there at night.  

It was surreal to emerge from that into the pristinely glamourous area encompassing Union Square.

Because we get positively giddy with all the possibilities when traveling without kids, we proceeded to the top of Telegraph hill and ascended Coit tower.  The views were amazing... even if the overall experience was a little claustrophobic for my taste.  Check out these 360 degree views:

And the view from inside the tower:

After that adventure we headed back down to the bay.

Are you getting the feel for how much walking we did??

We got home that night and promised ourselves a super lazy morning.

But... the sun was shining and the fog was completely clear...

so of course we walked down to Crissy Field near the Presidio 

and caught some fabulous views of the infamous Golden Gate Bridge.

Because we really were getting sore legs we took a taxi over to Union Square where we had lunch and then joined a 3 hour walking tour of Chinatown.

At first I thought it was going to be a bit of a boring history lecture, but it ended up being absolutely fascinating as we explored the alleyways, went into a 90 year old apothecary shop, saw Chinese gambling and watched fortune cookies being made.

After the walking tour we ate some fabulous Chinese food and then walked {of course!}

to the Ferry Building and checked out the sites near the Bay Bridge.

The next morning we finally got our lazy morning. 

We lounged, ate a fabulous breakfast and watched a movie in bed at 11am.

Then, with a little time to kill, we wandered through our Pacific Heights neighborhood before heading to the airport.  Here are a couple of pictures to show the type of hills we ascended and descended everywhere we went.

Overall an absolutely wonderful trip with my best friend.