After so many visits from my boyfriend to see me in New York, it was definitely time for me to reciprocate by heading out to his coast. This would be my second trip to San Francisco, the first being when I met him, so was definitely looking forward to seeing a new part of the city! As I did with my last trip (to Las Vegas), I had Carmel waiting outside my office building to take me to JFK, and I was at the airport by 6:30pm for my 7:30pm flight. I was on an American Airlines flight this time - not earning any mileage on this one, but I also wasn't paying for it, so no complaints here. :) I landed in San Francisco at 11:00pm, where Sean was waiting.
He pulled up his Uber app on his phone and within a couple minutes the car arrived and we were on our way. The Uber app has really taken off in San Francisco, and I know it exists in New York as well, but I am not really the target demographic for it (it's more for the techie-what-shall-I-do-with-all-my-money types). It's somewhere between the cost of a taxi and a private car, and is essentially an app that shows you where these Uber drivers are on a map and then allows you to select one and have it come pick you up immediately. We were pulling up to his apartment in an area of the city known as Cole Valley within half an hour, driving past where his new office building was located and up and down some massive hills shrouded in fog (that's San Francisco for you!).
The next morning, we slept late and then went to brunch at Zazie, a cute French bistro right around the corner from his apartment. The place was packed (packed for a Friday morning, at least, when all these people should be working....?!?!?)! It was a beautiful, sunny day so we opted to sit out on the back patio. I had the French toast stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts - delicious! After eating, he wanted to show me around his neighborhood, so we first took a hike up to Tank Hill. And when I say "hike," this was no stroll in the park - I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top of the street that leads to the entrance of Tank Hill. Parking on streets like this definitely requires a special skill set! We then made our way to the top of Tank Hill and had the most phenomenal view of San Francisco - Sean said this is a popular place to watch fireworks from on the 4th of July. It was nice to take a little break from that crazy walk up to the hill and just enjoy the scenery; he was able to point out important buildings and areas around the city to me from our bird's eye view.
San Francisco below us and the bay in the distance:
We then continued walking around his neighborhood, this time back down the hill through the Haight. This was the first time I had actually gotten to see the famous Haight/Ashbury corner, so I was pretty happy to be able to tick off one more "to do" from my San Francisco list! Being that this was April 20 (4/20), the Haight was crawling with what can best be described as a "counter culture" roaming the streets with weed and clearly skipping school and work. Exactly what I'd expect from the Haight!
After a little more walking around, we were hot and tired so headed back home for a nap before getting ready for our dinner. We had a 6:00pm reservation at Bix, an elegant restaurant with a live jazz band performing nightly described as a good spot for "anniversary couples and first-impression daters." After being dropped off by an Uber driver onto the cobblestone back alley where the restaurant's front door is, we were lead up a staircase to the balconied second floor and seated in a booth. The restaurant was relatively empty this early, but by the time we started eating it had completely filled up. I ordered the BIX rickey cocktail to start, and after a cocktail we switched over to red wine (Tierra Roja I believe) with our dinner. We had Pacific oysters on the half shell and steak tartare for appetizers, and I had tuna while Sean had a steak for our main course. Dinner was fantastic, the restaurant had a very romantic, sophisticated feel to it and the live jazz starting up as we sipped on our cocktails made for a fun mood all around.He pulled up his Uber app on his phone and within a couple minutes the car arrived and we were on our way. The Uber app has really taken off in San Francisco, and I know it exists in New York as well, but I am not really the target demographic for it (it's more for the techie-what-shall-I-do-with-all-my-money types). It's somewhere between the cost of a taxi and a private car, and is essentially an app that shows you where these Uber drivers are on a map and then allows you to select one and have it come pick you up immediately. We were pulling up to his apartment in an area of the city known as Cole Valley within half an hour, driving past where his new office building was located and up and down some massive hills shrouded in fog (that's San Francisco for you!).
The next morning, we slept late and then went to brunch at Zazie, a cute French bistro right around the corner from his apartment. The place was packed (packed for a Friday morning, at least, when all these people should be working....?!?!?)! It was a beautiful, sunny day so we opted to sit out on the back patio. I had the French toast stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts - delicious! After eating, he wanted to show me around his neighborhood, so we first took a hike up to Tank Hill. And when I say "hike," this was no stroll in the park - I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the top of the street that leads to the entrance of Tank Hill. Parking on streets like this definitely requires a special skill set! We then made our way to the top of Tank Hill and had the most phenomenal view of San Francisco - Sean said this is a popular place to watch fireworks from on the 4th of July. It was nice to take a little break from that crazy walk up to the hill and just enjoy the scenery; he was able to point out important buildings and areas around the city to me from our bird's eye view.
San Francisco below us and the bay in the distance:
We then continued walking around his neighborhood, this time back down the hill through the Haight. This was the first time I had actually gotten to see the famous Haight/Ashbury corner, so I was pretty happy to be able to tick off one more "to do" from my San Francisco list! Being that this was April 20 (4/20), the Haight was crawling with what can best be described as a "counter culture" roaming the streets with weed and clearly skipping school and work. Exactly what I'd expect from the Haight!
Bix:
After dinner, we met up with Sean's friend Marcus to grab drinks, first at Rye and then on to Orbit Room Cafe. I would describe both as "nothing special," but I had good cocktails at each bar, so no complaints. We were both tired after a long day (even though we did nap!), so called it a night by midnight so we'd be fresh for our wine country adventure the next day!
Miles Traveled Today: 2,906
Total Miles Traveled: 39,415
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