Well I am still really tired but it is getting better, this jetlag thing is a real pain.

I will make two separte posts as I would like to talk about the whole trip in one and the fabulous day with Jeff and Julie and the time we spent with Allen and Annie in another post.

So let´s start with The Trip.

We have been waiting for it for months, and this trip was the best ever. We did so many things, there was no stress and we enjoyed every single day. Our Hotel was at a perfect location, next to the Pyramid, 2 blocks from the Pier, 2 blocks from Chinatown.

We were in Chinatown everyday, Mikael was tired of me going in every single shop trying to find Bruce Lee stuff 🙂 , I also wanted a lucky cat which should not look like the thousand plastic ones we saw everywhere, I found one the very last day,  no Bruce stuff though 😦

We went to the Chinese Hospital,  happy to see it was still standing, we also  passed several places that Jeff had shown us last year.

Day 2 was the Crab day ! Best crabs in town at the Crab House, Pier 39, before and after that, we spent some time looking at the sea lions, we went all the way in fisherman´s warf and took the cable car back to the hotel.

day 3 was the day with Jeff and Julie,  I will describe it all in a separate post.

Day 4 we did a lot of walking visiting the Golden Gate, but first we walked from the hotel trying to find a cab and ended up where I did not want to go: the Civic Center aera, good advice : DO NOT go there, day time you´ll probably be fine have I heard, well from what I have seen I would not bet on it. Anyway,  the cab trip from there  was also an adventure, in the way that the driver was driving down the streets like a maniac , I felt like I was in a movie ! I must admit I thought that was cool when we arrived at the Golden Gate.

Anyway this time we walked it the whole way and back, we went to the beach and all the way back  to the hotel. It was a long 5 hours walk but so enjoyable as the weather was fantastic and there were so many things to see.

At fisherman´s warf, we stopped at the Hooters, for a beer,  we just had to check this out ! Then we visited  the cable car museum which was amazing! I had no idea how the cable cars worked,  this was very interesting.

On the evening we went to the R&G restaurant nearby our Hotel. The food was great,  the service was probably the worst I have ever seen, we wanted to order some dish we saw on the menu,  they refused to serve it to us as it would take 40 minutes to prepare they said. The staff was unfriendly and impatient to see us leave, they brought us the bill as soon as we were ready with the main course as if they were waiting for us to take that last bite. I have never seen anything like this.

So we went on to the Hilton to get some drinks and a guy came to us and offered coupons for free food ! and so we ate again, for free, now THAT was nice !!!!

Day 5 we went down to the Pier and on the way we stopped at the Coit Tower. My G0d those hills and incredible, we were fortunate to have training shoes on at all times,  otherwise it would have been impossible to walk at all…

Then we visited the aquarium at Pier 39, I would have to say I was disappointed,  I even went to the staff and asked ” is that all there is” ?  they are talking about thousand of species on the website but there is only two small areas  and not much to see. The best thing was that I was able to touch bat rays,  as I love animals this was a great thing for me to do.

Anyway we had a great lunch just outside afterwards, and a beer 🙂

On the way back , we looked for the ” Bullit” hills (from the Bullit movie with Steve Mac Queen ) that Jeff and Julie showed us earlier. This is incredible, as we came at the top of one, there was a car trying to come up but did not manage, the car just did not come up but down instead,  after several attemps she just had to back down and take another road. Even walking down these streets was painful on the knees but it was  just so cool to walk there!

We went back to the hotel and on the evening we walked in Chinatown and had a GT and a beer ( ! )  at the Empress of China, it was nice to be there again, we also ordered some food which was really good. The view from the top floor was great , the feeling was just special.

Day 6 we went down to the Pier and took a ferry to Sausalito. It was surreal to enter the fog, as it was sunny at the beginning but we went right through the fog area and there in the middle,  it seemed we were lost in the middle of nowhere seeing nothing at all around, it was incredible, then we came out of it and saw the coast of Sausalito right in front of us,  that was some experience ! Sausalito has another kind of soul, this has nothing to do with the busy town atmosphere, it is a really peaceful and beautiful town. We had a fantastic lunch in a restaurant on the sea front, the weather was really on our side, this was a great day.

Day 7 was the last day and we just went around town to do some shopping at the regular shopping destinations: Westfield, Chinatown, Fisherman… we finished with a beer ( yeah again ! )  at a local bar called Sinbad,  also on the sea front, really friendly and full of character, this was a great place to relax and mix with locals.’

San francisco is a fantastic town, but the number of tourists is just crazy . We wanted to be there in the summer to experience the fog and we were not disappointed and every single day as the fog disappeared,  we had a fantastic sun.

We did so many things , almost all there is to do, except the outside of town Napa and Muir woods,  I also wanted to visit Alcatraz again but we could not find a ticket.

Anyway,  we are so happy with the trip,we have so many good memories , excellent memories.

I am now wondering where we go next year ? 🙂