San Francisco

From Dan

Salty Pretzel with cheese dip

Alcatraz

Rania eating an apple

Chinese fruit and veg shop

Dried Fish

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Entering SF via Bay Bridge

San Francisco

Hey all, sorry for the delay but we've been a bit busy celebrating 4th of July. Before we get on to that I'll let you know how San Francisco went. So Anthony 'Rania's Bro' arranged a little trip to SF for the three of us after the wedding. We began the journey at 11pm on Sunday night, as this meant we could miss most of the traffic throughout the 5-6hr drive.

We arrived in SF by 7am and were unable to check-in until 3pm. We decided to try to sleep in lobby but it was too busy so we hit the road and found our way to chinatown. Chinatown was massive, 5 times the size of London's chinatown. I saw a yellow school bus for the first time. We ate Chinese shrimp and pork dumplings and bbq pork buns. By the end of our meal, we were too tired to go any further so we went back to the Hotel. Luckily by then, we were able to check-in to Anthony's room. We crashed out until about 2 and watched a bunch of american trash TV. Finally checked into our room at 3pm. After freshening up and getting ready, we went to The Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. This was a grand version of Minehead or Western Supermare. Rania was really keen to have clam chowder out of a sourdough bread bowl so we went to Boudin's for dinner. Rania and Anthony had the clam chowder and I had the chilli. We then vistited various gift shops and attractions before we headed back to the hotel after many hours of no sleep.

The next morning Anthony decided to stay in, leaving time for me and Rania to go exploring. Our first destination was Haight and Ashbury. We traveled via bus which was cool, they had alot of the bendy style buses we have in London. When we got off we were greeted with a musical instrument shop, wasn't that good, although we did buy a really loud egg shaker for $3.


From Rania:

Haight & Ashbury is a very hippie part of SF which has changed a lot since the last time I visited. We had a hard time differentiating between the homeless and the hippies. A lot of hobos asking for change. We had a massive sandwich at Coral Cafe nearby then continued our walk to Golden Gate Park. The entrance to the park near Haight & Ashbury was crowded with more bums so we felt a bit wary continuing on. We ended up at Conservatory of Flowers and Academy of Science Museum. By then we were exhausted so we took a bus and a cable car back to the hotel for 5pm. Freshened up a bit, got in touch with Jess' cousin Olivia who was really nice to meet up with us and take us out for dinner in the Mission district. We ate at Olivia's favourite local spot called Blue Jay Cafe on Divisadero and Golden Gate street. Dan had a very small portion of crab cakes and their special offer $1 beer, Anthony and Olivia had trout, and I went for the cheeseburger & fries. Afterwards, Olivia decided to show us around the Mission district - a part of SF that's equivalent to Silverlake in LA, Williamsburg in NY, and Brick Lane/Shoreditch in London. Wish we had more time to hang out in that area, Olivia was very informative and gave us all the inside info about the newer yuppy side of town, to the inbetween, and the old. Think we conquered at least 10 miles walking for the day so we called it an early night, in bed by midnight.

Sprained my wrist on June 28th whilst play fighting with Baniel

Pier 39

Sunny Baniel

Cute little kids waving to the people in the cable car

Wednesday: Met Annie (friend from NY who just recently moved to SF) at 8:30am for breakfast at The Farm Table right near our Hotel. Went back to the hotel to meet up with Dan and Anthony. Headed out to Chinatown to get some souvenirs, dropped stuff back at the hotel, took a cable car to Lombard street (crookedest street in SF), took photos of Alcatraz from a distance, went back to Fisherman's Wharf to have a feast before heading back to LA. Anthony had half a crab and shrimp cocktail. Dan and I shared shrimp cocktail, Lobster bisque in a sourdough bread bowl, battered shrimp, and curly fries. Went back to the Hotel, picked up our luggage, then shooted back to LA. I started driving at 7pm, and my brother decided we take the longer route via 101 fwy which gave us a total of 7 hours of driving vs. 5-6 hrs of driving. Never again.


Thursday: Took Jess and Spencer to the airport in the morning and got Jess' keys to her comfy 1 bedroom apartment in Mar Vista. Jess kindly let Dan and I stay in her apartment for the weekend while her and Spencer took off to Canada for another wedding.


Friday: Took Jess and Spencer's bikes for a quick bike trail on Ballona Creek Bike Path. Lasted about 5 miles total (including trip home). Our bums were aching the next day. We also stopped by a local music shop on our way home and saw a few beautiful vintage Gretsch and Epiphone hollow body guitars. $200 for an acoustic hollow body (no name brand). And a beautiful red Ibanez electro/acoustic hollow body for $350. Sigh...money money money! The biking knocked us out so off to bed early again...


Saturday: Woke up fairly early, cleaned around the apartment, got picked up by Olivia and Ram, went to Smart & Finals (like a Costco but BIGGER) and picked up some picnic goodies (salami, bread, crackers, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, hummus, cheese, jack & coke, margarita mix, and olives), headed over to the beach for what could've been a perfect picnic if it wasn't so darn windy. After we ate, we attempted to wait for the fireworks but shriveled up like prunes too quickly and decided to opt for plan B. Headed back to Jess' apt to drop off the food, headed off to Venice beach. Saw a few locals shooting off fire crackers on the beach, then went for a few drinks at Danny's Restaurant/Bar (Daniel didn't have his I.D. and most places were carding for entry. Danny's happened to let us through w/out I.D.). Ram got sick after too much J&D, called it a night around 2am.


Sunday: Woke up and cleaned, watched the food network on TV, went to Mitsuwa for lunch - I had thin sliced beef soup with udon noodles and Dan had chicken cutlet curry. Bought a box of red bean ice pops to go. Waited for Jess and Spencer to arrive from their trip. Had some ice pops and watched Spiderman 2 on TV. Got dropped off at home around 4pm, spent the rest of the day dealing with visa related stuff and finances. Total couch potatoes this weekend, felt nice to finally get some pure relaxation.


Jennifer Daigle was a really nice photographer to work with for our wedding. Can't wait to see the proofs on the 11th! We'll post some photos asap :).


photos have stopped uploading now, must be slow connection. more photos tomorrow!


night,

R&D