Hello, Goodbye. Visiting San Francisco.

Recently, I got to visit the west coast for the first time! Enjoyed the sunny and windy weather... I think it was too much sun for me! It was a very short trip but nevertheless enjoyed the city and definitely the company of friends and my lovely aunt. Here are the top 5 highlights in SF Downtown.

Highlight #1: The Fisherman's Wharf.  Such an amazing place even if it is packed with tourists. For a Filipino-Chinese who grew up with bounty seafood, this was a perfect place to go. I can be here every week if I'm staying in SF. You can smell the sea and the seafood being cooked while walking in the streets towards the restaurant.  With my 2 weeks stay, I got to visit this place twice and I still can't get enough of it.

Had the opportunity to try both Scoma's  and Alioto's. Scoma's is simply amazing. The ambiance is very nice as they are situated in a small alley facing the bay. It feels like a movie scene when seated inside and quite a romantic place. In addition, they have really good food. I had their dinner menu costing around USD 40 which serves an appetizer, entree, and dessert. They have a very delicious lobster bisque and clam chowder!  I also ordered their Broiled Wild Pacific Swordfish with Tuscan White Beans, Pancetta, Tomatoes & Organic Rainbow Chard. The fish was PERFECTLY cooked, WELL SEASONED, and so fresh. The texture of the fish meat is so soft that it feels like it melts in your mouth. It's one of the nicest fish dishes I've eaten. I guess that having their own fish port makes a difference. Picture quality is a bit poor as I only got it from my Iphone.

Alioto's is also a really nice place. My Sunday brunch was enjoying clam chowder with sauerkraut bread and a plate of shrimp, scallops, mussels, dungeoness crab, and lobster in wharf style sauce with some saffron rice pilaf.  A delightful lunch. Too delicious I actually used my bare hands to eat! Yes! for most of you who knows me, this will come as a surprise as I would normally use my kubyertos to eat anything. Special thanks to my Aunt who treated me for a good lunch!

For dessert, I got to try Ghirardelli's blended sundae drink!

Highlight #2: Palace of Fine Arts. This is probably one of my favorite sites in SF Downtown. I can imagine myself just sitting in the grass and enjoying a picnic with friends in a warm sunny day. It's a really nice place and I think no one can disagree when you look at the pictures below.

Highlight #3 Golden Gate... It's not golden! I can hear the song "I left my heart in San Francisco" as I drove through the Golden Gate bridge. It's such a cliché! Well pardon me but I never imagined myself being able to drive through this bridge.  Too bad it is packed with tourists so I am not able to get a really good picture. There's always a next time, right?

 

Highlight #4: Lombard Street. San Francisco is a tiring city to walk because of the hilly streets. Lombard, the crookest street in the world is no exception.  It's too bad there were no flowers blooming yet in this time of the year. To get there, I actually rode the cable car. The cable car is not really a highlight as I felt that it's too expensive (6 USD one way) to ride and not really that nice as there is always a huge line to follow before you can get a ride. It's a good way though to reach the touristic sites. Anyway, going back to the Lombard street, it's too bad I was not able to drive around it. Don't be fooled though, it's just a small part of the street that is crooked. And there I thought, it was the full street…

 

Highlight #5: Victorian Houses - Alamo Square.  The nice victorian houses, they are a bit freaky, maybe because I imagine them as witch houses from Charmed or haunted houses from other movies. I do like the colors of the houses!