“If You Going To San Francisco”

Travel #2 – San Francisco Adventure Feb 2015

“If You Going To San Francisco – Scott Mc Kenzie” lyrics

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

Well we didn’t put flowers in our hair but we are geared up to see the beautiful San Francisco for the cold season, our next adventure……

San Francisco prides itself on its openness to diversity in race, gender, sexual orientation and personal style. This trait is widely considered to be one of the defining features of the city, and it draws visitors, just like us.

Smokers beware: smoking is illegal in bars, restaurants, and other public places. Bay Area people can be particularly vocal about your personal habits. Be aware of non-smoking areas, and try to be courteous about smoking in other places. On the other hand, smoking marijuana is remarkably well-tolerated.

Kamisah went to SF first to visit her friend, one week ahead of me as I can only apply a few days leave. I had to reserve it for other adventures. Greeted by Kamisah at San Francisco airport and her friend drove us straight to the hotel, a quaint boutique hotel called Mystic Hotel by Charlie Palmer.

San Francisco Airport Credit: Source Mystic Hotel

The Interior of Mystic Hotel and my room. Loving it!!

We were invited to a special dinner, and of course this was one of the “I must dress up for the night situation”. Yup that face of mine, “Why do I have to wear a dress?” After the dinner we went for a night cap at the Grand Hyatt and had an early night as I was feeling tired and sleepy from travelling all the way from Singapore, because I can never sleep on the plane. No jet lag yet! That always happens a couple days later.

Day 2.

A scenic day tour on Hop On Bus that cost about USD52 since we purchased it “on-street” where the first pick up point at the Union Square. The San Francisco hop-on, hop-off tour hits all the cultural and historical highs of the city. Since we can hop on and off at any time during the tour, we decided to purchase these, as it will give us the opportunity and choices to stop at the places where we want to stop and hop on to another when we are done with our pit stop. Amazing building across the streets of San Francisco. An architecture dream.

And of course the first hop-off which is a must is the Golden Gate Bridge!! Sitting on the upper level, non-covered, of the hop on bus, while wheezing through the bridge, was a “freeze our tits off” moment. Brrrrrrrr!!! But we wouldn’t miss it for anything even if our face will be frozen by the time we reach the pit stop. Beautiful!! Awesome!! Sensational! Body shaking feeling! At least we will have a permanent smile on our face (Freezed) for the photo taking. Once at the stop, we felt much better even though our face feel stoned cold. We did see several construction workers working to repair the bridge (I wish I had a nice zoom camera so that I can zoom in a clearer picture of the men). Magnificent view!

We wanted to hop off at a pier that will bring us to the Alcatraz but seeing there’s a massive long queue at the ticketing booth to purchase the ferry ticket, decided against it as we do not want to waste the whole day just queuing up. So instead we made a pit stop at the next must see list, The Fishermans Wharf of San Francisco. Being a typical Singaporeans, we love our seafood. We had it in Sri Lanka and now in San Francisco.

Yummy

Kamisah was over the moon.

This got us tickled

Scenic route

We did not manage to have another pit stop as we spend a couple of hours at the Fishermans Wharf, eating lunch, walking down the street, and admiring the scenery. But of course we had to make our last pit stop at the Cheesecake Factory for our dinner, since the building is located at the Union Square. We are in cheesecake heaven!!

The view from the Cheesecake Factory

Plan for Day 3
We were supposed to have a friend of ours from the US to drive together with us to Napa Valley, as we have rented a car. That is our next destination, in hope to get on a hot air balloon experience and also get all wined-up with the wine tasting at all the various vineyard. But our friend cancelled at the last minute and Kamisah looked petrified and pale at that moment because that means she has to drive instead, Oh! Oh! Jango!! (Btw - I don’t have a driving licence).

Day 3 – Thelma & Louise? Chaos! Tune in to part 2…….Napa Valley here we come!