Wow… what a time San Francisco has brought me. I pretty much have been on the go non stop since I got into San Fran on Saturday. After an amazing breakfast in what is known as the “Tenderloin” area of San Fran it was go go go. I ended up at Dotties True Blue Café for breakfast (where I was blogging from on Saturday morning) and it was an amazingly good breakfast. What I didn’t realize at that point was that the “Tenderloin” is the kinda dodgy part of town… woops! After breakfast I got out of dodge pretty quick and got myself down to the Visitors centre and worked out a plan of action for my 2 full days in San Fran.

I ended up with the following plan after working out what I wanted to see etc.

Day 1 – Saturday – Hop On Hop Off tour to get the general city tour, Golden Gate bridge etc, then Ferry Building for Lunch (farmers markets o yeah), then also along that area to the Street Car Museum, Fishermans Wharf, SS Jeremiah O Brien, More fishermans Wharf, Boudin Bakery Tour, Ghiradelli Square, try and fit a Cable Car in, meet up with a friend and then over to the Mission District for some dinner. Pretty full on first day.
Day 2 – Sunday – Yosemite Day Tour – Full Day Booked with Extranomical Tours
Day 3 – Monday – Cable Car Museum, Filbert St (steepest St in San Francisco), Lombard St (Crookedest St in San Francisco), Coit Tower, Union Square, Macys and Burger Bar for lunch to Celebrate my Birthday with my friend Brad), Then Market St shops (checking out the big name stuff like Ferrari Store etc) then a quick repack of my bag etc before going to see the Giants play at AT&T Park.
Day 4 – Tuesday (today) – Alcatraz in the morning, then out to the airport to change hotels as we are staying out here tonight then an afternoon of plane spotting, feeding the Avgeek in me.

It was a damn full on stay in San Francisco but I loved every minute of it. The Golden Gate bridge was crazy as hell, the wind is insane as you cross that bridge, I felt like I was going to get blown off the top of the open top bus. But it was an amazing site. The food at the Ferry Building was amazing for a farmers market. Had a fresh cut air dried salami, tomato chutney and arugala (rocket) sandwhich . It was delicious with every bite. Top that off with some organic yellow baby carrots and some fresh grape tomatos picked that morning, what more could you ask for. Seeing the SS Jeremiah O’Brien was cool as well, this is a “Liberty Ship” built in WW2 for the transport of goods across the Atlantic and is still in operation today. It landed in Normandy on Dday+4 so it was a good prelude to my upcoming venture to Normandy in a few days.

I tried that afternoon to get on a cable car back to the hotel, failed after waiting 30 mins and still couldn’t get one to stop as they were all full, so jumped on the bus. Thankfully the hotel is right next to the start of the California line so I jumped on it that afternoon when I went to visit my friend Chris, an old buddy from back in the www.radioactive.net.au days. After visiting Chris, since Brad didn’t come with me I knew I had a chance to finally get some good Mexican in after being denied that priveledge really so far. I went to Tacqeria La Cumbre in the mission district. This was shown on Man V Food for their Giant Burritos and apparently where the whole Mission style Mexican started from. This place did not disappoint and I had an amazing Carne Al Sada (steak) burrito filled with Meat, Rice, Black Beans, Lettuce, Tomato, Cheese, Guacamole and Pico De Gallo. It was yum++++++ By the time I got back to the hotel that night it was after 10pm and I had left at 730am that morning.

Yosemite was an amazing day. Got to go out and visit the National Park, hiking in the Giant Sequoia trees, getting to see and experience the beautiful surroundings, I can see why people go there, the views are amazing. The rock climbing at places like El Capitain and North Face would be mental, won’t catch me there. Took about 400 photos or so that day.

Then yesterday. Another early morning wake up to make sure I get some fitness in, before heading out to the Haight Ashbury district for Breakfast. Again my pre planning had failed somewhat as I had not checked what time the place opened only that it was open that day and unfortunately it did not open for several hours after we were standing in front of the store. Woops. This was meant to be an amazing place for breakfast. Instead we ended up going to a place called “The Pork Store” a good little whole in the wall style diner that was AMAZING! Turns out it is the most popular breakfast spot in the whole district. Thankfully we were there on a Monday morning and not on a weekend where the lines can go for almost 2 hours for a table! We were 2 of only 10 people in there at the time.

Again a full on morning exploring the city and also managed to send home all the clothes I had bought in Oregon ($1500 worth of stuff condensed into a 12kg box). Walked up the steepest street (well more like ran up the steps) and then ran down the crookedest street). I then hiked it half way to Coit Tower, got the bus up the incline then walked back down again to where I had just got the bus from and got over to Union Square for lunch with my friend Brad who was treeting me to lunch at Burger Bar for my birthday. Burger Bar is the restaurant run by Hubert Keller. He is a famous TV and Celebrity chef over here in the USA and I have seen him numerous times on Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. Good enough for me! The Burger was AMAZINGLY good. I didn’t go to over the top just a good Bacon, Cheese Burger but I went with Pepper Bacon & Provolone Cheese with some Buttermilk Onion Rings. Yum yum yum. The afternoon was spent exploring the shops but the only thing I bought was a jersey for the game at AT&T park.

The baseball game was great, the Giants lost (of course) but I had a good time, albeit in the Freezing cold as we were in the Bleacher seats and the stadium is right on the bay, with the wind blowing in off the bay it was freaking cold, like ice cold. We left at the top of the 8th inning cause the giants were losing and my hands were going blue. Still had an awesome time.

This morning I got to visit Alcatraz (albeit a little rushed as we had to check out by 12) but I still got to see and do the things I wanted there. The island is crazy as hell. I was amazed at how bare bones it is really. I was shocked. But in saying that a lot of the old signs etc are still there and it is in amazingly good condition. They look after the place really well. Back into the city I went to start my trek by Cab, Bart & Bus to my hotel for tonight here in Millbrae. I wanted to get some plane spotting in as I knew I would have the chance to get some good stuff and it wasn’t to far from the hotels around the Airport. Plus I have to be at the airport around 730-8am in the morning. So airport hotel makes it easier.
Managed to take 1500 photos in the 2 hours I was out spotting but got 2 more A380s to my collection (Lufthansa & Air France, leaving only Korean remaining) and some special liveries like the Alaskan Hawaii Birds, lots of old Battleship grey uniteds, a special US Airways scheme I had never seen and the Air Berlin A330 from Berlin (where else). A great afternoon really! So here I am, totally beat, doing my laundry and blogging. Will sleep well tonight as tomorrow I start the crazy part of my trip. Its time to start getting some miles under my belt!

Current Location: Millwood Inn & Suites, Millbrae, California