For a while now, we've planned a trip west, to San Francisco as both Frank's daughters are here. We have both been here, but never really explored the city in depth.
We booked a little boutique hotel in Japantown on a recommendation from the girls as it was kind of central to where each of them live.
Hotel Kabuki was going to be our "home base" for a few days.
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| View of Japantown from our room. |
We've found the most enjoyable way to learn about a city is by taking a food tour. Bright and early Wednesday morning, we were at the
Ferry Building to start the adventure.
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| Cowgirl Creamery (a place Andrea would really like to work!) |
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| Many restaurants and shops on this level of the Ferry Building. |
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| Frank, Allison, Andrea and Leann with the Bay and Bay Bridge behind us. |
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| A park near Chinatown where the locals practice Thai Chi. |
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| The gentlemen playing cards. |
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| View of Chinatown. |
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| Map of Chinatown - 6 blocks by 6 blocks. |
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| Fortune cookie factory. |
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| Tiny place, lots of cookies. |
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| City view. |
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| A whole alley named after Jack Kerouac, beatnik writer and poet. |
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| The most fun we had on the tour! Vital Tea Leaf owner Ming was funny and informative! |
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| Lots of teas! |
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Ming, preparing tea for us to sample. (And we sampled at least a dozen.)
He said you only need to let it steep for about 40 seconds! (Oops...I've been letting it steep for 2-3 minutes!)
And you never drink the fist soaking. It's for "waking up" the tea leaves. |
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| Tea comes in all shapes, sizes and varieties. |
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| Proverbs and poems in the Jack Keruoac alley. |
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| Vesuvio - historical monument/landmark of the Beat Generation |
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| Molinari Deli - yummy, yummy, yummy! |
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| Bill Weber - a well-known muralist happened to be doing some work at a building we were walking by. |
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| One of Bill's murals. |
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Not only is there a Jones Street, there's also a Franklin Street! Unfortunately, they didn't intersect.
(If they did, it would have made a great picture!) |
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Dinner at Luna Park.
Frank, Leann, Kelly (Andrea's bestie from Tampa), Andrea and Allison |
So far we have had perfect (albeit a little cool) weather for the few days we've been in San Fran. Tomorrow we pack up and head north to Petaluma (for a cheese 101 class at
Cowgirl Creamery) and then to Napa for the weekend where we will have a wine blending session at
Crushpad and then another foodie tour of downtown Napa with
Gourmet Walks.
Not sure when the next update to the blog will be, but hope this will tide you over for the time being. :o)
