Friday, June 13, 2014

we went to san francisco-day 1

Last month, Bart and I took a little trip to San Francisco to celebrate our 11th anniversary and as a last getaway before we have four kids!  He actually had a business meeting there the beginning of the week, and I joined him Wednesday night.  Thursday morning, we woke up to this awesome view from our hotel window:
The inside of the hotel was awesome too!  It was newly remodeled (as in the hotel only opened the week before, and we were the very first ones to stay in this room).  I loved all the decor, and the fun touches they used to make the old hotel updated while keeping some of its charm. 
I so wanted to steal this couch and take it home with me!


Anyway, we started our morning with breakfast at this cute little cafe near our hotel.  
I got the "breakfast of champions" aka a waffle covered in chocolate and whipped cream.  Yum!
On our way to Chinatown, we saw this awesome tunnel.  From below, it looks like the road above and the road below are the same road, except that there is a huge hole in the middle.
We made it to Chinatown and had fun looking at all the fun shops.  It was interesting to see the ones that clearly cater to tourists, and the others that obviously do not care about the tourist business since none of their signage is in English.






Meanwhile, we got a text from Bart's mom (who graciously watched our children for us), to show that Krew was happily eating his breakfast, with his tiger of course.
We had to snap a picture of the Transamerica pyramid, since it's the most iconic in the San Francisco skyline.  
It was crazy to go from Chinatown through the financial district, and how drastically different they are, even though they are so close.  
The next stop was the Ferry Building.  I don't think I've ever been to a market quite like this before.  I wanted to buy everything, and eat everything.

We had fun trying oysters, especially with the guys in line behind us telling us how it's done.
After eating lunch, dessert, and several snacks there, we headed to the Exploratorium, only to find out it was closed for the day so they could set up for their yearly gala.  We were disappointed, but it was probably the only real setback of the entire trip, so we can't complain.  Instead, we kept walking along the water to get to the aquarium.

I call this one, "Selfie with a school of sardines."



We rode one of the cool old street cars back to our hotel.  The public transportation in SF was so slick.  Usually it's such a headache to try to figure out how to get from point A to point B in a new, large city, but it was a breeze there.
For dinner, we walked to the Burger Bar, where we got to sit right by the window of the fifth floor, looking out at the city.  We seriously had the best views while we ate this entire trip!

This picture makes me laugh!  It was funny to hear people saying Bart's name all the time while we were there, since we certainly don't know anyone there, and his name isn't super common.
Day one was super fun, and we got to see and do so much.  It was a great way to spend our 11th anniversary!