Nina and Trixie's San Francisco Treat

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but as the saying goes "better late, than never", so here it is.

In March, Nina and I went to San Francisco for a much needed break to get away from the winter blues, work (news of upcoming changes), but mostly to visit with our Turkish friends, whom we had met in Goreme last year and happened to be in the States during the winter for work.

This was our first time to San Francisco, and I always had this mental picture of rain with dark grey clouds and lots of mist especially around Alcatraz. Boy, was I wrong! We picked a great weekend to visit as it was sunny and warm during the days, and a little cool in the evenings. It was a short trip, 4 days in total, and we managed to do quite a bit. We walked down the Crookedest Street in America, tasted chocolate and ice cream from Ghiradelli's, cupcakes from Kara's cupcakes, and dranks pots of tea with a light lunch at Crown & Crumpet. All this within a couple of hours ... okay we bought the cupcakes (6) for later, which were inhaled the next morning. They were so good. We walked around Fisherman's Wharf, where you're hit with all kinds of smells: water, baked goods, and salt water taffy.

We even hung out with the baddies at Alcatraz. We took the last tour trip out to Alcatraz and returned to the city in the evening. I recommend this time slot as it provides a great view of the city in the evening with all its lights and looks quite sparkly. There is also a demonstration of the cell doors opening and closing and different talks. One of the talks we went to was on one of the inmates who had escaped and lived to tell about it. He was one of the last inmates at Alcatraz when it they closed as a prison. He was The solitary confinement cells are very creepy and I can't imagine spending any length of time in there.

We went to the Financial District or Union Square to shop. Well, we shopped at one store because lets face it, neither one of us has that kind of money to shop at Burberry, Saks Fifth Avenue, etc. I could barely afford to look in the windows or in the stores themselves.

One day, probably the nicest day of them all, we walked from our hotel to the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) and walked across the bridge. On our way there, we stumbled upon the Planetarium, which has fabulous architecture with a man-made lake. It's a great spot to spend the afternoon reading a delicious book. ;) The GGB is enormous and very powerful with its thick beams and heavy cables. I felt like a wee little fish in the big ol'pond. Our friend met us on the other side of the bridge, he had no interest in walking across it, and he drove us along the coast providing us with spectacular scenery. We went to Berkeley for a Turkish dinner, which was delicious and brought back many fond memories of Turkey.

The Planetarium:

It was a short and sweet trip, but well worth it for the location, weather, food, and hanging out with our friends. I would definitely go back there again. Maybe this time, we'll schedule extra time so Nina can visit her mecca, the Cheesecake Factory.