Thursday 2 June 2011

San Francisco vacation photos

My lovelies, I'm excited to share our San Francisco vacation photos, if you like to see. We had such a great time and are in love with the city!
As I mentioned before, we were lucky enough to swap apartments with Victoria from SFGirlbyBay. Well, she also let us borrow her sky-blue convertible VW Bug! The only challenge: It was a stick shift, so San Francisco's steep hills definitely tested our driving skills. We may or may not have bumped another car (we did), which Victoria may or may not have been amazingly cool about (she was).
One of the first afternoons, we went to the California Academy of Sciences, where we saw giraffes, dinosaurs and a rad aquarium. Alex and I took turns watching the dizzying 30-minute film in the planetarium; the giant curved screen made you feel like you were actually flying through the solar system. It was, as Alex would say, a trip.
Meanwhile, Toby was in heaven watching the eels and sharks swimming underneath us. Alex and I joked that it might be the best day of his life thus far, and I think it actually really might have been.
One night, Alex and I went to Foreign Cinema, an fabulous restaurant that plays movies on a wall their back garden. (Aren't the ivy-covered walls beautiful?)
We ordered bright green asparagus soup...
...and bright pink rose wine...
...and had a wonderful breezy evening.
The next day was rainy, so we took shelter in the Ferry Building with its cheese shops, gourmet groceries, fish markets...
...gourmet donut stands...
...and flower shops.
Alex and I also had literally, no exaggeration, the best sandwich of our lives (braised brisket, and I don't even usually like brisket)...
...at this place. If they ever opened a shop in New York, I would eat there everyday.
Afterward, we chilled on a bench behind the Ferry Building and watched the waves. Toby is obsessed with all water other than baths, and he was so enthralled that he didn't even mind his soaking wet socks.
Afterward, Alex suggested we walk up to Fisherman Wharf's Musee Mecanique, an old-school arcade with tons of coin-operated games, fortune-tellers (like in the movie Big!), and musical instruments that play old-time-y music when you put in a quarter.
One of the most famous arcade machines was "Laughing Sal," who had a crazy cackle.
The sign said she had "terrified children for over fifty years."
I figured Toby was too young to be scared of her...
I was wrong.
That night, on my sister's recommendation, Alex and I did a taco crawl (just the two of us) through the Mission district. We stopped into a bunch of different taquerias for beers, margaritas and, of course, tacos.
Pork carnitas was our favorite. P.S. Did you know there is a Michelin-starred taco truck?
On our final night, we went with my sister and her husband to a party at SFMOMA. We drank cocktails in the giant lobby...
...and then had our run of the place. It was cool to explore the museum after hours and get to see all the art up close and casually.
Other highlights of the trip: Walking out to Point Bonita lighthouse, hanging out at Dolores Park, going to Tartine for croque monsieur (three times), getting Korean-style massages and salt scrubs in Japantown, and checking out San Francisco's beautiful toy stores.

San Francisco, we love you! We can't wait to come back. :)

P.S. 10 tips for traveling with a baby.

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