When: March 3 // Weather: 50s and foggy // Real life: exploring San Francisco
Sweater // Jeans (on sale) // Bag (on sale) // Shoes
Those of you paying attention (good for you) already know we spent the first week of March on vacation in Northern California. Now that I’ve had a week to reacclimate to non-vacation lifestyle – which is super lame, by the way – I’m ready to start the recaps!
The main focus of the trip was on wine country, and don’t worry, we’ll get to that soon, you lushes. But we had never been to SF, so it just made sense to fly into SFO and spend the weekend there, cramming in as many sights as we could see, before heading to Napa to kick back and relax. It turned out to be a pretty great plan. After 2 days, I’m certainly no expert on the City by the Bay, but if you’re planning a trip, here was our itinerary, which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself:
Day 1
- Brunch at Fiorella (generously sized bellinis and Instagrammable wallpaper)
- Visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum (interesting even if you’re not a huge Disney fan, and definitely a museum, not a Disney attraction)
- Shopping and sea lion-spotting at Fisherman’s Wharf (tourist trap, but a neat one)
- Live jazz and cocktails at Mr. Tipple’s (very relaxed, classy but not stuffy atmosphere, good music)
Day 2
- Breakfast at the Bean Bag Café (quick and casual with lots of yummy breakfast basics – we picked it because it opened early and we were still on Eastern Time!)
- Spotted the Painted Ladies (if you’re confused, that’s the row of different colored Victorian houses including the “Full House” house)
- Saw the Golden Gate Bridge up close (we went to the Visitor’s Center for good lookout points with informative signs and exhibits)
- Tour of the Castro neighborhood (there’s a free one offered by SF City Guides, which does lots of other tours as well)
- Lunch in the Castro at Fable (the red quinoa brunch bowl was deeeeelish)
- Cable car ride (underwhelming but it’s part of the experience, right?)
- Visit to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (reminded me of the Whitney in NYC – lots to see and would definitely recommend if you enjoy modern art)
- Shopping at Westfield Centre (a mall with spiral escalators and a really cool dome)
- Dinner at Tropisueno (really cool, sorta upscale Mexican place with an insane margarita menu)
- Visit to the Museum of Ice Cream (incredibly ridiculous and incredibly fun, especially when you’ve just had a margarita or 2 at Tropisueno)
There’s plenty more to do, and I’ll definitely be back to do it one of these days! But I’m quite pleased with my intro to San Fran. If you’re planning a first-time visit and have any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll be happy to answer.