San Francisco 2015

I started 2015 in beautiful San Francisco this year and I'm so glad I did, it was gorgeous.  My sisters and I got the idea last spring after our highly successful sister's weekend over Memorial Day weekend so I went ahead and booked a hotel in June for New Year's Eve.  Now that's planning ahead!  But before we knew it, the time had arrived already.  Three of us went with our husbands and we had the best time being together again.

Our hotel was one block from Union Square so we could walk to most places

but taking public transportation is easy in San Francisco such as the cable cars

that took us to Fisherman's Wharf 

so we could eat chowder, sourdough bread and crab - three MUST HAVES when in San Francisco.

When you see it everywhere and smell the salty air, you must eat it.

We found a cute little place, called Pompei's Grotto, that was nicely decorated for the holidays which gave it a very festive feel and since we were in a festive mood being all together again, we stopped in for lunch.  We all ordered the same thing, a crab sandwich on sourdough with chowder.

We almost filled up on sourdough bread while we waited because it tasted so good.

All that fresh, salty air gives one an appetite since there is a lot to see on Fisherman's Wharf.

We ended up going to the Presidio where I took the picture of the Golden Gate bridge above and from there we took a free bus to the downtown business district where we could walk back to our hotel to get ready for New Year's Eve.

We made reservations for New Year's Eve dinner at our hotel's restaurant called Zingari

that turned out to be a very special time for New Year's complete with champagne and balloons.  (I brought the masks for the sisters to wear)

The food was also interesting...I had boar for my main entree which I'd never had before. It was very good, tasted a little like short ribs, very meaty and dense.

The crab cakes for appetizers were also very tasty.  Can never get enough crab...

But the food was almost secondary this evening because we were having so much fun with our masks and champagne.

After dinner, we ended our evening over at Lefty O'Doul's which was a couple blocks away from our hotel.  I wrote about Lefty's the last time we were in San Francisco.  It is such a fun place, I knew we had to go back and we found out it is still a fun place.

In fact, we ended up eating breakfast there two mornings on this trip because their breakfasts were so good and Bruce and I also spent our last evening there being entertained by the piano man, the same guy who was there 2 years ago.

We love the whole baseball theme and decor, too. If you are sitting around the piano bar or in the area, everyone ends up being best friends by the end of the night. Piano man gets to know everyone and is constantly changing words to songs to make people's stories come to life with his songs. He's a very funny and talented guy. We were known at the couple from Idaho and were joined by a guy from England, a couple who were married for 26 years, a very cute, young couple on their first date, 3 single girls out on the town, and 3 lesbians who kept getting up and dancing to the songs and almost knocking over our table. There were also some scattered people in town for a convention. It was a fun way to spend our last night in town. You must go to Lefty O'Doul's if you are in this fabulous city.

On New Year's Day, we opted for some outdoor nature activities so we took the light rail to the Botanical Gardens at Golden Gate Park. 

Being California, it was all so gorgeous, of course.

And being California, we had to also make a stop at the beach which was a little distance further on the light rail, Ocean Beach, where just a few hours earlier they had their polar bear plunge to start the New Year.  (We opted out of that activity)

All this fresh air made us hungry again, so we got back on the light rail and took it to the Embarcadero Center and Ferry Building. Since it was a holiday, most things were closed, unfortunately.

 but we were able to go to Yank Sing for some dim sum.  YUM!

Dim sum is a style of Chinese cooking where you are presented with little bite-size portions of food.  They bring carts around constantly and you pick and choose what you want to eat like these pork dumplings and pot stickers.  So delicious.  

After we had our fill, we walked back to Union Square but decided to stop into the St. Francis hotel and found a nice little spot for some dessert

and coffee.

I remembered this hotel from our last visit because they had the big gingerbread house in their lobby and this year they also had a beautiful holiday display that we had stop and admire.

The next day, we said goodbye to one sister and the remaining four of us walked to the Civic Center and Asian Art Museum.

There was a show going on at the museum called the Road of Arabia so we decided to take a look.  It was a beautiful and fascinating exhibit.  We got our cultural fix.

The museum was a beautiful place and we enjoyed walking around and looking at everything

including this Japanese bell from a temple that they let people ring in the New Year which is a Japanese tradition.

Nick and Sachiyo did that in Japan and Nick sent us a text message when we were in San Francisco when it was New Year's Eve their time. (8:00 am, our time) Here is Sachiyo ringing in the New Year.  Happy New Year!  

Barbara and Jim had to catch their plane to head home so Bruce and I were on our own now.  We ended our day at a delicious Italian restaurant for dinner called Seven Hills (named after the seven hills in Rome)

It was a very small, quaint place on Nob Hill that was exquisite.

I had venison and ate every bite.

We also had the usual courses of anti-pasta

salad

and sea urchin pasta with clams.  Every bite was eaten, it was so flavorful and delicious.

And, of course, we had to have dessert.  I had an apple torte with chantilly cream

with an excellent Italian coffee.

 Bruce had his dessert and coffee combined with an affogato which I've posted on my blog before.

We were savoring every bite of our visit to San Francisco.  But equally as fun as this meal was, was our walk back to the hotel.  So many sights to see on Nob Hill on this perfect San Francisco evening

like the beautiful and majestic Grace Episcopal Cathedral

that is known for it's mosaics, which was obvious just walking by.  

Every photo looks special when the moon is in it...

Then we stopped into another hotel called the Mark Hopkins which is another historical hotel, like the St. Francis hotel. 

I just love all the history in San Francisco, it's like you can just feel all the life from years gone by. 

There is a famous bar on the top floor called the Top of the Mark that we had to check out.  It had a $10 cover charge, so we didn't go in, but it also had a live band - like Big Band-type band, the singer sounded like Michael Buble with people dancing Big Band-type dancing on the dance floor.  I really felt like I had stepped back in time. Wow!  It was all so beautiful, of course, with a gorgeous view.  Barbara said she and Jim went up here during their honeymoon 40+ years ago! New Year's Eve next year...?

Hotel lobbies are so beautifully decorated, I just wanted to sit a moment and take it all in while Bruce wandered the halls reading about all the historical memorabilia, sort of like the Sun Valley lodge

and then we ended up at Lefty O'Doul's at the piano bar...the next day, which was our last day, was equally as beautiful as each day before 

so Bruce and I took our own walking tour which once again included a cable car ride to Fisherman's Wharf (I love seeing the sea lions)

Nob Hill again, only in daylight, where we could see Lombard Street from a distance

Coit Tower

where there are so many breathtaking views.

I just love looking at all the row houses that San Francisco is known for.  

Our walk took us through Chinatown, of course.  We always love to check out Chinatown.

So, where did we have lunch?  At a French cafe across the street from the entrance of Chinatown...Cafe de la Presse on Grand Ave. 

I loved this place and would recommend it if you are visiting San Francisco.

I just loved the whole ambiance and feel of the place, so light and airy and so french.

We were hungry at this point and the food tasted so good, wholesome and healthy.

This was perfect for our last eating adventure in this beautiful city.  Once again, I left my heart in San Francisco but at least I had a full tummy.