The first couple of times I came to San Francisco I wasn’t impressed. It was in the October-November time frame, apparently San Fran’s mid and late summer. It rained every day. On the days it wasn’t raining, there was fog each morning. I’ve been told there is an entire side of San Francisco that gets fog every day!
The place appeared dank, dirty, and filled with tall cold buildings and busy rushing people. It seemed more like I would expect New York to be (I’ve never been to New York, only the New York airports). My dour perceptions probably weren’t helped by the fact that on previous trips I arrived late, went from hotel to sky scraper officer, back to the hotel, then out for dinner, usually via cab, with the occasional short walk thrown in there somewhere. Admittedly the restaurants were amazing.
I will also admit that this approach is simply NOT the way to experience San Francisco. I am a bit of a work-a-holic, so getting me out and about is not always that easy. However, this trip I came out with a colleague and friend from Oxford Cambridge, whom I endearingly refer to as my Adventurous Brit. Fortunately for me, took pity on my aversion to adventures and dragged me along on his various journeys.
On our first night in the San Fran, we went to Greens at Fort Mason. Green’s (http://www.greensrestaurant.com/) is a gourmet vegetarian restaurant (the Adventurous Brit happens to be a vegetarian). It’s a beautiful restaurant with an amazing view of harbor and has a great reputation. I actually didn’t find the food lived up to all the hype, but dinner was nice (the wine… not so much). It was Sunday February 3, the night of the Super Bowl, and getting a cab became a bit of a challenge. After waiting in the restaurant for about 30 minutes we decided to walk out and find a bus. Before I go any further, I need to let you know that I was wearing designer boots with six inch pointy heels and it was some time after 10:30 pm.
Fortunately, the bus was only a block away. Unfortunately, it was going to be a 15 minute wait and my Adventurous Brit friend was not prepared to wait that long. I quickly found myself walking down an unlit path in what seemed to be a large dark park! Did I mention I was wearing six inch pointy heels? I was just about to dig those heels in and refuse to go any further when I noticed what I assumed was our cab out of the corner of my eye. Needless to say, it’s not the boots you’re wearing but the way you wear them, and I did manage to get to the road fast enough for the cab to see me(alright the Adventurous Brit probably arrived first) and we were able to secure a warm and safe ride back to the hotel.
The next night, after an exciting and exhausting day at the office, the Adventurous Brit and I headed towards the tram. He’s a bit of a tram nut and filled with loads of tram trivia and was thoroughly enjoying San Francisco’s diverse array of historical street cars. We got lucky and caught one of his favorite trams, and immediately after we realized we were waiting on the wrong side of the street. It is a tram from Milan Italy (http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/1895/), built in the 1970’s and one of the last of its kind. The thing is all wooden seats and doors with big glass windows. It is beautiful inside and out. The tram ride was exciting, the twelve block walk in six inch pointy heels to the restaurant wasn’t so great, but I did start to notice some of the interesting architecture along the way (http://www.archdaily.com/99780/architecture-city-guide-san-francisco/). I will also admit here that the Adventurous Brit introduced me to a wonderful thing called J-walking. Have you ever tried it? Apparently Brits do all the time and so do San Franciscans it seems.
Dinner the second night was actually quite a bit more interesting. The restaurant? The Thai Idea Veggie restaurant (http://thaiideaveggie.com)(another vegetarian restaurant). The food was excellent—cooked but not soft. The portions were generous, the spice was just enough, and the service was very good. Of course the price was about ¼ of the more expensive Greens.
We cabbed it back to the hotel because, ahem six inch pointy heels, and I wanted to stop at the Designer Shoe Warehouse—of course! For those of you who don’t know, the Designer Shoe Warehouse (www.dsw.com) is this amazing place where you can get designer shoes at a greatly reduced price. The DSW in San Francisco happens to be four stories high, and I was eager to work my way through each floor. Unfortunately, the address for the DSW in San Francisco is 400 Post Street, which is actually the address for the Chase Manhattan Bank! If you are in the same situation I was (with the Adventurous Brit only along for the ride as far as the Shoe Warehouse so he could walk the rest of the way to the hotel, planning to leave me to indulge myself in shoe heaven) and you find yourself in a cab on a busy street with the meter running and no Designer Shoe Warehouse in sight. Well, disappointedly when I couldn’t see anything but the bank where the DSW was supposed to be, I asked the cabby to continue on to our hotel—my Adventurous Brit had already abandoned me.
However, not to be thwarted, I called the DSW and found out that the store is actually located on the 400 block along Post Street, but between Sutter and Powell. The following night I made a lone venture and, wearing runners –I was starting to really wise up and get the hang of this walking San Fran thing—made my way the 12 or so blocks from the hotel to the DSW. I must say it was more than worth the effort. I went into the DSW with a budget of $200 for a pair of shoes and a pair of boots. I spent $163 and left with two pairs of boots and three pairs of shoes, all with the help of two lovely young men who happened to be in the woman’s section trying on shoes for themselves.
All those great shoe finds created an entirely new dilemma of how to get the shoes home. I did say my Adventurous Brit from Oxford was a rather nice bloke, yes? Thankfully, he had room in his travel case and agreed to take the two largest pairs back to the East Coast with him. At the time of writing I can tell you that they made it there safe and sound.
The final night with my Adventurous Brit found us taking bus 14 a rather long way from the San Fran Financial District to a less touristy and slightly more risky part of town to the Udopia Palace Indian Restaurant. Again, the Adventurous Brit lived up to his growing reputation of adventure tour guide and found us the best restaurant yet. We knew we were on to something good by the lineup outside the restaurant. Once inside the smell of curry surrounded us and we were promptly seated. The food took a little long to arrive, that said they were packed from end-to-end, but it was definitely worth the wait—good, hot, authentic and filling. If you decide to give it a try, don’t forget cash or your checkbook as they don’t take Visa or Debit.
The last two nights I was on my own as my colleague, that Adventuresome Brit, had to head back to our eastern headquarters, but all that exploring made me a little more aware of how beautiful and interesting San Francisco actually was and caused me to have a second look at my surroundings . Admittedly I didn’t really look much farther than the hotel as I’m not that adventurous. I had always enjoyed the Hyatt Regency at Embarcadero, but I’d never really enjoyed it beyond the obvious—open floor to ceiling atrium, glass elevators, spacious rooms, beautiful views. What I hadn’t noticed was that beautiful Embarcadero Park was right behind the hotel, or that you could rent a bike 10 meters from the front door. The trams are less than a block away and the waterfront about two—OK I knew that! There are also two museums and a “sort of museum” all within a block of the Hyatt.
The point of the story is simple? If it hadn’t been for my colleague the Adventuresome Brit, I might still think San Francisco was a dank and dreary place. I have come to the conclusion that when in San Francisco, it pays to kick off the six inch pointy heels and take a walk around.
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