I love California and I love weekend trips! Traveling really does give you a new perspective. Utah Valley is definitely growing on me, but then when you leave you realize you're in a bubble. The first few hours I was in San Francisco I didn't know what to do with myself. There were homeless people all over the streets, we had no transportation, we were staying on the 15th floor of an apartment building, and we came in contact not only with people speaking lots of different languages, but also a lot of swearing. It truly was culture shock. I got over it quickly, but it was a bit much to begin with ha!
THURSDAY
We flew into Oakland, took a lyft to San Francisco and passed the Oracle Center ( I was really hoping there was a Warriors game this weekend, but it was All-Star weekend) and the Oakland Temple. We crossed the Bay Bridge (not really sure why it's less famous than Golden Gate) and then ended up in a neighborhood called Tenderloin where Barret and Maggie live. We were starving so the first thing we did was walk a block or two away to this cute little southern restaurant called
BRENDA'S FRENCH SOUL FOOD
From my research, I learned that any time you see a line in SF, it's probably for a good reason. All the good restaurants have lines out the door. Greta got classic Louisiana Gumbo and I got this Cornmeal-fried Shrimp Po'Boy. They were both divine! I love things that take me back to the South. Of course we had to order beignets for the road.
We then went to Maggie's Improv Show. It was fun to be a part of a normal night out in the city.
FRIDAY
It literally poured all day long. We walked a grand total of 10 miles and we loved every minute of exploring. I can never sleep in past 7:30 these days so I was up and had the day planned by the time we were ready to go.
MR. HOLME'S BAKEHOUSE
We started the morning off right with pastries from the cutest bakery!
Apple Pecan Danish and Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant
GRACE CATHEDRAL
SAN FRANCISCO CITY HALL
Don't be fooled. This two block building is not a capitol building of any sort, just the city hall. It is gorgeous!! We went on the one hour tour of the building and it was fascinating! The structure of a dome that goes into a rectangular building was first done in the Hagia Sophia (yay for Turkey). There are 40 weddings a day performed in the building. Also, the first gay wedding was performed here. There were seriously brides EVERYWHERE. The building was also remodeled to be more earthquake proof. They think of everything.
Aren't these stairs dreamy??
The curtains are always closed in this room so as to not fade the wood.
THE MISSION
We spent the rest of our day here. Soaking wet haha! This is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the seventh religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions. It was founded in 1776!
Clarion Alley is full of fabulous murals! They are all so unique and they change often. There are a lot of Latin influences but it was so interesting to see a place where people could voice their opinions especially in a city that is so diverse.
There were fun little barbershops like this one on tons of corners throughout the city!
OH MY GOSH!! Is this not the cutest idea?! These love notes were adorable! We really should tell people more often why we love them.
After walking around all day, sitting down for a bit was very much welcome. Mission burritos are raved about and this place was hoppin except they only accept CASH! We escaped a heavy downpour too so we enjoyed the time at this little restaurant.
It's always nice to see life in the middle of winter. The flower shop up above and the orange tree below were the perfect diversion from the gloom all around.
I seriously can't get over these houses. Are they not p e r f e c t?? It reminds me of living in New York during the turn of the century. AHHH!
We decided to make one last stop to the Painted Ladies before we headed home for the evening. It was about a 30 min walk from where we were, but after walking all day it seemed like nothing haha! We were heading the right way and stopped to take some pictures along the way. We eventually were walking literally straight uphill and were wondering how much longer when the ETA on our phones kept going up every few minutes. We could not figure it out because it was a straight shot there. It's just that it was a straight shot the OTHER direction haha! It was getting dark and we just decided that we would save that for tomorrow and headed home. We could not believe it but it made for a funny story. I still get the giggles every time I think about it. But it didn't hurt to get more steps in. And we saw this beautiful view of the city.
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