TR Nov 2012: Another Aussie mad dash - Day 10: Final posts, TR finished #932 (02/21)

[tinksdreamwishes]

Wow! I love reading your trip report! You are making it very interesting to read. Good Job! I need more though....

[usnuzuloose]

Wow what a beautiful day. It is so much fun to take the train. I like that so much better that driving. I loved the look of that salad. Now I am hungry. I havent even had breakfast or my coffee. I will keep that new resturant in mind. I love all the pics. I love frozen yogurt too. Yummy.

[skier_pete]

Hey....back from Lake Tahoe / Phoenix, AZ. Glad to see Scoma's worked out! When I was reading your post and saw you went there...my stomache knotted up...I would've felt terrible if it hadn't been any good! Not that it wasn't fantastic when we went, but It's been 9 years now since I last ate there. The first time was 20+ years ago, so I'm glad to hear they are still serving great seafood! Definitely upscale. I remember paying like $30 a meal there 10 years ago for dinner. I have a hard time spending that now.

I think I've said it before - San Fran is in my top 3 North American cities...or at least the only 3 cities in North America I can stand. (I'm so not a city boy.) While I can't say I would want to live there, I wish I could visit more than I do!

[franandaj]

I can't tell you how many times I've eaten here! Some of the best meals of my life!





I can tell you how many times I've eaten here....once....but it was one of the best $200 lunches I've ever had in my life! I think the fact that Fran ordered the $59 appetizer serving of abalone helped, not to mention we arrived opening day of Dungeness Crab Season, "give us a whole one of those, oh yes and another round of drinks for the table". Not to mention soup, chowda, dessert....

[areweindisneyyet]

You have reminded me about leaving my heart in San Francisco... can't wait for more.

You are helping formulate a holiday plan in my little head. Thanks Princess in Oz.

[QuirkyButterfly]

Looks like you had a fun day, I can't wait to take Adam to Fishermans Wharf. I am sure he will love it. I love seeing the sea lions, I was young when I went but I remember those platforms being completely packed with sea lions. Looking forward to reading more.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by tiggrbaby

Loved your intro, and of course, your beautiful pics! Can't wait 'til the next installment!

Thanks Tiggrbaby. It's such a beautiful song and a beautiful city....

Originally Posted by shushh

Princess, I was only away from the boards for a week and you post so many photos!!! In seriousness, I love the way you write with so much humour. And I find it extra incredible that you manage to put in so many photos. It really does help "paint the picture" for us readers. Your post has also reminded me how much I love San Francisco.

Your photos are great by the way. The food photos are getting better and better! I still remember when we both first stated with the 1st scavenger hunt...

Welcome back Shushh. Thanks. Well....are you heading to SF in September?

Originally Posted by tinksdreamwishes

Wow! I love reading your trip report! You are making it very interesting to read. Good Job! I need more though....

Thanks and Welcome! Sadly, I don't have very many days left! ....


.... I need more holidays!

Originally Posted by usnuzuloose

Wow what a beautiful day. It is so much fun to take the train. I like that so much better that driving. I loved the look of that salad. Now I am hungry. I havent even had breakfast or my coffee. I will keep that new resturant in mind. I love all the pics. I love frozen yogurt too. Yummy.

Going to the Downtown area by the Caltrain is one of the highlights of staying in Silicon Valley. Both DS and I love the trip.

Originally Posted by skier_pete

Hey....back from Lake Tahoe / Phoenix, AZ. Glad to see Scoma's worked out! When I was reading your post and saw you went there...my stomache knotted up...I would've felt terrible if it hadn't been any good! Not that it wasn't fantastic when we went, but It's been 9 years now since I last ate there. The first time was 20+ years ago, so I'm glad to hear they are still serving great seafood! Definitely upscale. I remember paying like $30 a meal there 10 years ago for dinner. I have a hard time spending that now.

I think I've said it before - San Fran is in my top 3 North American cities...or at least the only 3 cities in North America I can stand. (I'm so not a city boy.) While I can't say I would want to live there, I wish I could visit more than I do!

Welcome back. Scoma's worked out great. And I think there is definitely a regular set of clients that visit the restaurant. We sat next to a group of 5 people and.....not that I was evesdropping.... it seemed like they go to Scoma's every 2 weeks to catch up.

How was the skiing? I'm so jealous...I would love to ski Tahoe.

Originally Posted by franandaj

I can't tell you how many times I've eaten here! Some of the best meals of my life!





I can tell you how many times I've eaten here....once....but it was one of the best $200 lunches I've ever had in my life! I think the fact that Fran ordered the $59 appetizer serving of abalone helped, not to mention we arrived opening day of Dungeness Crab Season, "give us a whole one of those, oh yes and another round of drinks for the table". Not to mention soup, chowda, dessert....

I don't think I've eaten at Alioto's. I keep looking at it...and the prices....and looking at those outside stalls. No prizes for guessing which one wins. I'm happy to eat in restaurants away from those outside stalls. It must be the proximity that does it!

Originally Posted by areweindisneyyet

You have reminded me about leaving my heart in San Francisco... can't wait for more.

You are helping formulate a holiday plan in my little head. Thanks Princess in Oz.

Glad to help. I guess I'll be looking forward to reading your TR and seeing what you decided to do.

Originally Posted by QuirkyButterfly

Looks like you had a fun day, I can't wait to take Adam to Fishermans Wharf. I am sure he will love it. I love seeing the sea lions, I was young when I went but I remember those platforms being completely packed with sea lions. Looking forward to reading more.

Those platforms are usually packed with sea lions in summer. I've been in winter twice before and I think it was equally as empty for at least one of those two occassions.



Thanks for reading everyone. I really appreciate seeing your posts on this TR. It gives me the incentive to keep going!

[skier_pete]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Welcome back. Scoma's worked out great. And I think there is definitely a regular set of clients that visit the restaurant. We sat next to a group of 5 people and.....not that I was evesdropping.... it seemed like they go to Scoma's every 2 weeks to catch up.

How was the skiing? I'm so jealous...I would love to ski Tahoe.

Skiing was incredible. They had gotten 79" of snow a few days before we got there. (That's 200 cm for those non-US folks!) We had two absolutely gorgeous days. The views from Heavenly are unparallelled to anything in the world IMHO. I will post pix on my current TR thread in a few days...

[kimmar067]

Originally Posted by usnuzuloose

Are you really that schocked?

....that she moved to Siberia?

[kimmar067]

....boy, oh boy, that ice cream that your DS is eating sure does look dee-LISH!! ....and BTW, it's CHOWWWWWW-dah....


















































["Jay - Eee - Tee - Esss, JETS, JETS, JETS!"]

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by skier_pete

Skiing was incredible. They had gotten 79" of snow a few days before we got there. (That's 200 cm for those non-US folks!) We had two absolutely gorgeous days. The views from Heavenly are unparallelled to anything in the world IMHO. I will post pix on my current TR thread in a few days...

Looking forward to seeing your shots. Us Aussies - we would ski on 79 CM of snow; heck - we even ski on 30 cm. 79 INCHES? In one night? *sigh*

Originally Posted by kimmar067

....that she moved to Siberia?

Is that far enough? Maybe not....I'd still be on the Dis.

Originally Posted by kimmar067

....boy, oh boy, that ice cream that your DS is eating sure does look dee-LISH!! ....and BTW, it's CHOWWWWWW-dah....



I was born in Asia. The best I can do is CHOWWWW....Time!








Possibly.......CHOWWWW......Mein!



["Jay - Eee - Tee - Esss, JETS, JETS, JETS!"]

Lemme try this one again!

["Jay - Eee - Tee - Esss = 49ers, 49ers, 49ers!"]

[PrincessInOz]

San Francisco Maritime National Park


We re-joined the tourist trap of Fisherman’s Wharf and headed in the direction of Ghirardelli’s. But neither of us felt like looking at more mugs or chocolates so we walked down to Hyde Street….




….and DS saw something that just had him spinning wheels!




We walked though the Riverboat..




…and took ourselves back in time to marvel at the ship-making craft.









I haven’t been in the Hyde Street Pier in years! So I was delighted to step in again.

The Hyde Street Pier used to be part of Highway 101. Before the bridge was built, there used to be a ferry that took vehicles across the harbour to the Marin county side. You can still see the 101 sign.




We headed down the end of the pier, admiring the golden day ships that reside here as tourist attractions. The ships are part of the Maritime National Historic Park and include this beautiful square rigged sailing ship.




And it was a good opportunity for DS to learn the ropes a little…




They had stations down the pier that showed how to tie different knots. Both DS and I had fun getting ourselves tangled in knots.

Yes, we had a great time down the pier.




And the views were fabulous!







I asked DS to take a picture of me with the Rock in the background…..




….guess we’ll have to go back for that shot sometime!

We headed back out and I guess DS must have thought he’d really pulled his weight today….




…but he still had one very important decision to make…..


(Continued in Next Post)

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Clang, clang, clang went the trolley…Ding, ding, ding went the bell….


DS was faced with the perplexing conundrum of……

What form of transport to catch back?


My DS just loves transport of any sort so this was a very hard decision for him to make. His options were:

A) The bus. We’d already caught that to get to the wharf
B) The street car. The San Francisco F-line street car runs from Fisherman’s Wharf past the Ferry Building and up along Market to the Castro. This vehicle is similar to the trams we have in Melbourne and DS was severely tempted to catch this one back to Market.
C) The trolley. In the end, I convinced DS that we should catch the trolley back as this was probably the only mode of transport that was distinctively “only in San Francisco”.


As it goes in the song “The day was bright, the air was sweet. The smell of honeysuckle charmed you off your feet”….




Well…no honeysuckle in bloom but the trolleys are charming!




I do wonder if DS had been happy to catch the trolley because we were ‘right there’ rather than having to walk all the way down towards Pier 39 again to catch the street car. But I was glad to have the opportunity to take the shots in this post!

We waited for the gripman and conductor to put some effort into making sure that the trolley was okay for the passengers.




They had to make sure that it had its best “face” forward....showing the Powell/Hyde line!




We had deliberately waited for the next trolley to be top of the line so that we could choose our seat for this ride.




Naturally, DS and I both wanted to sit on the outside of the trolley. What was surprising was that both of us wanted to be on the inside of the outside….




….I think you know what I mean.




I got the window seat!



We waited for the gripman to pull on the handle.....which released the brake ...




And we were off! "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley!"




Up the top of the first or second hill is Lombard Street, the crooked-est street in the world. DS wanted to get off here….




…but I reminded him that we’d paid $5 for the ride and if we got off, we were walking all the way back to the Caltrain station (Yes, sometimes I can be a cruel mum).


I just love the bay windows of San Francisco.




We kept heading up those Russian Hills…towards Nob Hill...




…and what goes up…..




….must come down!




Do you remember the last sentence of my first post?

Just to remind you – No seat belts required, feel free to keep your hands, feet and head or any other part of you outside the car – and remember….no liability will be assumed by the writer at any time!




Sure hope you remembered to keep your hands, feet and head or any other part of you INSIDE the car. And if you didn’t – no liability will be assumed by this writer at any time!




"Ding, ding, ding went the bell!" Numerous times!!


My last trip to San Francisco downtown was in 2009, just DH (on another work trip) no DS. I spent 5 days shopping in the downtown area; so whilst I was pleased to see Union Square again, I had no desire to stop and shop.




Seriously. The clothes I bought on that trip are still hanging in my wardrobe, some still with the tags on them!


We eventually reached our destination.




…And DS and I walked down Market to 4th Street …..




…..and caught a bus back to the Caltrain station.




Our train was waiting and we headed on…home.




(Continued in Next Post)

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


More Food Porn


One of the reasons why I didn’t have the inclination to shop at Union Square was because DH and I had decided to hit the Great Mall in Milpitas tonight.

I’d already driven circles round the Great Parkway a day or so back; so I had no inclination to drive there again. But DH likes shopping there and he doesn’t need very much arm-twisting for me to go along with this idea.

So, DS and I waited for him back at the hotel at the allotted time. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes go by before I get a text…….“Running Late.”

Yeah, I think I got THAT bit….but there was no ETA for when he would finish.

We waited some more…..the group meeting ran overtime by 90 minutes!

90 precious minutes of shopping time or staying in the downtown area! GRRR!

Still…..we got to the Great Mall a lot later than we wanted and I think DH managed to do significant damage on the credit card. I managed to pick up a couple more Gap tops. But the clear winner for the night was DS. We got his winter wardrobe all sorted out for this year.

Turns out that the Great Mall was nearly at the corner of the 880 and the 237. From where I was at the Winchester Mystery House, I could have nearly reached out and touched it! Double D’oh!!

The thing about the Great Mall is that there is a complex of restaurants and the cinema at one end of the mall. And there is this restaurant that just doesn’t seem to belong in the group….




The Coconut Grove serves Malaysian and Singaporean style cuisine. DH and I found it here way back in 2005 and we’ve been coming here for dinner after shopping ever since. But it had been a few years since our last visit and I was curious to see if the standard had remained high.

As it was Wednesday night, there was a $2 Roti special.




…served with a curry sauce.




Delicious. The sauce might have needed a bit more depth to its taste; but I would have been happy if this had come out of my kitchen.


DS ordered the Char Hor Fun.




When we ordered it, the waitress pointed out that that the dish was served with an egg-y sauce. She seemed dubious that DS would like it.

That is exactly why we ordered it. This dish did not disappoint and DS sucked it all in.


DH decided on the Nasi Lemak, with vegetable curry.




Wonderful! The coconut rice had the right amount of coconut milk and the curry was a delight.


I decided to order my litmus test dish of the Char Kaoy Teow.




I left well satisfied. Standards had definitely been maintained at this long-time favourite restaurant! And the bill came to around $40 (including two lemonades and tips!).


All in all, another great day. I’d found my heart in San Francisco, reassured myself that it was in a good place and got some shopping and great food for the day.






[Up Next – Day 9 In search of Good Cheap Eats]

[shushh]

It sounded like another great day for you and DS! The photo of the sailing ship is just gorgeous.