San Francisco Day Four

Today I flew solo, as Jeff had to work all day, so I started by taking the tour bus from Union Square again.....

Saw the state building again.......

Kezar Stadium

deYoung museum

And hopped off the bus at the Golden Gate bridge!

There were lots of flowers!

The Golden Gate was beautiful in the sunshine!

Someone took my picture, windblown hair and all!

So many details to this bridge.......

More pretty flowers

Irises

The gardens set against the bridge = pretty!

Back to the city....another stop and look! A cable car!

Time to sample some chocolate at Ghirardelli Square!

Wow, that's a LOT of salt water taffy!

Checked out The Bush Man at Fisherman's Wharf....he cracks me up!

After a long day of shopping and walking (and working for Jeff), we decided to have cocktails and dinner at The View lounge in our hotel - on the 39th floor!

We watched the sun go down over San Francisco one last time before we head home.....

Don't look down!!!

The windows went floor to ceiling, making you feel as though you are floating over the city

Jeff ordering a martini

Me and the city!

End of the evening........does Jeff seemed "forced" in this photo? :)

This is me cropping Jeff out of a photo because he was being cheesy!

Day four in San Francisco started out with Jeff heading off for a long day at work, and me heading to the mall to have breakfast at Chocola, a french bakery! Yummy. I had a ham and swiss croissant and picked up a chocolate croissant for later. Plus, a delicious white chocolate mocha and my day started out pretty great! I headed to Union Square to pick up the "hop on hop off" bus we took yesterday for the city bus tour. Your ticket is good for 48 hours so I figured I might as well make the most of it! I had a plan this time, certain stops I wanted to make, so I rode and listened to the tour again until we hit the Golden Gate bridge where I hopped off. It was a beautiful sunny day and not very windy so it was perfect weather for exploring the gardens surrounding the bridge, the gift shop, and taking a walk along the span. Wow, is it ever bouncy! Once you're actually walking on the bridge you realize just how much "movement" is happening and it's a bit unnerving! I walked about a third of the way out, took some photos, then opted for solid ground. I hopped on the bus and rode until Ghirardelli Square where I hopped off. The Square has nice little shops and cafes and all the stores give samples of their chocolate! It didn't hold the appeal as in earlier years, since we can now buy Ghirardelli chocolate anywhere in Seattle, so I didn't even buy anything! I would have loved to enjoy a hot fudge sundae in the ice cream shop, but I hadn't had lunch yet and didn't feel like something sweet (I know, pick yourself up off the floor, I was just as shocked to find myself turning down chocolate!). I waited for the bus a while, then decided it was only a few blocks to Fisherman's Wharf so why wait? I walked to the Wharf and shopped and browsed in several stores. I took some pictures of The Bush Man, a homeless man who sits on the street with some foliage in front of him, looking like the landscaping. But when unsuspecting pedestrians stroll by, he shakes the branches and yells to scare them! The reactions are priceless! I could watch all day. I LOVE to scare people, it just cracks me up. Especially when a big, tough guy walks past (see above photo) and jumps and screams like a little girl! HAHAHA! Ok, enough laughing at other's expenses......I then waited for the bus to come along for a LONG time.....they say a bus runs every half hour, but I swear I waited a lot longer than that. The bus FINALLY came and I hopped back on, enjoyed the tour (by now I had some parts memorized) and hopped off again at Chinatown. By this time it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I hadn't had lunch. So, I decided to eat at Kan's which came recommended to me, and it was good. After Kan's I shopped and shopped and shopped.....until I realized I had missed the very last bus of the day for the tour. Ah well, no problem it was only a few blocks to the hotel anyway. Jeff called me after 5 and said he was done working so he met me in Chinatown. We walked back to the hotel and changed for cocktails and dinner at The View lounge. It was an amazing view of the city, with windows from floor to ceiling. We watched the sun set over the city and had delicious martinis and a little dinner, topped off with a piece of chocolate cake that we split. Thus, our last night in San Francisco!

San Francisco Day Three

There's my heart! I knew I left it in San Francisco!

Union Square boasts all the swanky shops....

Jeff left HIS heart in San Francisco too!

Free hugs anyone? From a man wearing a pink skirt? Anyone?

Beautiful tree with amazing flowers!

Our cool double decker bus, coming to take us on a tour of the city!

Here we are on the bus!

Pretty wall art....

Wall art in Haight-Ashbury district........

Wall art near state building........

State building.......very pretty adorned with tons of gold leaf.....

The Painted Ladies.....so pretty and quaint!

The mighty Golden Gate!

A sourdough lobster!

Fisherman's Wharf

Jeff enjoyed his sourdough from Boudin's!

Hey! It's Michael Jackson!

Coit Tower

Old meets new

In this building, the script to "The Godfather" was written......

TransAmerica Tower

Flower vendor

Floral display in a shop window near Union Square

Ready for dinner!

The handsome guy who brought me to SF!

Day three started out with Jeff leaving early for a morning session of work, while I updated my blog and Facebook in the hotel room, eating cookies for breakfast! :) Jeff ended up having to work later, so I had lunch at the hotel restaurant by myself; a wonderful, big California cobb salad and lemonade. After lunch I headed to the mall again, this time wandering all nine floors and browsing, stopping at Borders to buy a couple of books. I wandered over towards the convention center where Jeff was, and had a Starbucks break while waiting for him. He arrived around 2:30 and we went back to the room to put stuff away and change, then headed to Union Square to take a double-decker tour bus around the city. We took a 90 minute loop which took us through most major points of interest including going across the Golden Gate bridge. Took tons of photos, and headed back to Union Square just in time to make it back to our room, change again (I love dressing up for dinner!) and meet some of Jeff's peeps for dinner at John's Grill. Apparently this restaurant was a setting for "The Maltese Falcon" which sparked Jeff's interest and now he wants to read it! I ordered a "Bloody Bridget" drink which had some significance to the book, and got a souvenier glass to bring home. It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy. Great day!

San Francisco Day Two

Jeff in his Don Johnson impersonation....

Me in one of my new dresses

Teatro Zinzanni!

We've been to the "Seattle tent", now we're checking out the "San Francisco Tent"!

Hard to see but I bought a cool new headband for the show - feather and flower with pearl center - very Zinzanni!

Jeff looks lovely in feather boas!

Here I am sporting an ostrich-feather boa!

Christine Deaver, one of the actresses in the show! She was amazing! Notice how's she squishing Jeff's head into her boobs? She called him "her little nugget"! HAHAHA!

Jeff and the hot waitresses!

The bay bridge on our walk to find a taxi after the show

Day two in San Francisco started early with a little breakfast at the Starbucks in the hotel lobby (prices a dollar more than any other Starbucks - grrrr). We then walked to the Moscone Center West so Jeff could start his work at the convention and I went back to the hotel to try and get online and post my photos of day one. No luck in the lobby so I took my laptop back to the room and walked to Walgreen's to pick up a few items we needed. Back to the hotel to drop off my purchases and spent an hour just hanging out. Then, I went back out to Ross, which is right next door to the hotel, to get Jeff a belt because he forgot his. Well, I found a lot more than a belt! Two shirts, two pairs of pants and a belt for Jeff, three dresses, two headbands and a clutch for me, and I left with a heavy bag of purchases! From there I headed to the mall, which was just a block away. The Westfield San Francisco is huge! Nine stories of stores and restaurants. I went to lunch at a little French bakery and had a ham and cheese croissant and lemonade. Walked around a bit, then headed back to the hotel to try on my new purchases and see what I wanted to wear for the big show! Jeff bought us tickets to see Teatro Zinzanni! We had been a few years ago to the Seattle show, but San Francisco is where it originated so we decided to check out the new show here. WOW. It was amazing! It's just an indescribable show - three and a half hours of delicious food, served in courses that coordinate with the show. There is singing, dancing, contortionists, comedy, acrobatics, opera, just really incredible stuff. Plus amazing costumes and all inside a "big top" tent that is beautifully decorated. It's expensive but so worth every penny, because it's like nothing you've ever done before. We laughed all night! After the show, we had trouble hailing a taxi so we walked about ten blocks (me in heels!) which was not very fun, but we finally found a taxi and headed back to the hotel tired and happy. I've been fighting a cold since we arrived (damn airplane!) and so my throat was killing me, but a little ibuprofen and I'm good. What a great night!!