Tuesday, August 24th

Today we found a quiet coffee shop (compared to all the nearby
Starbucks) called Madeleine’s. We sat at a table along the sidewalk
while we drank Americanos and ate croissants. It was a nice start to
the day.

Our plan for the day was to visit the de Young Museum in Golden Gate
Park. Our Palo Alto friends had recommended the feature exhibit of the
Birth of the Impressionists loaned by Paris’ Musee D’Orsay. We took
the MUNI Metro Line (a street car) that dropped us off just outside the
park. The
light rail system costs $2 a ride and the transfer is effective for
two hours. The de Young was only admitting people to the special
exhibit in half hourly batches. We had to wait an hour for our time
but spent that period viewing the museum’s other exhibits that were
quite interesting. When we were finally admitted to the special
exhibit, we were surprised and disappointed at the crowds. Also, the
work was displayed so closely together that it was difficult to view
when more than a couple of people stood in front. The de Young will
be holding a second D’Orsay exhibit in the fall, so I filled out a
comment card to suggest that they needed to improve their method of
viewing. After the exhibit, we had a lovely lunch in the de Young café
and the food and presentation helped make up for the disappointing
exhibit. We met two women from Sonoma who were visiting as part of a
seniors’ tour and they had also been quite disappointed.

From Golden Gate Park, we walked over to Haight Ashbury to see the
former hippie area up close. Haight Street is a collection of head
shops and other businesses catering to the hippie era. All along the
street were groups of present day hippies and street people sitting or
laying on the sidewalk with their pets and possessions. Many of the
businesses contained signs asking people to keep the sidewalks open
for use by everyone. We stopped for a draft beer and cider at the
Magnolia Pub – a brewpub that brews its beer in its basement. We
walked through the nearby residential area where we saw many well
preserved Victorian houses, including the former home of The Grateful
Dead.

We made our way down to the waterfront about 4 kilometres but down
hill most of the way. The stairs down to the glorious Palace of Fine
Arts (built for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915) offered
outstanding views and were lined with some swanky, upscale homes. By
now we were at the hottest part of the day (a record high of 96
degrees Fahrenheit), so our walk along the waterfront was exhausting.
However, sailboat races in the Bay that were being photographed by a
hovering helicopter entertained us. We had planned to have dinner at a
Spanish restaurant (Zarzuela) recommended by friends and that meant we
had to climb Hyde Street to the top of Russian Hill. Thank goodness,
we were in shade most of the way and the restaurant was definitely
worth the effort. We ordered gazpacho soup (perfect for a hot day) and
paella and lingered over dinner as we rested our feet. By the time we
finished, the heat of the day had passed, so we had a more comfortable
and leisurely walk back to the hotel.

Wednesday, August 25th

Although today was still sunny and warm, yesterday’s high temperatures
were over. We began our day at a small French style café called Café
de la Presse. Their coffee was the best we’ve had yet and husband
ordered a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon that looked
absolutely delicious.

After yesterday’s long, hot walk, we decided to take it easier today.
We both wanted to buy a pair of casual shoes, so we looked in stores
around Union Square, along Market Street and in between. Husband and I
both found shoes we liked and that fit well at a Clark’s store.
Husband also bought himself some more quick dry t-shirts for future
travelling. The rest of the day, we visited art galleries and window-
shopped.

We had thought about catching a play during our time in SF but there
wasn’t anything that appealed to us, so we went to a movie instead. We
wanted to see something that wasn’t too heavy, so we went to The Kids
Are All Right with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffolo
and we both enjoyed it. That night we ate at another historic
restaurant – Sam’s Grill that was only a few blocks walk from Union
Square. The area contained a number of interesting looking restaurants
with their outdoor tables located in short streets along the back of
buildings (we’d call them lanes). We ate inside because the fog had
moved in and chilled the air. The temperature had dropped 20+ degrees
(F) since noon. Inside there were some booths with privacy curtains.
We’d seen this before in restaurants on SF. The restaurant specialized
in seafood, so we ordered the specials – poached king salmon and
blackened tuna. After dinner and a walk, we had to return to the hotel
to pack up for our flight the next day.

Thursday, August 26th

Our hotel offered a $10 gift certificate for each day that you don’t
ask for housekeeping service (bed made, new towels, etc.) as an
environment and I expect an economic consideration. We declined this
service, so on our last morning, we had breakfast in the hotel’s
lovely restaurant and the cost was completely covered by our
certificates. Nice!

We took the BART to San Francisco’s airport and found it convenient (a
short walk from Union Square), fast (about 25 minutes) and much more
affordable ($8.10 each) than a taxi or shuttle. Our flight home was a
direct, United Airlines flight from SF to Victoria and took less than
2 hours. The small jet plane only held about 50 passengers. This time
our plane left on time and an added benefit of flying into Victoria
instead of Vancouver was the ease with which we cleared customs and
immigration – no line-ups and pleasant officials.

Our trip was over but as usual we’d had a great time in San Francisco
(one of our favourite cities), plus we’d travelled back in time and
reconnected with old friends.