Trip Report: San Francisco, days two and three

7/14/07: Day 2

Continental breakfast at the hotel: fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, toast %26amp; jam, banana bread, coffee. Nothing fancy but more than adequate. We decided to walk to Coit Tower, taking in Chinatown along the way. I had heard Chinatown derided somewhat in a few previous posts, alluding to its similarity to other Chinatowns in large cities. While there are similarities to the only other Chinatown I%26#39;ve visited--Chicago%26#39;s--I found SF%26#39;s Chinatown to be quite vital and woven well into SF%26#39;s fabric of neighborhoods. Some of the areas surrounding Chicago%26#39;s Chinatown are quite rough. After walking through Chinatown, GF wanted to take a picture of a building that caught her attention. It had a mural painted on the side and more importantly, laundered underwear hanging out one of the windows, drying in the breeze. And while we crossed the street so she could bet a better shot of the building, I looked up and saw City Lights Bookstore. As someone who has a degree in English Literature and politics that lean in a certain direction, I had to go in. The store opens at 10:00 and it was exactly that when we arrived at the door. I visited the Poetry Room upstairs. I stood in the room alone and tried to imagine all the writers who had passed through. Very moving.

Speaking of moving, the gardens along Telegraph Hill moved GF to tears. She found it so great that people made their homes and yards into such showpieces for all to see. She especially loved the bougainvillea. The wild parrots enchanted her, too. After that walk up, we felt no need to climb Coit Tower--it was fairly crowded anyway--so we made our way to the Ferry Building for lunch at The Slanted Door. We had originally planned on visiting a more neighborhood kind of Vietnamese restaurant, but a very dear friend of ours asked us to try it because it%26#39;s a place he has always wanted to go. We went so he could live the experience vicariously through us and so we could scout it out for him. It was magnificent. I had made reservations on Open Table a few weeks before, and it seemed as if that was a good idea: the place was jammed. We sat at a window by the dock and had imperial rolls, caramelized prawns and shaking beef. The restaurant really lived up to its billing. It%26#39;s a noisy place, to be sure, but we were easily able to maintain a conversation without having to raise our voices. The only downer for me was that the Gruner Veltliner wine I chose was insipid; I would choose a heartier wine next time.

We took the California Line cable car back towards the hotel to prepare for the evening.

Dinner that evening was at Greens in Fort Mason. We tried to catch trusty #30 bus over to that area, and waited through one, two, three, four full buses that passed us by. We decided to catch a cab. We arrived early and walked around the Presidio, taking in the bay and the houses along Marina Blvd. I%26#39;ll go way out on a limb and guess that that%26#39;s some fairly pricey real estate. We then walked back to Fort Mason and strolled out on some of the piers. When we would stop and just stand, we could almost feel the energy and hear the voices of the soldiers who loaded the ships bound for the war zones of WWII.

Dinner at Greens was very tasty, but we kind of missed the energy of A16 and Slanted Door. They didn%26#39;t seem to have any music playing, which in some restaurants would be a good idea. Here, it could have enhanced the elegance of the place or added some energy. We each had the wine pairing meals and did find the food quite good. We are each lapsed vegetarians who well know that you can do amazing culinary things with vegetables, so we weren%26#39;t surprised that you could coax rich flavors out of them.

After dinner, we caught a bus back to ';our neighborhood.'; Since it was Bastille Day, we walked down Bush Street to what was supposed to be the epicenter of Frenchness in SF. Cafe Claude, which seemed to be a charming place, was jammed, so we couldn%26#39;t go there. There was a loud fest in a nearby alley, but it didn%26#39;t seem very French or inviting, so we walked around a bit more before calling it a night.

7/15/07: Day III

Walked over to Buena Gardens and rode the carousel. After that, we saw two women performing tai chi, accompanied by an elderly--make that ancient--couple who rhythmically beat a metal table with sticks. Kind of mesmerizing. We explored the SOMA neighborhood before setting out for Great Eastern in Chinatown for dim sum. It was a frenetic spot. The dim sum choice that seemed the plainest--sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves--turned out to be our favorite. Beside the rice inside, there was also some meat, probably pork, and what seemed a hoisin-based sauce. Of the rest of the offerings, we definitely preferred the steamed ones to the fried.

Dinner that night was at Plumpjack Cafe in Cow Hollow. Again, trusty #30 got us there (we didn%26#39;t plan on all the dinner restaurants being so close together; we just went with what sounded good). I had a beautiful and tasty quail salad, with salmon as my entree. The salmon was somewhat under seasoned. They did have a trio of artisanal salts at the table, which I didn%26#39;t try. I regret that now, but I%26#39;m just not used to salting food at the table--especially in a fine dining restaurant. Oh well, a bus home and a good night%26#39;s sleep prepared us for the Carmel leg of our trip.

Trip Report: San Francisco, days two and three

What a wonderful, descriptive post! I felt like I was meandering through the various neighborhoods myself! Does City Lights have any type of brochure or other literature explaining the history of the bookstore? My husband loves bookstores and as a tour guide myself, I love learning interesting facts about places, especially those rich in history. We hope to make this a stop on our upcoming trip. Thanks again for taking the time to post!

Trip Report: San Francisco, days two and three

OHmigod, jeffysgirl, you don%26#39;t know City Lights Bookstore and Ferlingetti and ';Howl'; ??

A very, very important time in the history of the Beat Generation in San Francisco.

Read this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Lights_Bookstore

exerguy.

You certainly caught the real San Francisco. I am curious about where you found the information to sift out the tourist book recommendations and find all of this.

As a kind of local who spends weekends in the City for theater I haven%26#39;t had time to fully explore some of the things you were able to do. Guess I need to stay more than a weekend.

Thanks.

OHmigod, jeffysgirl, you don%26#39;t know City Lights Bookstore and Ferlingetti and ';Howl'; ??

A very, very important time in the history of the Beat Generation in San Francisco.

Read this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Lights_Bookstore

Puter

Tripadvisor, Yelp, a vague recollection of the last time I was in SF, material in our hotel room, Fodor%26#39;s, Frommer%26#39;s, and dumb luck--probably in that order--helped us find our way around. And as I continue the story with our trip to Carmel, you%26#39;ll see that you really helped us with details of our trip down that way. So thanks for that.

exerguy, please stay n touch on the forum. You know how to travel.

wonderul, very moving post. I was with you all those places. thank you.

I could swear I added the f in wonderful when i proofread. evidently not.

This forum has had good fortune this week. You are the second traveller who has graced us with a superb report. We get many from tourists that are nice to read but 鈥?/p>

The emotions you felt are of the kinds I experience when on The Road and mentioned recently when speaking of Manzanar.

Puter, I%26#39;ve read lots about City Lights and it was already part of our planned itinerary. I%26#39;m just hoping there is even more information to read about it in the bookstore itself- perhaps a brochure, historic memorabelia, plaques, etc. Reading about something and being there are of course two different things and sometimes there are things that can be pointed out on location that are meaningless when you read about them. Thanks for the wikipedia link though, I%26#39;ll check that out.