Karl the Fog (aka San Francisco)
Karl The Fog; A Personification of the fog in San Fran
Day 1
I flew into San Fran Thursday night this trip, my fourth time to the city. I was just there for the weekend to meet my boyfriend Matthew, who was there for the week for a VR conference. I landed at the airport and headed straight to dinner. We went to a Mediterranean place called Mivan Mediterranean Cuisine. I wasn’t super hungry, so I can’t speak to their mains, but we shared some appies and both the hummus (regular and red pepper) and the bread (buns and pita) were excellent. I would highly reccomend this place if you’re out by the airport. We then headed to Sandbox VR to check out some VR games. We played a Star Trek game and compared to the VOID (another VR experience) this place was awful. Five of us went, and we all felt seasick by the end of the experience. We then headed back to the hotel - the Hyatt Regency at the San Francisco Airport. This hotel was fine, definitely more for conferences than for pleasure, so I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone visiting San Fran for fun.
Day 2
Friday was a slow day in terms of exploring. I worked from the hotel for the majority of the day. After the work day wrapped up, we headed to dinner. We went to this little Indian place called Peacock’s Koriander Indian Cuisine. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and played some VR (not a travel recommendation, but definitely a better alternative to Sandbox) - specifically a game called Acron, which only requires one headset. Essentially one person is playing a tree in the headset that is trying to protect its acorns an everyone else plays as a squirrel via their phone and tries to steal said acorns. Once we tired ourselves out of this game (it took quite a while), we headed downtown to Hotel Zeplin - our home base for the rest of the weekend. This was a nice little modern hotel near Union Square that is relatively affordable for San Fran. It wasn’t anything particularly special, but I would suggest it if you’re looking to be central and not spend too much money.
Day 3
The next day, we slept in a little and then headed to breakfast. We decided to try to get into a place recommended in the 500 Hidden Places San Fran edition (my favourite guidebooks) called Zazie. When we got there, there was a huge line so we decided to go to a place just down the street called Cafe Reverie. The food was relatively good, however they served my breakfast with cheese (it wasn’t listed on the menu as coming with it), after I explicitly let them know that I am allergic to cow’s milk. We then headed to Golden Gate park to check a few different spots. First up was the Conservatory of Flowers. It cost $11 USD to get in, and was well worth it. Though not very large, this conservatory packs a lot into a small space. There is a rainforest, a cloud forest, a tropical water garden, a fern garden and a potted plant garden so if you’re into plants, this is definitely the spot for you. We then wandered through the park some more and ended up at the California Academy of Science. This spot is amazing - with or without kids. There is a rainforest, an aquarium, a planetarium and several other exhibits. We did everything except for the planetarium as it is an additional fee to get in and there wasn’t anything in the exhibit/show that was on that we were particularly interested in. After this, we were a little tired out so we decided to get some tea at the Japanese Tea Garden. As it turned out, tea was served outside and since it was a rather blustery day we decided to keep going. I will definitely be returning to check this out however, as it looked gorgeous from what I could see through the main gates. Instead, we headed to a boba shop called Little Sweet, which had dairy free milk teas, which I always find very exciting. The boba was quite delicious and I would definitely return to this spot. Next we decided to head back to the hotel for a little pre-dinner rest, something that I find I often need when travelling as I tend to start my days early and run around all day until I’m exhausted. I would definitely suggest this to anyone feeling tired when travelling because even though it may feel like you’re missing out on time you could be exploring, you’ll enjoy what you do more and will probably be able to fit more things in since you’ll have more energy. After a nice little rest, we headed to dinner with Matt’s friend - a San Fran local - at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana. This is a Peruvian restaurant which boasts excellent seafood and local Peruvian cocktails. I had been there on a previous trip and both times I’ve been there, its been excellent. After dinner, we decided to make the trek somewhere else to get dessert. We went to Bob’s Donuts and Pastries. I had an apple fritter fresh out of the oven and ate the entire thing, despite it being very large. This is was a definite highlight on the trip and if you go, I would recommend that you ask what is fresh out of the oven and order whatever that is.
Day 4
Our last day we we decided to check a few things off the bucket list - the first being to try blue bottle coffee. There was one right by the hotel so we stopped on the way to lunch (we skipped breakfast) and grabbed lattes. To my disappointment, the service was quite slow and the lattes weren’t anything special. They did however give us a card for a free coffee because of the service and Matt had an everything bagel flavoured pull apart, which was quite good. I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone, but I will say that I will give them a second chance when I’m back in the city. Next on the list was a little Ramen place in Japantown called Marufuku Ramen. This place opens at 11:30am and though we were there at about 11:45 there was still a massive line. Luckily, Japan Centre (the mall that the place is located in) has many interesting little shops and book stores and we easily entertained ourselves until a table was available for us. This ramen was amazing and 110% worth the wait. They have pork, chicken and vegetable (if you ask for it) options and I have to say I think it is the best ramen that I have every had. Next, due to how full we are from eating so much ramen, we decided to go for a walk down to the Fillmore District. This area was great, with lots of shops sporting different technologies to try and/or local products. We grabbed coffee here at Ritual and I had a chai, which they make with their own homemade syrup which was quite delicious and spicy (and I am very picky about how sweet my chais are). With coffees in hand, we headed to our last spot of the day: Lands End Lookout. This was a great little walk with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and was a really nice way to finish off the trip. After this we walked back to the hotel to collect our bags and then headed to the airport.