San Francisco - on a Dime and in a Dash

Boudin Bakery

Coit Tower

Dim Sum

Walking Through the City

Lucky Grocery

Whether going to San Francisco for the first time or thousandth time, an almost palpable current of excitement zaps every visitor who comes to this bustling, crowded and beautiful city. Although I haven't been back in a while, I have visited San Francisco numerous times, and seen the usual. In years past I've had clam chowder bowls and watched the seals at Pier 39, shopped all day at Union Square, lunched on top of Macy's, drank Irish coffee's at the wharf, walked across the Golden Gate bridge, sampled expensive Chinese teas, meandered through Haight and Ashbury, biked through Golden Gate Park, found the Full House neighborhood, eaten chocolate at Ghiradelli square, hiked around Presidio Park, taken a trolley, toured Alcatraz, run along Ocean Beach and gone down Lombard Street. There wasn't anything particular to cross off my list this time - so we just went for the fun of it :)

We were staying with good friends in Berkeley for the weekend, but they both had to work on Friday - so we hitched a ride with our friend's roommate across the Bay Bridge and got dropped off around Pier 1 for our own adventure. We walked past Pier 39 to Boudin, San Francisco's original sourdough company. Although this cafe and factory is pretty touristy, the bread was warm, crispy and sour - and perfect with our coffees on the cold summer morning.
 From there we saw Coit tower, and decided to head up there since neither of us ever had. It's a great walk through the neighborhoods, and the path up to the tower feels like a walk in the woods. The view from the tiny park in front of the tower was great - it was probably even better from the top, but we didn't want to wait in line for an hour or pay the fee, so we read the historic plaques and laid in the sun.
After a small rest on the grass, we walked through Chinatown - one of my favorite spots. I saw a little Dim Sum restaurant that looked inviting and we went in for a lunch/ snack of the glorious rice dumplings full of meat and/or veggies, and sesame rolls - deep fried dough with sweet beans on the inside and sesame seeds on the outside. Apparently these rolls are usually eaten during Chinese New Year, but you can get them almost anywhere in Chinatown. A plate of these amazing treats, plus a sweet milk tea with boba set us back almost $5 - delicious and cheap! We continued ambling through the streets and poking into Delightful, Super and Happy shops - the best was a tiny (I mean Lucky) grocery store full of questionably edible foods I had never seen before, as well as cheap ripe fruit. Although the mysterious food looked interesting, we loaded up on a big bag of plump cherries instead, and for $2 had snacking material for the rest of the afternoon.
We walked up and down and all over, eventually landing in Union Square. I was excited to go into the big shops and look around - I even had gift cards. But a husband obediently dragging around after me with a doleful expression quickly put a damper on my perusing mood, as I felt my shopping was slowly and selfishly taking the life out of him. So we got out of there and into the hectic streets filled with painters, artisans, bums and tourists.
We found our way to the BART station, bought tickets back to Berkeley and went down into the cool tunnels to await our ride home. As we plopped into the cushioned seats of the Bay Area Rapid Transit, I reflected on the gloriousness of traipsing around an exciting city all day, and letting the public transportation take you home. The best thing about cities is being able to walk around ALL day and never be bored. And no road rage or traffic for us while we chatted about our favorite activities and finally gave our feet a rest. Au revoir City by the Bay!