Food Poisoning, Purse Nabbing, TONS OF FUN

D and I took our trip to San Francisco and had the most wonderful time. I absolutely LOVED the city, so full of life -Despite the title! We stayed in the downtown, theatre district and it was perfect; our hotel was completely outdated and musty in an old-fashioned way. I had no idea when I booked it, but the price was right and since we were trying to bargain this, it was the best choice. For those who might be interested it was the Beresford Hotel. It was within walking distance of the ferry, Chinatown, and an overload of cool dining opportunities.

We hit the town in pretty much 2 1/2 days, from top to bottom. We walked miles and miles and ate some delicious food, had some good beer, wine, and the best time hanging out together.

The evening of our arrival, we went out and had some beer and socialization at an Irish bar - something we NEVER do at home, but it was fun to do out and about. Then we went to this outdoor, Italian-type area that one of the bartenders had recommended for supper. The food was okay, nothing really good and by the time we walked home, I was feeling kind of out of sorts, but just figured it was my exhaustion (about 3 hours of sleep the previous night and the 3-hour time difference). Not the case, within 15 minutes of being in the hotel room after dinner, I was in the bathroom and was rather ill for a good 15 minutes, and then as soon as I had gotten sick, I felt fine and slept the night through. Not the best, but at least it was quick!

The next morning we went on a winery tour of 4 wineries, they were all very distinct, but the bummer was that we both enjoy pinot noir the best and NONE of these 4 had this variety as part of their standard tastings. No worries, we still had a great time and the properties were beautiful. We met at the Ferry building for this and returned via a ferry on our return and I wish our town/state had something even remarkably close to this building. It had tons of cool shops/restaurants, including a creamery, yummy veggies, breads, wines, you pretty much name it and they had it! I could have camped out there for a long time.

We went to the Fisherman's Wharf and toured a submarine and WWII ship, did Pier 39 and amused ourselves with the antics of the sea lions at Pier 39. To get to the Wharf we did the world-renowned trolley car and that was a fun experience. We had to hang on and hang out the entire time, which was actually a good time as we went up and down the hills. The drivers are full of Attitude and the cars move when THEY decide to move them.

We rode the bus and found our way to see some of the cool homes, like the Painted Ladies. This was directly after we had witnessed the purse nabbing so I was still a bit on nerve by that whole experience, but it was still cool to see them, I had just lost a bit of my nerve. We were walking down this side area, but it was large and broad daylight and appeared to be a main thoroughfare when we see 3 suspicious-looking young men, then we stopped a local-looking lady and asked her where to go to see the Painted Ladies, she told us where and we were on our way. Not a minute later, we hear yelling and shouting and see one of the young men running our way with a purse. I backed away towards the wall and D starts to lunge his way as if to go after him and I yell his name - having no idea if this idiot had a gun or knife - and fearing the worst; fortunately, there were 2 other guys on this guy right away, they wrestled him down and almost had the purse, but the guy managed to get away from them...then they CHASED HIM and finally came back after a few minutes with the purse in hand. They were some seriously heroic - if not brave/stupid - young men and the lady got her purse back. BUT, it left me a bit "off" I guess. I am sure we could have been the ones had it not been that we had stopped and talked to that lady.

That evening we went to a great Thai restaurant (having already enjoyed a MARVELOUS Chinese meal in Chinatown the previous night) and then a night trolley ride to finish getting the kids gifts.

Overall, it was amazing and the diversity in sound, people, lifestyles was cool to absorb.

I would HIGHLY recommend a trip to San Francisco! I enjoyed the city and my husband immensely!

CC

Places to See - Start w/ Briland

I have been playing around with my google homepage and one of the optional links you can add is "places to see before you die". This has made me think of all the places I would love to see before my time on this earth is no more. Given D and I's love of travel and our desire to show the kids the WORLD, I thought I would share some of the places I would love to see.

Do you have some you would recommend to me?

I will start this little blog journey with Briland (aka Harbour Island) in the Bahamas. Now, everything I read touted it as the most lovely and calm place to visit, everyone friendly, lots of relaxation. Now, I will agree with the lots of relaxation and it being a fairly calm place to visit - the friendly part I would not really agree with. The islanders were not overly friendly or helpful, but our main goal was the relaxation piece, so it was what we were looking for. It was a very expensive place to visit (hence the private island part and everything having to be shipped in), but we still enjoyed ourselves. We ate a lot of seafood, mostly conch (cooked any way you want) and drank some lovely beverages;).

Here are some pictures:

This was the view from the beach itself, it was gorgeous.

This was the view from our deck in our apartment, very lovely - despite the power lines - and you could hear the waves rolling in, very calming.


This was the sun setting from our evening beverage - I mean dining - establishment. We really did relax and enjoy each other's company.

This was a picture of a photo shoot that was on the beach, we never did seem to see the model/s that were being "shot" but it was interesting nonetheless. D and I joked that it was a good thing we were not in our fitness prime at the moment or we would have had to oblige and let them shoot us. (JOKING!)

This already seems like so long ago and it was only January, I guess the events since then have aged us considerably! We NEED anther vacation, but are sufficing for an evening out - adults only. Our friend N is coming over to stay with the kids, and they are beyond ecstatic. They think she is the greatest thing since Ramen Noodles and I think she is pretty darn fond of them too...

So, where are your favorite places?

CC