UPDATE: here is a batch of pictures from Ingrid’s camera =)

my engagement ring

Around the holidays, nothing’s better than seeing old friends and family. Chris and I visited my buddy Ingrid, who just returned from Germany to San Francisco a few months ago. The weather was wonderful: 60′s and sunny the entire time! The Christmas trees next to palm trees were an odd yet nostalgic sight.

For Chris and me, this trip was our first as an engaged couple.

We went to see Alcatraz and did the audio tour, which was really good. The narrators and speakers were actual former prisoners and guards. The stories were very well done.

After walking around Fisherman’s Wharf, we arrived at the Buena Vista Cafe, a favorite of locals that is especially known for its Irish coffee. The drink was too strong for me, but evidently it was good, since Chris had three. Thank goodness he’s a big guy. (Except for the group shot of us, I stole all of these pictures from the internet.)

We trudged uphill on Hyde Street and got a nice view of the Bay and curvy-windy Lombard Street.

For dinner, we had dungeness crab! The season had started less than a week before we arrived in SF.

Dungeness crab at Fisherman's Wharf

The next day, we went to Golden Gate Park. The park is huuuuuge! It’s an amazing greenspace. I especially liked the Japanese Tea Garden, where there’s a tea house that serves tea and other Japanese goodies. I had miso soup and a Spam sushi roll, yum. (Spam is big in Hawaii, where many of the natives are Japanese. Not sure if that’s where Spam sushi came from though.)

We trekked back to downtown SF through the Castro and Mission neighborhoods. We were unsure of where we were until we saw the great big rainbow flag. The first thing that greeted us was a pair of completely naked men in broad daylight, on the corner across from the Diesel store. I’m oblivious to naked people, penis drawings, and other such things, but Chris pointed them out to me. (All of these Castro pictures I stole from the internet.)

The Mission was colorful in a different way. I thought the Women’s Building was pretty cool, sort of like how Philly murals are. We came across the blue building that inspired Maxime Le Forestier to write the song “San Francisco.” We stopped for a late lunch at a great little Mexican place called Regalito. I had a cactus salad and the best churros I’ve ever tasted. They gave away little souvenir postcards of that painting at the end of the counter. (All the Regalito photos are from their website.)

That night, we dressed up and had a fancy dinner at Scoma’s on Pier 47. We had fried oysters, steamed clams, and swordfish. I salivate as I type this.

Scoma's by day

Scoma's by night

On our last day in SF, Chris and I rode the cablecars and streetcars.

We went Christmas shopping around Fisherman’s Wharf. For lunch, we had New England/white clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls at Boudin. Chris is picky about white chowder and this stuff passed the test. Boudin is a neat little bakery and museum. I loved the baskets of stuffed animals and bread loaves riding on the rails around the shop!

Fisherman’s Wharf was much quieter and easier to navigate on a weekday. San Francisco seems to have a lot of candy shops. We met a brown bird on Pier 39 that was utterly unafraid, allowing me to come within 2 feet to snap its picture! We also saw the sea lions that now make Pier 39 their sunning spot. There’s even a sea lion web cam set up there!

Back closer to home (Ingrid’s home), we bummed around Union Square. They have a giant Christmas tree, courtesy of the Macy’s across the street, and an ice rink! So you can go skating while it’s 60 degrees and sunny. We also went to a neat old-school toy store, Jeffrey’s Toys. This place was a no-frills kind of store, just the goods, and lots of it. They had an interesting set of ethnically themed dolls. They even carried the kinds of obscure board games that Chris likes to play. For our last meal in SF, we went to Katana-Ya, a little Japanese restaurant in the Union Square area that specializes in ramen. I felt we needed to educate Chris on the real deal, rather than the dried packaged stuff college kids eat.

Sleepy and full of soup, we headed to the airport for our red-eye flight home. I amused myself taking pictures of Chris trying to nap on the BART ride over to SFO. He was not as amused as I.

Good night, San Francisco!