San Francisco: Day 3, Part 1

It's Saturday morning in SanFran, which means it's Farmer's Market day! Sarah and I head to the old ferry building by the piers.



We hop off the BART onto Market St which spits us right out at the ferry building. It was PACKED! By some fluke of fate we stumble past Rachel working at the Cowgirl Creamery booth.



We purchase some DELICIOUS cheese from her and wander about looking for other pieces to our perfect picnic. After a couple loops we end up with fresh bread, blackberries, apples and salami. All of it is super fresh and all natural.








We find a bench overlooking the water with a clear view of the Oakland Bay Bridge.



Everything is amazing. With happy, full bellies we walk back up the piers. It's amazing how much more crowded it is compared to when we were walking around on Thursday. We head back to the Musee Mecanique, this time equipped with quarters! We wander around spending our quarters on such things as the gypsy lady:



who told me "You have plenty of common sense. You have great gifts. You have a fondness for good company. Do not be over generous. You will succeed." She was delightfully creepy.

Finally quarter-less we head towards Ghirardelli Square. The entire way we get to watch the Blue Angels showing off (this time with red, white & blue smoke). There's also a couple old biplanes flying around and doing tricks.



Ghirardelli Square is equally as packed, but we do manage to pop into a store and grab a free sample of their seasonal pumpkin spice chocolate.



By this time, we're exhausted, so we stop and put our feet up next to a fountain in the courtyard. With my luck though, I get in the way of a small toddler who decides to splash me with fountain water. This isn't just any splash either. It looks a little something like this...



Mildly displeased that I look like I peed myself, we leave and head to The Buena Vista to drink Irish Coffee. Luckily it's only 2 blocks away so we find it without mishap. It's a pretty neat little bar.



It's wall to wall people but as we're standing there looking lost, a couple at the bar leaves. We sidle up to the bar and order an Irish Coffee.



Our bartender isn't the most talkative, but the other bartender is an older guy with a sweet handlebar mustache who looks a little something like this:



We notice that there's a painting on the wall of a man who looks remarkably like this bartender. We ask if it's him, and it turns out it is! I'm still not sure why he's so famous (perhaps it's the mustache) but I do buy a postcard from the shop next door that depicts the painting that is hanging in the bar.

Our next stop in the afternoon is shopping! Apparently Union Square is the place to be. Our original plan is to walk it. On the map, it's only 2 miles, so how bad could it be?


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We begin our hike UP Hyde St. It turns out to be the steepest hill I'd ever climbed in my life. Halfway up we almost throw in the towel, but there's a crowed gathered a bit higher up so we press on. Turns out the the crowd knew some inside info. It's one of the best of the city.



We pause, huffing & puffing, to admire the view before pressing on. At the next intersection we stop & consult the map for a better, less uphill route. Our new route takes us down a hill which surprisingly spits us out to the foot of Lombard Street, the 'crookedest street in America.'



By this time though, we're practically dead on our feet, so we give up and hail the next cab that passes. This is probably the best decision we could have made. The drive is another 15 minutes up and down some serious SanFran hills.

Our quiet cabby drops us right in the center of the square. Our first stop: Levi's. Then, on to H&M. Success! We spend a little too much money in Union Square. Packages in hand, we find the BART and head back to meet up with Rachel for a night on the town.