As I said before, my trip to SF was fab... I literally did not have enough time to do everything I wanted! I went with my two little sisters (when I say little I mean 25 and 21) and we had a blast.
Don't read if you don't want the blow by blow ;p Also, if by chance you felt like this post was not long enough and did not have enough pictures then go to my
flickr... you'll at least get more pictures!
We ended up leaving on a Friday (after I had put in a full day at work) and catching a red-eye flight. The only bad thing about this is that I can NEVER sleep on planes, and we were go go go from the moment we landed at 6 am to 9 pm that night; I was reaaaally tired the first day/night! We ended up buying the San Francisco City Pass for $70, which provides you with free transportation on the Muni buses and cable cars and also allows you to go to a bunch of attractions for free. I'd definitely recommend getting this pass!
The first day we went to Golden Gate Park to look at the Bison (so cool!) and walked through the park to visit the Japanese Tea Garden and the
California Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, you had to pay for the Garden and since we have them in Hawai`i for free, we skipped it. However, the Academy of Sciences was soooo cool; They had indoor lagoons and tidepools and rainforests that were super awesome (You walk on a pathway and the sharks and rays and stuff swim between the pools under the path!) . They also had penguins, rays and jellyfish, and an albino alligator! The Academy was by far my favorite attraction that came free with the City Pass, and if you're ever in SF, you should check it out :)
California Academy of Science mangrove lagoons
California Academy of Science Phillipines Reef
From there we ate a Russian Bakery (the
Cinderella Bakery... their mascot was a kawaii matryoksha!) and tried to visit Kawaii Corner. Although Kawaii Corner was okay, they were quite small and I think we have similar things here in Hawai`i (so that was a bust; I didn't buy anything). Then we caught the bus back to Haight and Ashbury (amazingly crowded... not like I remember it at all) where I visited
Mendel's, scores of vintage shops and
Amoeba Music! Is it just me or is it a bit more commercial than it used to be? We ate gigantic delicious burritos for dinner here and were unfortunately too full to eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
We finally made it to our hotel in Japantown in the late evening: Let me just say that Hotel Kabuki is awesome! They have Japanese style baths and the staff/ decor/ rooms are really nice. Plus, you can't beat being sandwiched between two of the main Japanese malls!
The next day we caught the bus to the
Exploratorium (very cool) and then walked to
Renegade Craft Fair... it was my first Renegade, and it was entirely coincidental that we were in SF at the same time as the fair! It was very crowded even though it was the last day, but also very fun and a good learning experience. I didn't end up buying anything but it was still totally worth going to.
From there we went to the wharf (also extremely crowded) where we were supposed to catch a free cruise to the Golden Gate Bridge (see those passes are awesome!) but we took one look at the line and decided not to. Instead we ate the prerequisite bread bowl and clam chowder for an extremely late lunch, which we then topped off with a Ghiradhelli brownie sundae! Then we caught the bus to Union Square where we were able to squeeze in a really quick look around (basically we popped into Urban Outfitters and H&M) before things started closing.... it was already 9:00!
The next day was our last day and we stayed in Japantown because our flight was leaving at 3. I loved Japantown so much; I honestly could have spent my whole trip just shopping around there! The food was delicious too... every morning we ate at Anderson's Bakery and on our last day we had shabushabu... yummm!! I did 90% of my shopping on this day... Japantown rocked my socks off! Sooooo many cute stores... although my favorites were Daiso and Ichibankan; I wish we had stores like this in Hawai`i!!! The bento/ crafty sections were to die for! I literally spent $60 in Daiso, which is amazing because it's pretty much a dollar store! But I got sooo much good stuff. I loved Japantown :)
From my $20 "surprise" bag from MaiDo... totally worth it!
Stuff from miscellaneous stores: Kinokukiya, Mendell's in Haight and Ashbury, Urban Outfitters and H&M (don't laugh... we don't have them in HI!)
My stuff from Ichiban Kan! I especially love the panda seasoning dispenser, stickers and nail polish!
My loot from Daiso! Good finds: rolls of felt clovers, pretty felt (better quality than the ones in craft stores here) metal purse frames and chirimen cloth!I wanna go back to SF right now :)
