San Francisco - Day 3

e rented bikes to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. We used Bike and Roll. There's a 10% discount if you book in advance on the internet. We walked over to the location in North Beach from our hotel, grabbing breakfast at an Italian place on the way.

The bike path was crowded with lots of other bikers. Make sure to bring water with you even if it's not hot. We made that mistake and had to wait until we got to the Golden Gate Bridge gift shop and by then our out of shape asses were dying.

It's about 10 miles from where you pick up the bikes to Sausalito. We learned we are not in shape. We had to walk our bikes up several hills. The serious bikers in their spandex blew past us. I'm sure they were laughing at us. At the end of our bike ride our butts were extremely sore.

We had a great time though. At first the bridge was covered in fog. Then halfway over the bridge it disappeared and we could finally see the other side. Then we biked along the shore in Marin County where we got some great views of the city and the bridge.

We were famished by the time we got to Sausalito so we decided to go to Scoma's since it was the first restaurant we saw. I had a bowl of the clam chowder which was the best I had all weekend and then the dungeness crab salad sandwich which was decent. The husband had a cheeseburger. In reality we should have looked around town a bit more to find something a little more casual for lunch.

We high-tailed it out of there to make the next ferry back. Good thing too. We were exhausted and it was a very long process of waiting in line for the ferry, loading the ferry, the ferry ride, unloading, returning the bikes, and walking back to our hotel from Fisherman's Wharf.

After taking a long nap, we headed out to dinner at Tropisueno per a recommendation from our concierge. Originally we had been planning on going to a seafood restaurant but after lunch I was tired of seafood.

We were able to walk from our hotel to dinner and it's also near Union Square. There was also almost a crisis as they told me they don't have strawberry daiquiris. Or anything with fruit. They had a drink menu that sounded delicious, except everything was made with tequila. And I hate tequila. The waitress had the bartender substitute another liquor for tequila in a fruity girly drink and I was happy. If you are a tequila lover, their margarita and drink menus were excellent.

We decided to just get a bunch of appetizers to share between the two of us so we could try some different things. We had guacamole which was pretty good but a little too spicy. Then the tostada de camarones. It was good but messy to eat the hard shell. We also had the chicken flautas which were delicious. And finally the molotes de papa y chorizo which was also very good. All in all a solid restaurant.

After dinner we headed to another wine bar, First Crush, in the Union Square area. Something about the decor was just too clubby and dated so the ambiance was a little off. But I enjoyed a wine flight of champagne and The Husband enjoyed one of the red wine flights. All the wines they carry are California wines and are probably easy to find in a store. We also had a cheese plate that was pretty good.

It still wasn't very late so we decided to head up the street to another concierge recommendation, the Starlight Room in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. Our concierge made it sound like this was a great place to just grab a drink and look at the view as it's on the top floor.

Oh no. It's more like a nightclub. An old time nightclub with guys working the door in tuxes and people going in wearing fancy dresses. And a cover charge. Honestly not sure what our concierge was thinking suggesting this place as we were wearing fairly casual outfits of jeans and nice shirts as we asked his advice before leaving for dinner. Definitely not our kind of scene.

Turkey Itinerary

Since I'm still waiting for our pictures from San Francisco and I'd like to blog about something I thought I'd give an update on our planning for Turkey.

So we are all booked for our trip to Turkey over Thanksgiving. We leave late on Friday, November 20 so that we can work a full day and then return Sunday, November 29. And the best part is we only have to use 3 vacation days!

We are staying in Istanbul for 4 nights. This is our hotel in Istanbul: http://www.hotellinoistanbul.com/. It's located near all the major attractions and is 69 Euros a night.

Then we move on to Cappadocia for 3 nights. We're flying into Kayseri. This is our hotel in Goreme: http://www.kelebekhotel.com/. We are booked for room 4. Our second choice was http://www.4oda.com/. We decided on the Kelebek Hotel because it's located in Goreme which many on Trip Advisor recommended over staying in Urgup, the other major hotel location in Cappadocia.

Our last night we will be flying back to Istanbul pretty late so we will be staying at either the Holiday Inn or Courtyard by Marriott near the airport since we have rewards points we can use. No matter what trip we go on, we can't seem to escape the Holiday Inns.

San Francisco - Boulevard

Boulevard was to be our big meal of our trip as we were celebrating our third anniversary which is about 2 weeks from now. We were very excited about our first Michelin star restaurant experience.

We arrived a little bit early and had drinks at the bar. While we were there we saw a couple come in with a baby. To a fancy restaurant. And it was almost 9 at night. I was giving them the side-eye.

I started with the Crispy Maryland Softshell Crab with toasted garlic rice noodle salad, lime vinaigrette, red curry, and green papya relish. Absolutely loved the crab. Thought the noodles had a great taste. The Husband was not a fan of the noodles though.

The Husband had the Organic Heirloom Tomatoes with Italian bufala mozzarella, Bellwether Farms ricotta, Padron peppers, olive & fresh garbanzo relish, olio verde, and basil. Some of the best tomatoes we have ever tasted. The bufala mozzarella was to die for. And the ricotta was wonderful as well.

For dinner I had the Butter Poached New England Lobster with creamed Brentwood corn, summer frying peppers, fritto of cornmeal crusted baby corn & Padron peppers, and lobster nage. One of the best meals I have ever had. The lobster was amazing. Buttery and tender. The Husband was in love with the corn. It might have been his favorite part of the entire meal.

The Husband had the Wood Oven Roasted Angus Filet Mignon with fondant fingerling potatoes, blue cheese, celery salad, crispy bacon, spinach wilted with roasted shallot & trumpet mushrooms, warm mustard vinaigrette, and red wine beef jus. This was the disappointing part of the meal. We're from Chicago which is known for it's good steaks. This one just did not measure up. It was overcooked for what was requested and to me it just tasted bland and not very tender. The bacon was delicious though.

For dessert I had a cheese plate. I had the Melange cheese which came with some grapes, bread, and nuts. Heavenly. I just wish they gave you bigger pieces of cheese. I could eat just cheese for dinner.

The Husband had the stuffed chocolate chip cookies. He loved them. I'm not a huge chocolate fan so I thought they'd be better stuffed with vanilla ice cream to make ice cream sandwiches.

After dinner we headed to RN 74, Michael Mina's new wine bar for a drink at the recommendation of our concierge. We liked the hip but relaxed vibe of the place. They had a great looking menu that you could eat at the wine bar and late-night dining. Late-night dining is usually my favorite while drinking but Boulevard had stuffed us. I also liked that you can order smaller tastes than a whole glass which meant I could try more.

RN 74 is pretty upscale though. They had a glass of wine on the menu that was $65. A freakin' GLASS! That's like the same price as our bottle of wine at Boulevard. And most of the bottles we drink at home are $10 from Trader Joe's. So obviously a different class of place than we usually go to. Very nice though and I'd recommend it to wine lovers. Or even wine novices like myself. They had plenty of other wine available for reasonable prices.

San Francisco - Day 2

We started the day by watching some football in our hotel room then heading over to the Ferry Building.

There was also a market across the street selling paintings, jewelery, and housewares. There were a lot of quality products and I bought a really cool necklace.

The Ferry Building is my heaven on earth. Their farmer's market was wonderful. There were types of produce there that I'd never heard of before. And they had a nice cooking demonstration going on.

The inside was my true love though. So many wonderful stores selling delicious goodies.

And samples everywhere! I think we could have made a meal from the samples alone.

We decided to get some cheese from Cowgirl Creamery, bread from Acme Bread, and a ham and fontina with honey sandwich from Lulu Petite to share. Delicious. I seriously could eat lunch at the Ferry Building every day for a month and not run out of things to try.

We headed next to Union Square. The Husband found a sports bar to watch some more college football and I did a little bit of shopping.

Then on to the cable cars. There was a huge huge line at the Powell Street turnaround. So being the very smart people that we are, we went half a block down from where they were loading. All the cars stopped there, we hopped right on because for some reason they don't actually fill the cars at the turnaround, and we actually got prime spots, hanging on the side of the car right at the front. And we missed an hour or more wait in line. Another option is to ride them at night. There was no line and I'm sure the city looks cool all lit up.

We got off the cable car at Lombard Street and walked down.

These awesome little cars can be rented for the day. They're called Go Cars. The car has a GPS tour in it that tells you where to go. Very expensive though.

We went over to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to see the sea lions.

Then climbed Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower.

And saw the Transamerica Pyramid on the way back to our hotel.

San Francisco - Day 1

Arrived at SFO and took the BART downtown to the Embarcadero stop for $8.10 each. We were staying at Le Meridien San Francisco. We found a great rate of $82/night for this hotel. Hotel is generally $250-$300 and up. Not sure if it would be worth it for that price. Le Meridien was in the Financial District which seemed pretty quiet even when we arrived in the middle of the work day on Friday. The rooms were large, the bed very comfortable, and the bathroom very nice. A very nice hotel but not much that makes it stand out.

We enjoyed staying in the Financial District. It was nice and quiet and not overwhelmed by people. We were able to walk almost everywhere. The two other main areas for hotels in San Francisco are Fisherman's Wharf and Union Square. Fisherman's Wharf was our idea of hell on earth. People everywhere, all tourists, tour busses and tour groups going by, overpriced restaurants, lots of kids. Union Square is still pretty crowded but not like Fisherman's Wharf. Lots of shopping in the area.

We started our trip with lunch at Swan Oyster Depot. But first we had to walk there. Big mistake. SF's hills kicked our asses. Walking up California Street almost killed me.

Should have taken the cable car.

Excellent seafood at Swan Oyster Depot but go on an off hour. We had a long wait and we showed up at 2:15.

They only have one long counter for people to eat at.

We both started with a glass of wine and the clam chowder. They're apparently famous for their chowder and while it was good, it wasn't even the best I had all weekend. Then we moved on to the crab cocktail. This was delicious and we both highly recommend it.

Finally, I decided since I was at an oyster depot, I needed to try the oysters. I got a plate of 6 oysters which they added 1 clam to. Then they gave me another clam to try. Altogether I had 8 raw oysters/clams that I ate. Too much raw for me. I much preferred the oysters to the clams. Payment is cash only and it's also only open until 5:30 pm.

We stopped at Grace Cathedral and wandered through Chinatown on the way back to the hotel.

For dinner we headed to Andalu in the Mission District to meet some friends. It was very good. My favorite was the cambazola fondue although we also enjoyed the flatiron steak, Coca-Cola braised short ribs, sliders, mizo glazed sea bass, wagyu beef tartare, and ahi tartar tacos. Only disappointing thing was the polenta fries. Highly recommend this restaurant.