Another excellent day in SF (Sat 12th Sept).
After a very lazy morning drinking coffee, eating brekkers and studying maps & stuff, we set off for a good old wander around Chinatown. It was really busy as it was shopping day where all the local Chinese people get all their groceries in and the place was just buzzing.
We criss crossed between Stockton and Grant Ave to try and see as much as we could. Its a great place, really buzzy and lively. It is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia....
After we came out via Dragon's Gate we headed on towards Market St and the Haight district. We stopped in a really cool little bar called FarmerBrown where they served beer in Mason jars, brunch was what everyone was doing (incl a Brunch buffet!) and 3 teenagers played live jazz! It was fabulous.
Pushed on from there all the way down Market Street and really got to see a different side of SF. There were many more homeless people around, many more people just kind of loitering (perhaps with intent..) and just a different feel.
I can't say I felt unsafe but I was definitely more aware.
As we reached Haight Street it changed again as we wandered up into the hub of the original Hippy movement in SF. We stopped at another recommended bar and got chatting to an Irish guy there who's table we crashed. He was travelling about on his own for a couple of days as he was over in Boston for work but actually lived in Sydney!
After there we carried on up Haight and just stopped wherever we fancied really. This was a good old walk I must mention, covering quite a decent area of SF which is what we love to do. Specific bars are kind of the main destination but that is good as it gives us a purpose almost, to head out and really cover some distance and get to properly see/know the place.. We were about 4-5miles away from our hotel I think by now. We diverted 'off track' to go to Bar Crudo (another recommendation) and it was fab. We had Oysters in there - first time Dan had ever had them and then I had a delicious Octopus and Chorizo dish, D had fish tacos..
On from there to our final destination of Magnolia Brewpub. We sat outside there and as always, got chatting to the couple that shared our table. They were great, she was also called Sarah. They had very recently moved from NYC! Sarah gave us some good tips on places to go in NYC (incl Rooftop bars) that aren't quite so touristy... She highly recommended the High Line and wasn't particularly enamoured by Stone St.. said that it would be full of guys in suits that thought they were being really cool dining and drinking in a European type of set up! For us, as Europeans she said it wouldn't be that exciting....
Anyway, after they left Dan ordered himself a burger and I got some wings (which weren't all that good surprisingly). It was dark now and there was just no way we were going to be walking back so we ordered an Uber cab and headed back towards our hotel.
We stopped off at Vesuvio's (again) as I think it is one of our faves here and then very stupidly decided to have a couple more again in the cafe/bar next door to the hotel. I say stupidly as we were already a bit pissed and just didn't need anymore! But hey, we're on holiday and we've only gone a bit daft here in SF so its all fine!
hmmmm though as I sit here writing this feeling rather ropey I'm not really convinced by that last statement!!!
We're having a super easy day today and once our massive sandwiches from Molinari's have settled down, we're just going to rent bikes and go over the GG bridge.. that is all we have planned today and what a nice last day in SF it will be.
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