It's been almost a month being back from San Francisco and I can't believe how much I miss it! I got too lazy to record all the my days.. but I found some notes in my journal which makes me miss it all the more :(
Man.. where should I even begin.. it's been day 0 really and I already had such an AMAZING time in SF... wow... I'm EXHAUSTED so this will have to be a short one.. I lucked out at the airport where I could get an early flight to SF and after an eventful train ride.. I finally made to my CS host's house in SoMa.. SoMa used to be a warehousing district till the 1940s. In the late 1980s it became the gay district. Then around 1995 it became the central part of the underground music scene in SF. However, now it got "yuppified" as my host Deepak put it and it hosts a pretty upscale crowd. Deepak lives in this adorable studio and all my "Delhi guy" stereotypes got kicked outta the window when I saw his well kept house and share amazing conversations with him. We went out for the most amazing chicken biryani i ever remember eating.. it was this really run-down place called Shalimar in the infamous Tenderloin district in SF. The plan looked like one of the dhabas in India. I was surprised to see that it was totally packed. There was nobody serving you technically and it really was an informal set-up with strong punjabi/pakistani accents floating around. After dinner walked all over downtown (union square) which was simply breathtaking and alive.. there were ppl everywhere... music... performers..and gorgeous christmas lights.. it was simply magical. We then went to this awesome bar called Hotel Utah (that was built in 1908) playing live music.. the bar was packed.. and 4 ppl had their dogs! Deepak (my CS host) insisted on buying my drink since it was my first night in SF and I thought that was really sweet. we sat there and talked for a while.. about music.. school.. food.. countries we wanna see.. and now im back home... I've had so many ppl offering to show me around.. this is a dream..
wowwww.... all I can say.. I can't believe that this day is really over.. it was AMAZING.. I got up.. gobbled some of last night's amazing biryani and then I headed out to fisherman's wharf.. omg.. the bus was packed with Asians.. at one point.. i was the only non-Asian Asian on the bus.. China Town was like India.. it was noisy and packed and i loved it.. then i went to Fisherman's Wharf and it was breathtakingly beautiful.. I hate sea food but I was at Pier 39 and you HAVE to have clam chowder on Pier 39 so I manned up and actually liked it! I spent some time looking at the lazy sea lions and what I didn't know was that this large gang of sea lions are wild and they comes and laze on the pier completely voluntarily. I went to the edge of the pier with my clam chowder and just sat there in the sun and watched the water. I couldn't have been more content with life at this point.
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Famous SF Trams near the wharf
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| PIER 39 duh. |
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| Seals just chillin, they are wild seals who come n go of their own accord |
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| Dreaded Alcatraz |
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| Pier 39 Marina |
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| Lots of boats on Pier 39 |
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| Coit Tower from Pier 39 |
I then decided to walk around the different piers and I reached Pier 41. I wish I could describe the energy of the place to you. I could hear sooo many different languages around me. There was this really cool Museum kinda thing, which is the Museum Mechanique. It's really hard to describe but it has all vintage coin operated games. So you can put a quarter and see a 3-D slide show or you can see different mechanical dolls doing a dance. It was the highlight of my day. Or maybe not. I went into a real submarine with access to all of it and that was simply awesome.
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I think this is Optimus Prime
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| One of the games in the Museum Mechanique |
It is the USS Pampanito. They have an audio tour that describes all the sights and sounds of living there, what it was really like, anecdotes about each part of the ship and it is haunting. I personally feel like it was haunted too. I was freaked out of my mind cos I was the only tourist on the submarine!! And it was in the water and it was moving and swaying. I got freaked out by strange sounds more than once.
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| Magnificient USS Pampanito |
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| sleeping quarters in sub |
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| Dining Room in submarine |
After the submarine adventure, I went to this really famous bakery called the Boudin (boo-deen) Bakery which claims that it invented the sourdough bread. The bread was the size of my head! I was too intimidated by the size of the bread so I got a brownie instead. I don't know if I imagined it cos the bakery is supposed to be famous but the brownie was heavenly.
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| Boudin Bakery Brownie |
I then walked over to the Ghirardelli square and I wanted to get the famous hot chocolate sundae. However, the sundae was too big for me to finish by myself and it was not cheap enough to waste so I had to be content with making two rounds and getting the free sample of candy twice (peppermint and chocolate truffle.. yumm). Oh I even passed by the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum but I was too cheap to buy the tickets. Anyway, I was super tired by then so I just got on a bus (going the wrong direction) and reached my host's place after 2 hours! He had some really good tasting food that he cooked at home, and I was too full to eat then! I then went to this bar called Noc Noc in the Haight Ashbury district for a CS meetup. Again, I got on the wrong train (ugghhh). The train stops at the last stop and the driver is looking at me.. and I'm looking at him all "what the hell you looking at". Turns out he wasn't one of the many black dudes hitting on me, he was wondering why the heck I'm not getting off his stopped train. I ran to the other platform n the mean driver refuses to open the door and drives off!! I finallllyyy made the right train and reached the bar. Met a lot of really nice friends. Made plans to meet some of them the next day. You gotto listen to this.. I got this beer called Stragen or something with pear cider.. it wasn't half bad at all! I had a great time at Noc Noc.. the decor was really cool. I think they were trying to make it look like a cave but with very colorful lights and such. Different. I took the train back with a guy trying to act like he was friends with Gregory Roberts (Shantaram). It was hilarious that he couldn't remember his name. This is the weirdest part.. I had the train driver flirt with me over the intercom!! weirdest shit ever.. "the girl in the front.. why you looking all pissed like that.. I feel like your gonna spank me". I didn't know where to hide. Made it home and then with very very careful precision I managed to steal naan n chole from deepak's fridge without a single sound. I was starved!! All in all, an amazingly awesome day!
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| Ghiradelli Square |
December 22, 2011
Thursday
So I didn't write in my journal anymore for the rest of the trip so this is a culmination of everything good that happened in SF for the next 2-3 days. So there this other CS meet organized the next day. I really didn't feel like going to be honest but I had made these friends yesterday and we had made plans to meet up the next day so I dragged myself to the bar. I don't remember the name of the bar but I remember that it was on Nob Hill. It was a few blocks away from the famous Lombard Street as far as I know. There I met Samuel (Vietnamese), and Lloyd (korean) and Jay (American Gujju) from last night. So Samuel offered to drive us around and we set off to continue exploring SF! We went to an amazing view point called Twin Peaks. The view from Twin Peaks is simply too gorgeous to describe.
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View from Twin Peaks
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You can see all over the bay. It is also ****ing cold compared to the lower areas which wasn't fun. We also went to Coit Tower and saw absolutely gorgeous views. Coit Tower (as you'll see in the pics) is shared like the top of the
fireman's hose! It was built to honor firemen (if that wasn't obvious by
now :)) We had to go up this really hilly windy road to reach the top
and it totally reminded me of Hyderabad. We also went to a really good
vantage point to take pics of the Golden Gate bridge.
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| Coit Tower |
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| View of bridge from Coit Tower |
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| View of city from Coit Tower |
We then wandered around by car with Samuel giving me tourist commentary on the side. We saw Japan Town, Misson, Castro (famous for strip clubs) and Little Saigon and finally came back to SoMa to eat at a Chinese restaurant. It was an interesting dinner with 4 people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds who knew each other just a day. We played game called Question Master which is basically just someone asking a question n everyone having to answer it. We also decided to share the food, so all of us ordered one thing and we all shared it (Indian Style!). They also sweetly offered to let me take the leftovers home :) I remember thinking that it is moments like these that fuel my love to travel (meeting the people.. not the leftovers!).
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| Gorgeous Golden Gate |
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| Each cable of the Golden Gate |
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| With actor in making Jay (CS friend) |
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| With CS Friend Samuel who was an amazing tour guide |
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| View near the Golden Gate
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December 23, 2011
Friday
The next day I went to this little town called Sausalito that seemed straight out of my dreams. I went with Ankit (friend from Purdue) and we took the ferry. Wow, I wish I could describe in adequate words how beautiful the ferry ride was. It was apparently voted as the second best ferry ride in the world and I can totally see how. On the ferry, these two women broke out into Christmas carols on the deck and it was such a perfect moment.
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| Just walking the bay |
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| on the embarcadero, ready to take the ferry |
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| very very crude idea of the real view from the ferry |
It is one of the most romantic things you can do for a date! Take the ferry and then go eat in the restaurant that I describe later. We walked around in Sausalito though we got there pretty late and the stores were mostly shut. We then just randomly walked into this restaurant which turned out be one of the most romantic restaurants that I have been to. It did look a lot like Waterfront in Hyderabad with a 270 deg view of the water with glass bay windows. And to top it off, they had a live band playing old Christmas music. We had a couple of drinks there (thanks to the specials!) and headed back.
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| Gorgeous Restaurant |
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| View outside windows |
I then met up Deepak and his friends at this tiki bar called the Smugglers Cove. What I didn't know at the time was that it was voted in the top 10 or 20 bars in the US! The drinks were super over priced with the cheapest being 10 bucks but the drink was huggeee so it was worth it. It sweet and nutty and potent. We then went to this weird hungarian place that I have no idea how to describe. It was a bar with a hungarian buffet with food I have never seen and decor I can't describe. Totally weird and cool. Another awesome day!
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| Totally weird Hungarian Buffet Place. There was ox-tail on the menu. |
December 24, 2011
Saturday
This is D-day. The day I have been waiting for since I saw the movie "A walk in the clouds" over 10 years ago! I remember that this was the first time I was seeing in color the beauty of vineyards. I was totally madly in love with Keeanu Reeves, the European architecture and just something about the place. I dunno what it was but it just stuck me with this deep rooted yearning to go to Napa. And finally I was going!!!
Ok the biggest tip to going to Napa (that most people don't know).. or wait.. 2 biggest tips:
1) You have 'buy one get one free' coupons for a whole loads of wineries. So if you're going with someone, you can save A TON of money using these. Tastings that are normally 25 bucks will cost you 12.5. It is a KICKASS deal and one that most people don't know about. Just google "Napa on a budget".
2) You don't have to stand by the bar and taste all 5 drinks! This is something all my local friends didn't figure out!! Take your wine glass, sit on the porch, walk around the gorgeous gardens, pretend you're in France or Italy. In fact you could buy some cheese or smuggle your own. And when your done with the drink, come back to the bar for a refill and repeat. If you're a big group, you can even have the server come to your table.
I was in my heaven. I actually thought it was really pointless for me to go to Napa as I knew squat about wines, but they help you discover what you like and you might actually leave with some favorites like I did! I lovveeddd a few of the white wines and dessert wines and now I'm actually excited to go wine tasting again! We took the Silverado trail back (where Ankit was super nice in accommodating my request) and it has the most gorgeous views of the wineries. Ideally, people should pack a picnic or go to St. Helena for a meal but we didn't really have the time :(
This is all I can remember for now but I really really miss you SF and I can't wait to go back!!
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