alcatraz made me smile...

Oh San Francisco! What a lovely time I had in this strange, hilly, beautiful city. Lets run down the highlights. In list form, naturally.

1. Finally getting to meet my sister's (Laura) boyfriend's (Romey) son (Taj). The kid is cute, no joke. I probably could have hung out with him all day. He likes playing games just like me (score!).

The great thing about Taj is that he is super cute, so he fits in great with the adorable couple. Seriously, these three make great pictures

Here they are in Laura's super cool old fashioned elevator

Romey, Taj and I also went to the Oakland Museum of California together on a free ticket day. The museum has an area where the kids can 'paint' a portrait on a screen, and when the image is submitted it gets put on a screen on the wall.

2. Eating amazing food. This is always the best part of travelling (for me). We ate Indian food, tapas, sangria, Chinese food, Italian coffee/pastries and French breakfast. Yum. Double yum. You can tell that I was amazed with the food, because I didn't actually take that many pictures of it. {sorry}

sangria at Cha Cha Cha

I also had another food experience that I have been waiting to have for 3.5 years. I forgot about it. But when Laura came and picked me up at the airport and I looked out the window on the way to her house I saw it. I may have screamed. Tears may have come to my eyes. I forgot that with California comes.....

I love in-n-out! Seriously, its a real love. Look how thrilled I am here.

It was amazing. If you go to California, might I also recommend a stop at in-n-out. It can't be described here, so I won't even try. I will leave you with these images....

3. Color. I think I walked around San Fran on the most beautiful day. The sky was blue, not a cloud to be seen. It was a bit chilly, but perfect weather for climbing those giant hills. I did my touristy walking on a random Monday morning in December, and I was one of the only people on Lombard Street, Telegraph Hill, and in Grace Chapel. The perfect weather really added to the lighting, and enhanced some of the color I saw during the day.

                           East meets West

And I'll throw this picture in for good measure. Taken on the day I left, this felt more like the San Francisco I was anticipating. Rainy and cloudy, farmers market in the square, everyone has an umbrella.

4. Recreating Laura and Romey's first date. Turns out their first date was absolutely adorable. He took her to the House of Nanking (fabulous Chinese food) and then to Mara's (cutest Italian coffeeshop with the yummiest pastries ever). I'm glad I was there on this re-creation so I could snap pics of them at each stop. Also, Romey was probably glad that he forgot his wallet and Laura had to pay this time. :)

House of Nanking

Mara's

5. Alcatraz. I loved it. It was really cool. I think I could hear Sean Connery talking to me..... Ok, maybe not on that last one, but I've been dying to go to Alcatraz ever since I saw The Rock. I love love love that movie, which is saying something because my other favorite movies are Anne of Green Gables, Amelie, Ever After and Dead Poets Society. I think you would agree that one of these things is not like the others, and that thing is probably The Rock. Anyway, Laura and I scored tickets to the night tour (usually there's a wait, so we got lucky by finding some available tickets the night before). If you decide to go on the night tour, I would recommend buying your tickets online well in advance of your trip.

Since it was a clear day, and since we left at sunset and came back after nightfall, we saw the most amazing views of the city.

Even if we didn't have the views, Alcatraz was a pretty amazing experience.

6. Sisters. Mostly though, I would have to say that SF was amazing simply because I got to hang out with this amazing lady for five days. {smile!}

Romey and Laura took me to the airport {thanks!!} and when they dropped me off we got a few pics together. When Romey said "be California girls" this is what we did. Naturally right?