Summer Tales – San Francisco

I am recapping the three weeks of fun that I had with my family this summer.
See all related posts under the category:  summer tales.

Friday (8/5) was traveling day for us. We left Las Vegas McCarran Airport in the late morning and arrived back in San Francisco in the afternoon, where we had to pick up a new rental car and drive to our hotel in the East Bay. We spent the evening at my friend Susi’s house, who had invited us for a yummy BBQ.

The next morning (8/6) I took my parents and Basti out for breakfast in Rockridge at the “Rockridge Café“.  J’s Mom used to live in Rockridge for a while, so I am pretty familiar with the area and knew a few good restaurants and where to take people.

We had a delicious American breakfast and enjoyed the casual atmosphere.

… this scone, by the way, was freshly baked and absolutely fantastic!

After a short drive-by through Berkeley and UC Berkeley, we dropped our car off at the hotel and took BART to head into the city.

We got off at Powell Street and set off on foot to Union Square. We made a quick stop at “Niketown” (for my Dad and Basti) and then strolled through Chinatown and North Beach to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Union Square

Cable Car on Powell Street

North Beach

North Beach

Saints Peter and Paul Church and Coit Tower

After some souvenir shopping, we had dinner at “Bubba Gumps”. Basti remembered the restaurant from their last visit in 2007 and insisted on eating there at least once. I didn’t object – although it is a very touristy place, I kind of love the whole “Forrest Gump”-themed setup.

By the time we left, it had gotten dark and pretty chilly outside, which made it easy to agree on taking the “Streetcar” from Pier 39  back to the BART station. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with that idea and so we found ourselves waiting at the Streetcar station with a whole bunch of other people. Three streetcars passed us by without even stopping because they were already filled to the brim with people, and eventually we decided that walking might keep us warmer than waiting for a streetcar that had room to pick us up. We made it back to the BART station in about 20 minutes and we were all happy to get onto the warm train that took us back to our hotel.

… stay tuned for more.