more San Francisco

On our flight there was a dedicated crew member to act as concierge. He was very informative and gave some great tips on thngs to see and do.

One recommendation was for Dotti's True Blue Cafe. He did say it was a very traditional diner that was popular and could mean waiting in a queue. I figured it was worth trying so checked out the opening time and got there when they had been open for 5 mins. Well, it was already full with 6 people waiting before us. This is the boys in the queue.



We all voted it was worth the wait as it looked very rustic and the specials on the menu board looked great. Amongst other things, the sign on the door said "whilst we know you are waiting, we cook everything from scratch. Please don't ask us to requeast a customer leave their table if they have finished, and we will give you the same courtesy of not rushing you out"... anyway.. good ethos... and what was a great breakfast. I had Zucchini Fritters, with poached eggs, topped with a slightly tomaty salsa sauce. Delicious!

After this we did a little shopping. Around 11 we got onto one of those buses that do the tours of the city. A couple of places I wanted to see, that I missed last time we were here, were the 'painted ladies' & the neighbourhood of Haight Ashbury.



The Painted Ladies are 6 houses in a row, that we have all seen many times in movies. I wanted to see them for their architecture as well as the detailed paintwork. They are very iconic of the city.

Haight Ashbury is the neighbourhood where flower power in the '60's started. There are still signs of this movement particularly in the shops and the way buildings are painted.


See if you can see the fabulous long dresses in this shop window. Very groovy baby!


We were keen to also go over the Golden Gate Bridge as we didnt see it the previous day. Alas again the fog was rolling in rapidly. We firstly pulled into a car park about 100m from the commencement of the bridge and could not see it AT ALL!!

When we headed out onto the bridge it cleared a little but it was amazing to visibly be able to see the fog flying through it. It was also freezing!

We finished with a tour through Little Italy and back into the city. More than a little exhausted we went back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours before dinner. We all quickly slept for 1.5 hrs.



I had booked a Mexican restaurant called Colibri. It was a great choice. The guacomole was made to order at the table. Tina's fish soft shelled tacos were delicious as was my Chicken Mole, which has spice, nut & chocolate sauce.


It was far from the Mexican restaurants we are used to and it was great to try different dishes like sauteed cactus leaves with portobello mushrooms.

Tina and I also loved our Mexican beers served with ice and alot of lime in a salt rimmed glass. Very delicious. We finished with a couple of shared desserts - a mango creme brulee and churros....

We slowly strolled back to the hotel, stopping to watch 3 african american guys playing instruments on a street corner. They were great and had a couple of people dancing. They were very organised having thier own little generator running to power their amp & electric guitar. Only a block away was another guy on his own with a similar set up.

We took the long route back, window shopping and just enjoying a very balmy evening.

Not sure if this is making any sense.. the internet connection is a little unreliable. Some of the pictures will also be hard to make out but if you click on them to enlarge you will see more details.

Hope all are well.... take care
xD