SAN FRANCISCO

Estuve muy pocos dias en San Francisco, porque en realidad fuimos a la Costa Oeste para el casamiento de nuestros queridos amigos Leslie & Jeff, quienes viven en Palo Alto y nos pasaron los siguientes tips para recorrer SF:

1) Ferry Building (along the Embarcadero): Best day to go: Saturday, Thursday or Tuesday 12noon's for the famous farmer's market. Great spot for quintessential SF food (I think!).
Restaurants to check out inside the Ferry building:. Gott's: great burgers and milk shakes!
. Blue Bottle Coffee: (We love the iced New Orleans coffee - very special!)
. Miette for pastries
. Out the Door or Slanted Door for Vietnamese food (Out the door is the affordable option of their famous restaurant Slanted Door - which is located in the Ferry Building)

2) Golden Gate Bridge: Obvious - the views!

3) Golden Gate Park: . Academy of Sciences - they have a really amazing roof garden that covers a building!
. deYoung Museum - fab architecture, but not so much for the art. But, they have do a great cafe to hang out and killer views (on a clear day at the top of the tower - free to go up there!)
. The Japanese tea garden is next door to the deYoung Museum
. Golden Gate park - great place to just hang out !

4) Union Square for shopping: All your major stores are here! The big mall is the Westfield Shopping Center on Market and 4th street.

5) Cable car picks up at Powell and Market across from the large Gap. (takes you to Fisherman's Wharf via the city). The lines are long in the summer!

6) Fillmore street (Pacific Heights Neighborhood - my favorite!) for boutique shopping (begins at Sutter up to Jackson):
**At the top of Fillmore and Broadway, you can get a glimpse of the bay - great view of the Golden Gate bridge!. Great Mediterranean restaurant called La Mediterranee.
. My favorite yoga / spa spot - International Orange - at 2044 Filllmore and Pine street.
. Nest on Fillmore is another MUST (small boutique/bazzaar)
. Great pizza on California (and Fillmore): Pizzeria Delfina - famous for their thin crust pizzas.
. The Grove: great cafe where you can sit outside. Next door to International Orange, (Fillmore, cross: Cal/Pine streets)
. The Clay: old theatre on Fillmore (and Clay) that shows old school movies and indy movies.

7) Chinatown: Fun to walk around on the weekends and see all the markets

8) North Beach (Italian district) Mama's on Washington Street (eat!): My favorite brunch spot - even great on the week days! Go on a weekday, They are closed on Mondays. Weekend lines can be up to 1 hour.

9) Hayes Valley: design-oriented shopping, intimate. (Street: Hayes between Octavia and Gough). Lots of cute boutiques on this street- though quite short!
10) Ghiradelli Square/Fisherman's Wharf: Very touristy! But always worth a visit on your 1st trip!
. Tea at Crown and Crumpet : if you have the chance to stop in here for some afternoon tea. It's very girly :) 

11) Japantown: One of our favorite restaurants is Kappa (above the Denny's on Geary street). It is a TINY restaurant, totally non-descript door front. Husband and wife duo (so cute!) run the restaurant and it's only them! They only have 1 seating a night for 10 guests (approximately), so we would recommend making reservations ahead of time :)
It's not a "cheap" place - but a good spot if you want to treat yourselves. It's the best Japanese food we've had outside of Japan!

12) The Mission: 
. Tartine Bakery: Famous! (Guerro and 17th or 18th streets). Love their bread pudding, but they have all sorts of delights for great breakfast and coffee.
. Restaurant Minkao: Homemade Organic restaurant (casual). Mother and daughter combo. Not so nice part of the mission, but totally worth the visit just for the food. Great sushi, try the miso cod and also the tempura corn :)
. Streets of Valencia and Mission are fun to shop around and walk through.

PARKS:

1. Alamo Square (full House Victorian Houses): Hayes and Steiner: this is the site of the "Painted Ladies" or otherwise famous as the Full House houses! Great dog park here.

2. Dolores Park: one of my favorite parks in Noe Valley/Dolores area. Great views of the city. They show movies outside during the summer here!