On the road again

This is the second post in a series of four about my trip to San Francisco.

Our second day in San Francisco was another bright and beautiful one. From near our hotel we caught the bus to the Ferry Building for the farmers’ market and some general food grazing of the great vendors inside. The farmers’ market was wonderful. There were so many things that I would have bought if only I had a kitchen in San Francisco. We saw big bunches of beautiful carrots, greens, and flowers. I made three rounds of the market just to make sure I didn’t miss ogling any of it. We did pick up some glorious deep red strawberries along with a few blood oranges for our breakfast.

Inside the Ferry Building we picked up a big round of sourdough bread and two rosemary rolls from Acme Bread Co. There are so many gorgeous loaves to choose from here. It was a small miracle we didn’t walk away with more. We then slipped next door to the Cowgirl Creamery for some cheese to round out our breakfast buffet. Again great restraint was required here, especially being a bit of a cheese freak. We picked up their very own Mt. Tam triple cream and some locally produced San Andreas and Midnight Moon gouda. At this point our stomachs could take no more so we found ourselves outside soaking in the sunshine, gorging on our purchases, and people watching.

There was one last stop at the Ferry Building before we said good-bye. We just had to stop by Ciao Bella Gelato for a little something sweet to fuel our upcoming walk. I went with two selections of gelato (a hazelnut mascarpone and chocolate) while the dudely was swayed into two selections of sorbet just by the mention of “wine” in the description. I’m sure it’s hard to pick something bad here.

From here we set out on foot for Coit Tower. Our intention was to take the Filbert Street steps up to Coit Tower but somehow ending up missing those. Somehow though we made it; just keep heading up! At Coit Tower you’re rewarded with great views of the surrounding city. On the way down we managed to locate the Greenwich Street steps and took those, landing in the North Beach neighborhood.

We wandered a bit around the North Beach area and a shop or two before eventually landing at Washington Square Bar & Grill for a very late lunch. It wasn’t a planned stop on our San Francisco tour but they had opened their front windows wide to enjoy the great weather and they served up a good omelet and corned beef sandwich along with plenty of water for our dehydrated bodies. At this point we were refreshed and had enough energy to wander to Chinatown where we took in the sights and sounds of one of the main streets. It was lots of window shopping but no buying. It was fun just to look.

At this point I had to throw in the sightseeing towel and go back to the hotel. My sore feet had gotten the best of me and and we had a big day 3 planned so rest and a good night’s sleep it was.