San Francisco baby! Part One

So bright and early on Friday morning, or rather an hour late because I over slept, I rushed to the airport for my flight to San Fran.
Its a 5.5 hour flight, which makes it also the same as coming home, but the difference is no stupid customs and no long check in time, so its a lot quicker. Also the time difference is only three hours, easier to get used to.
Anyway, on my way through airport security I lost one of my rings, and then on the plane I lost part of my watch buckle so it now doesnt do up, so really I should have been quite grumpy.

But the power of SF is that it cheered me up immediately, beginning with flying in over the water. I was quite glad not to be in a window seat seeing it more clearly as it would have really scared me!
I hopped in a cab to town, which is only about 20 mins from the airport and enjoyed the view.
All the houses on the hills on the way into town are very Mediterranean looking, lots of pretty colours and flat rooves like in Greece, and the sun was shining and the sky was blue and it just cheered me up completely.

The other place SF reminded me and Simon of was Cape Town.
Its a proper city, by the sea, with hills, with such a great atmosphere that you feel at home straight away, it doesnt feel like a city.

First stop was lunch, we wondered through Japan Town, which didnt seem to be very developed, maybe it hasnt been there very long?
And at the top of the hill got to Fillmore St which is famous for its boutique shops.
We stopped in a really nice place called SPOR for some Italian tapas which were delicious.
Italian food in SF is much more interesting and exciting than we tend to get in the UK, well worth trying.
Then we wondered around the shops a bit more before heading back to our hotel via China Town which was fab. It was brightly coloured and busy and bustley and full of, unsurprisingly, Chinese people. But it was like a proper little town all of its own, not just a street somewhere with a few Chinese restaurants, its was a whole community.
We ended up buying a beautiful embroidery of some blossom, and a few little chinese brushwork pictures.

Then we went back to the hotel and changed for dinner. I had booked places for both nights, just found them on the internet.
The first was Chez Spencer which was a really sweet, little place with a woodburning stove in the middle. It was quite cosy and dark and romantic but still had a great atmosphere.
The food was lovely as well, as was the service.
The only problem was at the end of the night when we asked them to book us a taxi. They did, but what we didnt find out till later is that this just means a general call gets put out to the yellow cabs, not that one is definitely coming.
So half an hour later when we were pretty much falling asleep we gave up waiting and went to hail one outside. Where thank god we found a limo driver (Marco) taking a break, and persuaded him to drive us. Otherwise I think it could have been a pretty long walk home, we were kind of in the middle of nowhere!
But still, it was a great night.