We headed first to the City Lights Bookstore—apparently a famous bookstore in San Francisco and it was really cool.
It is right next to a bar called Vesuvio which we would frequent a couple of times—both Ben and Nick had been there before.
We walked through North Beach which is full of lovely cafes and restaurants with outdoor patios. This was my favorite area of the city. We stopped at a place where the guys got some hand painted T-shirts. We saw Café Trieste, which is where Francis Ford Coppola wrote the Godfather.
We walked to Washington Square and saw the Saints Peter and Paul Church—sadly a funeral was just letting out.
Then we headed to these steps called the Filbert Steps which lead to Coit Tower. It is a lot of steps. I turned and snapped this pic of the city from the top.
We went up to Coit Tower—although we didn’t go in the tower itself. We saw the views from all sides of the city, the Bay and Alcatraz.
When we walked down, there were these beautiful gardens at the bottom.
On the way to Coit Tower, I got a few pictures of it, but what I really wanted was that view you see in all the magazines with the hillside view and the tower at the top.
For lunch we walked through Levi Plaza to a place Nick chose for us called Pier 23 since it was by the water.
We walked to Columbus, to North Beach and stopped for a drink at a place called Café Roma, a nice break. Next up was Chinatown where we were going to view the oldest temple in San Fran and also tour the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie place where they make them fresh.
So the walk began. We ended up going down an alley trying to find the fortune cookie place but missed it. We did find the temple however.
It was at the top of what felt like 100 steps. No pictures were allowed in the temple. We lit some incense and walked outside onto the balcony. As I turned to my left, I saw it—the perfect shot of Coit Tower. The one with the hillside and everything, it was breathtaking. I excitedly reached for my camera—until Ben reminded me there were no pictures allowed. I was heartbroken!
We found the fortune cookie place (a tiny place and the people running it are no nonsense—you get your sample, take your picture and move along). We walked around a bit more while I tried to get over losing my picture.
As we crossed back we passed the temple again and I couldn’t stand it. I decided to go up and see if I could offer the woman $5 or something to take just that picture, not of the temple. I went up alone and lo and behold—no one was there. The woman must have been in the restroom or something. I raced outside and snapped the picture with my phone and left. And I don’t regret it one bit.
Here is me taking my illegal picture of Coit Tower.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Vesuvio for the guys to have a beer.
Dinner that night was at Firenze by Night where they are famous for the gnocchi, which Nick and I had. Again, we stopped at Vesuvio for our nightcap. Back at the hotel, my legs were so tired, I had to run a hot bath and soak them. I was really wishing I had brought a pedometer so I could know how far we had walked!
