San Francisco Farmers Market.
Mark at the Farmers Market.This morning we woke up and headed down to the famous San Francisco Farmers Market in the Ferry Building, as this is apparently what local people do on Saturdays. I'd like to say it would be a very enjoyable thing for somebody who enjoys waiting in lines, I actually found very little pleasure in the whole experience and would prefer a trip to Bangalow anytime, now that's a relaxing and memorable Farmers Market experience!
First I need to point out that despite hearing to the contrary, good coffee is still a major problem in the USA, this unfortunately includes San Francisco. Even more disappointing is that tea here as we know it is virtually non existent! So there is this one brand of coffee called Bluebottle that everyone goes crazy about. I have been holding off for days because I have heard the lines are frustrating, and is only served in a handful of cafes in San Fran, but today I could no longer wait. I joined the queue down at the Farmers Market and it took me 25 minutes to get my first decent (but not the best I've tasted) USA coffee. I'm sort of confused that this is happening and if I ever have to do anything entrepreneurial in the USA I would be setting up a damn coffee cart every two blocks, it's obvious this place is more than ready for it!
The produce itself at the Farmers Market looked wonderful and if I were a local person I'd surely come down for a weekly fill, we bought a nice tourist photo off an artist and had a good walk around on the pier. All of the produce was very cheap compared to Australia ($1.50 for 3 bananas!), its just a shame we currently have no use for fresh food. So after taking in the sights we walked back up the hill past an anti-corporate demonstration stopping for lunch at La Boulange. Although the USA is full of food to eat I do recommend this place if you're at least making some effort at eating healthy, the salad is actually fresh and crisp and there is a fairly wide range to choose from. Let's face it, America is carbohydrate central, it seems lunch basically translates as 'a trip to the bakery.' But La Boulange, although a bakery, offers some other satisfying stuff as well.
La Boulange.
Anti-corporate demonstration.After heading back to discover our new 'bunkhouse style' living situation we headed back to the shops for some retail therapy. Wont bore you too much other to say I bought a year's worth of Victoria's Secret bras for about A$120 (unheard of) and Mark bought a new lime green swatch watch :) I pretty much bought a bag full from my (almost) favourite store Anthropologie and will probably make another hack at the credit card in their LA premises. For the Sydney ladies I'll also let you know I saw stock in Zara that is currently sitting on the racks in their Sydney store so they are staying true to their word about distributing their current range widely.
Mexican is Mark's favourite so we headed back into town for dinner at a 'nice' Mexican restaurant called 'Tropisueno' ($8 margheritas!) where i can't seem to get enough of the enchiladas. After that we decided to take the BART to 'The Mission' for some ice cream at the famous Humphry Slocombe ice cream parlour. This is a must do trip! If I were younger, I may like to say, frequent a few of the bars in the area! And the food smells yummy and authentic, murals painted all over the street, everything a little edgy, I'd go as far as saying this is a 'must do' in San Francisco. I had pumpkin 5-spice ice cream (Halloween is coming!) and Mark had milk chocolate malt, YUM!
Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream.So what about the little day to day differences in San Francisco? What do I see here?
- You definitely need to stand to the right on escalators, and just in general. There are however, many people that just take up the whole escalator :)
- When you hear funny whistles in the street (sort of like a recorder) it's just a hotel concierge trying to call out for a cab.
- If you are riding a bike and would like to take it on a bus, there is a bike rack on the FRONT of the bus where you can store it! The whole bus has to wait for you to get it up there and locked in, I could just never imagine that going down in Sydney.
- Women here love wearing makeup, it seems everyone has a full face on!
- Ladies love to wear the skirt and boot combo, I feel like I am in a mid 1990s video clip, floral skirts (even CULOTTES!) with boots BOOTS!
Store your bike on the front of the bus!And before I go, some fashion forecasts for the ladies! (All Winter stock is coming in here now...)
- Cardigans Cardigans, knit only, waterfall style or open at the front. These are EVERYWHERE and it's tiring to see!
- Cropped navy military style jackets with brass buttons, cute, I wouldn't mind one of these
- 'Shrunken' knits (sometimes cabled and consisting of a few different colours) which are sort of fun but I'll have to hit the gym hard to feel completely comfy in this one
- Wedge boots, more of a 'lace up at the front' style in a beige or light grey, suede
- Leggings (still) but they are looking increasingly less appropriate and more suburban, I wouldnt say the legging has much further to go
- Jeans are getting wider, or are staying skinny but are getting colourful (yay, something new!)
- Heavy rim glasses (well I dont have bad eyes so I have nothing to say about this!)
So that's my day in San Francisco, my bunkmate is saying he wants to switch off the light shortly so I'd better do the right thing! Tomorrow we are off to walk the Golden Gate Bridge to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, so special!! x
