I've been here 2 days already and the time has just flown, mainly due to the mixture of familiarity, discovery and jet lag! The flight was long, and changing planes in the last 2 hours in LA left me almost delirious.. the jet lag has bitten me pretty hard this time and I was awake for a good part of last night, as well as 'napping' today during the Australian night time.
So... what is San Francisco like? What is going on here?
Hotel RexMark and I are staying at the Hotel Rex which is just a block and a half walk from Union Square (the equivalent of Pitt Street Mall.) It's just enough to be in the heart of things, but also a little away from it all. Hotels here are surprisingly expensive... and also pretty rickety and old. So we are staying here for 3 nights, then we are heading tomorrow for the Downtown YHA (a bargain private room) for another 3 days to save a few dollars. I would honestly recommend The Rex to anybody thinking about coming to San Francisco, the whole hotel has a 'book theme' and I'm currently drinking my free daily glass of red wine from their library bar. It's lovely coming back each afternoon to a freshly made up room and the staff here are warm and friendly.
So far, I sort of feel like I'm sort of in Sydney and sort of in Brisbane! Driving in from the airport it felt like Brisbane... but it's obviously not! San Fran certainly lacks the intensity (and self importance) of Sydney and is much more laid back and less self conscious. Clothing is very casual and people are generally more chatty (hard for someone like me who is used to generally ignoring anybody's attempt at eye contact after 4 years in the Eastern suburbs!)
Of course San Fran is a shopping mecca for Australians and Aussie accents can be heard everywhere. It's nice shopping in a Zara store that doesn't look like it's been completely ransacked and customer service, like in New York a few years back, is excellent. I wouldn't say San Fran is entirely as efficient as New York in this sense but it certainly is easier work having help in changerooms and at registers, it makes it all easier spending my hard earned dollars!
Maiden Lane.I would recommend a walk down Maiden Lane once you are jaded by Westfield and big brand surrounds, sure alot of it is very expensive, but it certainly has a nice feel and is a bit outside of the ordinary. I'm thinking about buying some ballet flats from London Sole in the next few days because they are virtually half the price as they are in Australia.
The Bourbon and Branch.Food? Well I'm pretty difficult to please because we are lucky to have best of the best in our part of Sydney. We have eaten some good food, sure, but nothing completely stand out. I attempted to get Mark drinking last night at The Bourbon and Branch without much success, but I'd definitely recommend this bar to anyone attempting to impress. It's basically themed around a speak easy and you can't get in without a booking and 'password' at the door. It's dark and rather seductive inside, and the quality of cocktails is second to none, and apparently 'expensive' at $11 (HELLO Sydney prices!) so I had a rather lovely time drinking my cocktail and most of Marks before hitting the pavement again at 7pm.
We are going to the famous Farmer's Market tomorrow and also a 'recommended restaurant' on Sunday so I'll see how we go with the food... one thing for sure is the Mexican is a standout and I can't wait to enjoy more of it!
The Haight - famous for it's 'painted lady' houses.
The row of houses from TV Show 'Full House' - Where's Uncle Joey & Uncle Jesse?Today we went for a massive walk through The Haight and Golden Gate Park. We were gone for most of the day and had lovely weather to walk around in. We ate breakfast in Kate's Kitchen and I have to say this was the most 'normal' tasting meal I've had so far, even though they served fries with breakfast. My stomach was very thankful about that!
We walked up Haight Street (which is pretty much a hybrid of King Street Newtown and Byron Bay) and Mark took me to the Grateful Dead House. It was a nice walk with lots of colourful things along the way (sometimes a little tense feeling around Fillmore St) and it's something I'd certainly recommend doing.
Japanese Tea Garden.We ended up in Golden Gate Park, which is basically a bigger and greener version of Sydney's Centennial Park, I could certainly imagine being a regular here if I lived nearby. We visited the Japanese Tea Garden where we found an excellent tea house which was tranquil and calm with a few squirrels hopping about, at least until I had my sunglasses stolen! Despite this frustration, I'd definitely recommend it to any visitor, besides, my lenses were very scratched so their karma has already come back upon them as far as I'm concerned!
So overall, we are really pleased to be in San Francisco. It also makes me feel very fortunate to be living in Sydney, where there are far fewer homeless people, and things are generally newer, cleaner and hip, I guess. Sydney HAS arrived. Don't worry I'm not going to take out my flag and start waving it around yet, but we certainly have it good!
