San Francisco — Diffractoids

After finishing my Pharmacy Licensing Exams, we flew to San Francisco to spend a few days resting and relaxing. With me were Kevin and Julia, two pharmacy friends. Since we've lived together for 2 months in Calgary during rotations, we knew that we get along well and that made the trip much smoother. We spent most of our time sleeping, followed by eating, walking, and being tourists and doing touristy things. A collection of photos of places we visited, recommendations for food, and commentary follow!

Also, I'd like to apologize in advance for the lack of food pictures. Considering how half the reason I travel is to eat good food it's kind of sad that I didn't take more photos. I need to stop using snapchat so much and focus on actually taking pictures with the phone camera!

That sign everyone takes a photo in front of

We arrived in San Francisco at approximately 12pm, and headed into the city through the BART train (which screeches stupidly loud as it moves). A quick 40 minutes later and Kevin and I walk up from Powell Station to the surface, greeted by a bustling downtown. After meeting up with Julia at our hotel, we spent the day agonizing over how steep the streets were as we walked through Chinatown to Fisherman's Wharf. Arguably one of the most touristy spots of our trip, we went simply because there was an In-N-Out there. The burger ended up quite tasty but the 30 minute long line was pretty insane. Afterwards, we spent our time wandering around, visiting some museums and attractions along the piers.

We spent the majority of our time at Musée Mécanique, a free museum full of vintage arcade games as well as wandering Pier 39, performing touristy shopping duties. We also had an opportunity to see the sea lions that frequent the pier.

They're pretty cute, but wait until you smell them...

We also had a decent view of Alcatraz and some old submarines from the pier.

A water taxi with Alcatraz in the background

The USS Pampanito, a WWII submarine in the distance

Otherwise, we spent most of our time wandering, people watching, and scoping out potential dinner spots.

Afterwards, we decided to go to Bubba Gump for dinner. The Forrest Gump inspired restaurant was cool and the view of the San Francisco Bay was nice, but the dinner left a alot to be desired. My Jambalaya was actually great, but apparently the food of my peers was sub-par. At least I got a Bubba Gump pilsner as a souvenir for buying one of their signature drinks (I don't even remember what I had ordered).

Deciding that bringing snacks with us on our outings was probably a good idea, we headed to Trader Joe's to buy a few snacks and drinks, then took an Uber back to our hotel to rest up.

The next day we focused on shopping and checking out Japantown. The morning java was taken care of at La Boulangerie, a coffee shop with light breakfast foods and snacks. The coffee was decent, and the chocolate filled croissant and croque madame that Julia and Kevin ordered, respectively, were very tasty.

The next few hours were spent in Uniqlo, Norstrom's, J Crew, etc. However, besides a few undershirts, no purchases were made. I feel like Nordstrom's Seattle had better selection, and maybe it's because that one's a flagship. Oh well, more money to spend on food!

After spending the morning and half the afternoon shopping, we headed back to our hotel for a quick rest. However, we passed by Pinecrest Diner, a 24 hour breakfast joint on the same block as our hotel. We ended up deciding to have a snack. However, after realizing that splitting dishes costs extra, we all decided to make our own orders. The food ended up being huge portions of amazing American breakfast food. We knew we had to go back before we left. Feeling full and adequately rested, we started our trek West to Japantown. Along the way, I decided to start snapping some street architecture photos, since San Francisco (unsurprisingly) has a much better looking downtown core than Edmonton

Love the mix of old buildings with newer ones

Saw this cool old Porsche 911 parked near Japantown

We then proceeded to explore the small shops and trinket stores before spending the majority of time at Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore that also carries a variety of japanese toys, accessories, and weeb supplies. Spent the majority of time looking at an Akira art book and figuring out what nanoblocks (miniature Japanese lego) set to buy.

We rounded off the evening with soba noodles at Suzu noodle house. First time trying soba and I must say the food at Suzu was fantastic. They even put legitimate seaweed in their bowls (not that dried seaweed that you buy from the grocery store that disintegrates in moisture). Would recommend wholeheartedly.

Our third day in San Francisco was a bit of an adventure. Our plan was to tackle the hike up Twin Peaks to Christmas Tree Point, one of the highest points in San Francisco, with views of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the bay. To start the day off, we had breakfast at Mazarine Coffee, a delightful (albeit expensive) coffee shop with some fantastic egg and ham toast. We then walked down Market St (the main street of downtown SF) and then started the trek up Twin Peaks Boulevard.

Around where we started, the intersection of Grant and Market

Missions District: Cool place with lots of Pride flags. Big thumbs up for a forward thinking city.

Some houses we passed while making it up the incline

With the heat of the midday sun beating down upon us, we were finally greeted with this view:

The only group photo of our trip! Was too busy taking pictures of things that were not people nor ourselves

Exhausted, we called an Uber and made our way to our next stop: The Painted Ladies and Alamo Square. After arriving, we stopped by the Alamo Square Cafe for some rehydration and rest. Their Peach Iced Tea was amazing and just what we needed to recover. We then walked back to take some photos of the Victorian style houses and hang out in the park.

A very pretty (and probably very old) tree in the park

After basking in the sun and snacking for an hour or two, we walked over to Japantown to explore some of the places that were closed during our visit yesterday. We went to Benkyodo, a small shop that specializes in handmade mochi (which were quite good, if not a bit messy to eat). I also bought a fidget spinner at the next door....yeah.

We then headed to the Japantown mall to browse while waiting for our stomachs to empty again before dinner at Kui Shin Bo, a small family owned Japanese restaurant that served some homestyle food (think curry rice and dons) and some tasty sashimi. Before heading back, we purchased some groceries at Nijiya Market before walking home. We finished the evening chilling and using some face masks that we bought in Japantown. Weird, I know.

Day number 4 was our designated "urban exploration" day to check out downtown San Francisco and some of the cool buildings in the area. We started off by walking over to City View Restaurant for some Dim Sum. To sum (aha) the dining experience up, the food was great but a bit pricey (which seems to be a trend in SF) but did an excellent job at filling us up. We then began walking around to a couple of rooftop patios. I learned that due to a 1985 law that required private buildings to allocate a certain amount space for public use, many buildings have rooftop patios with seating and great views. Perfect for some great urban jungle photos. Kevin had to stop to get bubble tea at PlenTea, a hipster minimalist joint serving bubble tea out of bottles. I mooched some off Kevin and Julia and it was very good bubble tea. Not your standard fare, but with some interesting artisan twists.

View of the Transamerica Pyramid, currently the tallest building in San Francisco

We spent a significant amount of time walking around and taking picture of anything that looked cool, making our way Westwards to Embarcadero, the West piers.

Spotted a 991 Porsche 911 Carrera S (San Franciscans know whats up)

Urban Jungle. No seriously, downtown is a zoo during rush hour.

In a strange twist of events, after returning to the hotel, we decided that for dinner we'd get McDonald's (to save a bit of money) and so after ravaging the selection of McPicks, we had a McPicnic with beer and watched the National Spelling Bee. It was great. Not exactly what I imagined myself doing in San Francisco, but rewarding regardless. That night our friend Lucas joined us, leading us to the next day.

Breakfast was handled by Honey Honey Cafe & Crepery, who whipped up a mean Italian style omlette filled with chicken and cheese. After filling up, stopped by Mazarine Coffee again for Kevin's caffeine addiction and took an Uber to the Golden Gate Bridge.

A haunting Memorial Site for fallen soldiers

We then began our 1.5 hour trek to the Golden Gate Park, a huge natural space in the East side of San Francisco, the journey was largely uphill and we decided to walk on the hottest day of our trip. Thankfully, there was a conveniently located Golf Clubhouse halfway there who graciously allowed us to use the washroom and fill up our water bottles. Big thumbs up to Presidio Golf Course.

We decided to have a picnic there, so we stopped by at Safeway to buy essentially every type of food that would cause gout: Cured meats, cheese, various breads and crackers, and beer. The team also ended up devouring 10 ice cream sandwiches in a matter of minutes. We're savages.

After spending a few hours eating and chatting, we wanted to explore the park. There was a Japanese Garden there, but due to it closing soon, we decided not to visit. Instead, we went to the children's playground, where I managed to shoot this incredibly wholesome photo:

The evening ended with another McDonald's and bubble tea run, and an early night's sleep.

Our final morning in San Francisco consisted of a glorious breakfast at Pinecrest Diner, where I had a massive omlette filled with sausage, meat, cheese, and bolognese sauce, paired with buttered toast and hasbrowns. With the appropriate send off in my stomach, Kevin and I parted ways and headed back, and with a few delays and headaches (as airports usually are), we found ourselves at home again a half hour past midnight.

Overall, the trip to San Francisco was great. Our group took a leisurely pace and had few issues with deciding where to go or where to eat. The weather was incredibly cooperative, with sunny days on all but our first day there. And to top it off, any calories ingested were also likely burned off, with our 20,000+ steps a day average. When people say San Francisco is a walkable city, they really mean it. Living out of a hotel downtown, we could pretty much walk anywhere. The trip was a worthwhile celebration of finishing licensing exams and a welcome break from all the studying and examinations.

Until next time, San Francisco,

Gary