...is always the hardest part when it's been a while, eh? How about I pick up where I left off? Okay. Get ready for a long post, folks.
Last weekend my hubby and I got away for the weekend. That's right, just us, for the WHOLE WEEKEND. It had been two years since we'd spent any real alone time together and my mother (lovely, patient woman that she is) offered to watch our three rascals for THREE WHOLE DAYS. Woohoo!
We had tossed around a few destinations and ended up sticking with the place we know and love - San Francisco. We caught an early-ish flight to Oakland and endured the first of our white-knuckled shuttle rides into the city. We stayed at the Hilton on Kearny which is right in the middle of downtown and near all the things we love - Chinatown, the Embarcadero, Union Square. Our awesome room was on the 12th floor and the rate of $139/night was a total steal. We'll definitely stay there again.
Once we got checked in, we headed out to Chinatown for lunch. I love me some spicy noodles:
Then we headed toward Ghirardelli Square (for chocolates, of course) and then over to the Buena Vista for an Irish coffee (a regular stop for us) and caught some fun stuff along the way:
(Ain't he the cutest?)
Then we mosied on down toward Fisherman's Wharf and stopped to watch The Bushman. I love this guy and blogged about him two years ago when we took our last trip up. He sits at the curb outside of Tarantino's restaurant on the Wharf and hides behind some bush branches, and then scares the bejeesus out of unsuspecting passersby. It's freakin' hilarious. In the first photo, he didn't scare this guy but I love the way he's looking at him. And in the second photo, The Bushman's cracked himself up from a particularly good scare. I "donate" generously in order to have freedom with my camera. If you don't pay him to take his photo, he stops the act. I bet this guy makes a ton of money.
Then on our way back to the hotel, we stopped by the Ferry Plaza market and bought some cheese and salami and some crusty bread for a picnic back in our room. This cheese market had more cheese than I've ever seen in one place. We got some good stinky, soft cheeses, and some nice olives, too. Perfection.
I love this city, and I love being there with my man. If money and having jobs weren't an issue, we'd live there in a heartbeat. This nighttime photo was taken from our room. I love the fog and the sliver of moon.
Saturday morning saw us up pretty early for a walk through the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, another must-see whenever we're up there. I won't bore you with all the fruit and vegetable photos I took (I'm going to make a color book for Nadia with the photos I took), but I'll let you know what we ate for breakfast: I had a soft shell crab sandwich and Chris had a smoked sausage on a french roll. And then we saw this amazing open sandwich of smoked sturgeon with homemade cream cheese, capers and onions on crusty bread. And so we had more breakfast. This market is a veritable smorgasbord of good eats in every color.
The market is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the belly.
One of the things that I really noticed this trip was all the music. Music was everywhere. At the Market there was a guy playing a banjo and another guy playing this awesome old steel guitar. Then outside the market was this group of people playing some awesome acuostical bluegrass (inluding some wee ones with wee fiddles - so cute). And then, in the Cow Hollow area near the Marina district, on Saturdays, the street is filled with jazz musicians on every block, belting out some jazz standards, some dixie and even some swing. I messed around with some actions on these jazz lads:
I could have stayed there all day, me and my ears, my hubby's hand in mine.
Well, folks, this is getting to be a longer post than I anticipated and I'm getting sleepy. I'll be back again tomorrow with more about our trip and about what happened when we got home. If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me!
Oh wow Tina - sounds like a well deserved weekend away and those food shots are positively mouth watering!
Really need to make a date with my husband one of these weekends too!
Posted by: Leanne Stamatellos | July 20, 2008 at 04:43 AM
a weekend to yourselves!!! How wonderful! You have created a visual portfolio rich with texture and emotion. I can only imagine what a lovely time you had.
Posted by: AllisonK | July 20, 2008 at 09:29 AM
Oh WOW!
Sounds like you have a great weekend!
I L*O*V*E your pictures!
Posted by: Séverine | July 21, 2008 at 12:46 AM
Good for you to make time to get away and enjoy each other and the sights and sounds of the city. Your photos are amazing. They look like they're right out of a magazine. Sounds like a great trip.
Posted by: Lisa | July 21, 2008 at 09:48 AM
Sounds like you two had a lovely, LOVELY weekend!!! So nice that you were able to get away and enjoy each other WITHOUT the kiddos. And your photos are breathtaking as always my dear... LOVE.
Do you still go to the "Y"? I always keep an eye out for ya. ;)
Posted by: Christy | July 21, 2008 at 10:04 AM