No one can argue that a trip to the Golden Gate Bridge will be the highlight of every San Francisco trip! The bay area will not be complete without this iconic architectural piece. 

For our main tour of the city, before heading to Napa Valley, we planned to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and walk from one end to another. 

On our way to the bridge, we first passed by a famous ice cream parlor called Mitchells. 

"Established in 1953, Mitchell’s is a family-owned business located in San Francisco’s Mission District", they are famous for their handmade ice creams which they are producing daily. 

My friend was really excited to show us some of their flavors which includes Filipino favorites like Halo-Halo, Ube and Macapuno.

According to their website: http://mitchellsicecream.com/

"They continued to add flavors as their store became more popular and in the early 1960’s they were the first to introduce Mango ice cream to the Bay Area.  Mango quickly became (and remains to this day) their number one seller.  As the neighborhood changed and became more diverse, they increased the number of tropical flavors that they manufactured by importing a variety of exotic fruit from the Philippines. ”

this is the reason why people in the bay area can enjoy these delicious flavors.

I ordered ube and macapuno scoops

On our way to the bridge, we realized that the fog was starting to creep in, so in order to get a full view of the bridge from the Ridge Battery (trust me you want to see it from this view), we need to be there quickly. 

Instead of walking/biking, we all decided that driving will be our best option. We drove our way towards the Ridge Battery. 

It is a (not so) secret viewing point. It’s not so crowded because normally tour buses do not go here. Mostly those who are being toured by local friends and also bike trekkers go to this place. 

It was very cold and windy. I think all year round it’s like this (just assuming—don’t trust my word on this one). But aside from the wind and weather, it looks amazing. You can see the whole bay area and the massive stretch of the Golden Gate bridge is just overwhelming. 

After a few minutes, the bridge was slowly being covered by the fog, when we left you can only see half of it. It would have been nice to have walked along the bridge but it was better to have seen it in its full glory.

If you have time, do try to rent a bike. A Norwegian and German traveler ( now my friends) I met in Los Angeles did it and they said it was a great experience.

Travel Blog: Golden Gate Bridge And A Little Scoops of Mitchells

Tag: San Francisco Trip

Tag: Golden Gate Bridge

Tag: Mitchells Ice Cream San Francisco

As mentioned in my previous travel blog about San Francisco (Travel Blog: I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!! An Intro to the City!), here’s our complete itinerary prepared by my friend Clarie.

This is a very detailed list which can be a helpful guide if you are thinking of visiting San Francisco and will tour the city for 4-5 days. It’s too good not to share ^^. Also, please bear in mind that this itinerary was based on the fact that our tour guide will be working  during days 3 and 4 (so we were on our own). 

 

 

As most of you (probably) experienced before, itinerary are guides to know how to maximize your trip but it can change if needed (or if the situation calls for it), we’ve changed a couple from our list and decided to enjoy the moment. 

Travel Blog: Our San Francisco Itinerary Copy

Continuing my little adventure in San Francisco (Travel Blog: I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!! An Intro to the City!) we headed off to my friend Clarie’s house in Bay Point. This was our resting stop—our place of refuge (ooh I want them to adopt me). 

With all my stay in the United States, this is the only place where I will be living with an old friend (well,actually the only place where I will not pay to have a roof over my head)—-and it is by far the BEST.

I was transported to the set of Desperate Housewives (Wisteria Lane). The quiet suburbs was really quiet…peaceful and totally different from the city life. As someone who lives in Dubai this place can be considered as a retreat camp site —as what I say initially —- it is a place of refuge ^^.

Aside from that, let us add my friend in the picture! She is the mother of everything creatively hospitable. I remember when we were in college, we always admire her creative skills in making her own invitation and greeting cards cards, table presentations,..arts and crafts —and living in San Francisco only honed her passion and believe it or not (but really believe it) most the pottery works (aside from the white ones from IKEA) she made them all. Whew!! (again—-adopt me please).

We were welcomed with a “thanksgiving-ish” dinner. Truly a great feast with great friends. We just sat around the table and catch up for the whole 7 years that we haven’t seen one another. To top it all, we got a whole set of toiletry basket waiting for us on our bed (whew).

I stayed in the study room while my friend DF took the guest room. Inside my room, you can never deny that an architect is living in this house. I told myself “so this is what an architect’s room should look like”…nothing like my room, that is for sure (for a moment there, I doubted my chosen profession).

As part of our catching up series (^^), on our trip the following day, our first stop was the art school where Clarie took her Masters in Architecture. The California College of Art.

I’ve been dreaming of getting in one of the arts school in San Francisco. When I was in my university, I have a lot of brochures of different academies and programs for the arts (in San Francisco)

This campus is really what I am expecting an art college should be. I think this is what my college (UP College of Architecture) wants to achieve. The moment you stepped inside the campus, you can feel the creativity oozing —— at times very intimidating, but I pretended not intimidated and just keepin’ it cool, well, this is my element after all.  

Several sculptural pieces hanging by the roof surrounded the place, creating a modern museum like environment. There were also a lot of student projects displayed in open areas which made it very interesting. I just imagine how crazy busy the campus can be on a regular day. 

All in all, I was so amazed on how my friend blended in San Francisco. It clearly shows that this city is a city for artists like us. This particular reason made me chose San Francisco as my favorite city in the US. I feel at home here (the weather is terrible though).

This was just the beginning of our San Francisco trip. We’ve gone to a lot of places which I am excited to share to everyone in the next blog.

Travel Blog: San Francisco ARTS And Some Catching Up With FRIENDS

After Orlando, I jumped westward and flew via Delta to San Francisco! Yey.

Although it was sad to leave my newly found friends from Florida, I must say, I was really excited to come to San Francisco. Here, I will be meeting 2 of my long time friends whom I haven’t seen after our graduation (year will not be mentioned).

We have been exchanging emails for months just to polish our itinerary. (I will be posting our itinerary spreadsheet in my next SF post.)

From the scorching sun of Florida, I was welcomed by a chilling breeze of San Francisco. I wasn’t prepared for this, I was advised that it will be cold, but not freezing.

After arriving from the airport, my friends Clarie and DF picked me up. Df came from Virginia and she arrived a few hours earlier than me.

They already ate at a nearby Filipino restaurant and they had a ‘sisig’ takeaway for me. YEY.

Our friend Clarie lives in Bay Point California which a bit of a ride from San Francisco, so we thought of using this time to explore a bit of San Francisco before crashing in to her house.

I love San Francisco, did I already mentioned that this is so far my favorite US city? The architecture is beautiful. If New York gave me the architectural wonders, San Francisco provided the panache that I’ve been searching for. They are not overwhelming like here in Dubai, just the right amount of flare and beauty.

The winding and sloping streets of San Francisco gave me a bit of a scare though, you really need a strong break pads to survive driving in this city.

Our first tourist destination stop was the famous Coit Tower. This tower offers a great 360 view of the city and the bay. You can see the famous Golden Gate Bridge and The Bay Bridge from here.

The line was a bit slow moving because we were only served with one (very vintage) elevator. Once, you made it to the top, you will really enjoy the view.

It was nice that this was our first stop. We got a full view of our playground for the next few days.

The Coit Tower

At The Observation Deck

The Bay Bridge

San Francisco City Skyline

We also took this time to visit another famous attraction here in San Francisco. The Victorian Houses! We went to the Alamo Square. Our  initial goal was to look for the house in the TV show ‘Charmed’ but with no luck,we found ourselves standing in front of a more worthy site, the famous, Painted Ladies, or sometimes called as the Six Sisters.

According to http://www.aviewoncities.com

"For Americans over 30, these magnificent Victorian homes are easily recognizable from the opening moments of the 1990s sitcom, Full House. For other visitors, however, they are simply recognized as exquisite homes painted in colorful hues, incredibly well-preserved and a joy to view. You can find the homes facing the park on Steiner Street."

They are indeed exquisite and beautiful. Aside from these, residential architecture in San Francisco in general represents the thriving art scene of this magnificent city.

Our last stop before we head home and rest, was the world famous crooked road ( Lombard Street). It’s amazing how a street can packed a lot of tourist taking photos of cars trying their luck in maneuvering their way out of this road (needless to say that the traffic here is terrible).

All in all our introduction to this artistic city was very promising. I am excited to share where we’ve been and things we’ve discovered. I spent almost 4 days in San Francisco and I can’t wait to go back and explore the city more.

To know more about San Francisco, check out these websites below:

-An all you need to know guide for San Francisco:

www.sanfrancisco.com/:

-Discount vouchers for all your SF attractions:

www.citypass.com/san-francisco

-A quick overview of what this city can offer:

www.aviewoncities.com/sf

Travel Blog: I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!!! An Intro to the City!