San Francisco

We headed out about 10 am this morning, and decided to get a cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf. There was a bit of a wait, and we started chatting to a couple of lovely women from LA - this made the time go faster. We finally got on a cable car and started the journey up Powell Street and down Hyde Street - we passed Lombard Street (the most crooked street), and saw some great views of the city and the Bay.

Once off the cable car, we walked around Fisherman’s Wharf, and decided to go on a tour of the Bay on a small fishing charter boat that was captained by Adrian and Patrick, and Luna their dog. There were about 16 of us on the boat, and we were taken out to and under the Golden Gate Bridge, and then around Alcatraz, before heading back to the wharf. It was a glorious sunny day, and a really fun cruise - much better than some of those big boats that are so crowded. After the cruise, we walked along the Embarcadero for a while, then cut across Sanome Street to Market Street, and then up to 3rd Street. On the way we passed my favourite chocolate shop, See’s Candies. I will be making a visit or two to this store over the week!

We got to SFMoMA about 2.30 pm, and spent the next few hours wandering through this most beautiful space. Gorgeous building and wonderful exhibitions. We saw a couple of the exhibitions - Side by Side - artists paintings of themselves with someone special. We saw Louise Bourgeois Spiders, Walker Evans photography exhibition, a Robert Rauschenberg exhibition, and then some great Warhol pieces and some other great works by Matisse, Miro, Dali, Warhol, Lichtenstein and many more.

After finishing our visit to the Museum, we popped back to the hotel for a quick refresh and change, before heading back to the SFMoMA restaurant - In Situ - for dinner. And, what a dinner it was! All the dishes were based on recipes from internationally renowned chefs. We had a number of dishes which we shared - Dadinhos de Tapioca, Apocalypse Burger, Fried Fish Cake with Ginger Scallions, Lamb Shank Manti, Fine Herb Salad, Beef and Pumpkin Mole, and then for dessert Angus and I had "Interpretation of Vanity" - moist chocolate cake, cold almond cream, bubbles and cocoa, and Ian had "Parsnip and Apple" - a dish by Dan Hunter from Brae in Victoria - the desserts were wonderful. Ian’s only complaint was that there wasn’t enough!

It was a great end to a wonderful day.Read more