San Francisco: Day 2

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory Tour -Relatives – Twin Peaks – Crookedest Street – Chinatown at night – Dinner at Black Angus

We started off this day with a very interesting tour of the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory. We had earlier reserved places on the daily factory tour and first thing in the morning, took a bus to Berkeley for the 1030am tour. The tours are free and are led by very energetic workers that make the whole experience extra special. Free chocolate does that too :) We got to hear about the history of the company, appreciate chocolates made of different % of cocoa and learn about the chocolate making process.

Scharffen Berger is on Heinz Street


The shop of everything SB Chocolate

Heaven for chocoholics

Our very energetic host

Free tastings of chocolate

Wearing protective ear gear and hair net

Machine 1

Machine 2

Machine 3

Scharffen Berger is most famous for their dark chocolate. So for dark chocolate fans, a visit to this factory is a must. There are many differing types of chocolates, factory souvenirs and chocoholic t-shirts for sale after the tour. If you are not a chocolate-on-its-own fan, there is also a cafe in the factory serving products of this chocolate namely drinks and pastries that would also make for a sweet ending to the tour..

The cafe

The next part of Day 2 was meeting up with relatives. These are rellies on Alex’s side of the family. They took us to this yummy place that serves Dim Sum. We were so happy! Chinese food again! Yay! Do give this place a try if you are around the area. Ton Kiang – Hakka Cuisine. It was 1.30pm when we arrived for lunch and still the place was packed. A packed restaurant = good food!

After lunch we wanted an after meal coffee. Starbucks was just a block away so we dropped in to get our fix. Alex and I were pretty taken aback by this outlet. It shared shop space with a bank! How convenient is that? Bank (Wells Fargo) on the right side of the wall, Starbucks on the left side of the wall. I wonder how much the bank employees in that branch spend on coffee a month...

Starbucks on the left, bank on the right!

Bank staff at work - she must smell of coffee each day

On a separate note, I love the townhouses in San Francisco. I like the colors of the homes, the unique shape of each townhouse even though they are located right next to each other. I’m posting two shots here but it doesn’t really justify the nice-ness of these townhouses.

We then drove to Twin Peaks. Twin peaks is the highest point in San Francisco that provides a sweeping view of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. It was a breathtaking view. The light rain brought on cloudy skies and this hampered our picture taking of the landmarks in the far distance. So we could not get good shots of the two bridges from this vantage point.

Uncle Richard and Alex

Alex and I

City shots

Our next stop was the Crookedest Street. The Crookedest Street is actually part of Lombard Street. It got its name after the earthquake in San Francisco which made a part of this previously straight road, so crooked, it’s the crookedest in the world! The place looked like something out of the show “The Cat in The Hat.”

Look at the bend - I wouldn't like to drive into that garage everyday

Tourists making their way down the street - spot the man with camera in hand

Alex

Cheryl

I was very surprised that there were houses lining the side of this crooked street. Trying to get the car in and out of the house everyday would be hell! Trying to manoeuvre a car down this street is a challenge by itself. That aside, the houses on this street are really pretty. If I were a resident, I would be quite irked by the fact that there are hoards of people outside everyday taking pictures and scores of cars driving through this part of the street.

We then headed to Chinatown. This was the eve of Chinese New Year Eve so Chinatown was bustling with activity and a couple of streets were cordoned off from traffic so shoppers can browse through makeshift stalls selling everything Chinese New Year. I saw many an auntie buying scallops, dried oysters, placing orders for roast pork and roast duck.

Chinese Opera singers!

Faux mandarin orange tree for decoration in the home - necessary for CNY celebrations

We were amused by this nicely painted mini truck parked on the street. One side of the truck had been fitted with a huge glass window so passer bys can see the activity going on in it.

Need a last minute haircut for Chinese New Year? Do not fear! Mobile hair unit is here!

I for one wouldn’t want have my hair cut with scores of strangers staring at me. Much less have my picture taken by pesky tourists and posted on the world wide web. :p

We also stocked up on Chinese bakery goodies. I got my usual steamed egg cake, lotus seed pastry, winter melon pastry and even wife’s cake! For those who don’t know, there is a wife’s cake and a husband’s cake. It is often used during marriage ceremonies as part of an exchange between the in laws prior to the ceremony. It’s impossible to get these things in Canberra and sometimes those in Sydney don’t taste as authentic.

We ended this day with dinner with our relatives at Black Angus. Great steaks! We opted for the dinner set which came with appetizers, soup, mains, dessert and coffee. The portions were huge. Needless to say, we couldn’t finish our food and had some to takeaway. I didn’t take any food pictures so I can’t post them.

Day 2 was great fun. It was good to catch up with relatives I have not yet met and it seems I have more to meet as the year wears on! Big families.... SIGH.

:) More on Day 3 later!

cheryl

San Francisco: Day 1

Checked into Holiday Inn – Market Street – Chinatown – Fisherman’s Wharf at night

We landed in San Francisco at 12noon, found our way to Holiday Inn and checked in. We were very happy to be informed that we were upgraded to a better room. And as Alex puts it...

Booking the San Francisco Hotel: USD 150 per night
Actual room cost: USD 450 per night
Realizing we were upgraded: Priceless

Sounds familiar?
With everything else... there is Mastercard! Hahaha.. Below are the shots of our room.





After a quick appreciation of the room, we decided to explore the streets on foot. The hotel was at Market Street & 8th Street so it was only a short walk to the center of the city. At every corner was a restaurant - Carls Jr, Subway, Burger King, pizza places, taco places and even a shop for Louisiana Fried Chicken! We then walked past shopping centres - Bloomingdales, Westfield, Neiman Marcus... We didn’t do any shopping there though, just window shopping and taking in the atmosphere.

We then decided to walk to Chinatown instead of taking the tram. There were light showers all the time we were in San Francisco. We didn’t think to bring an umbrella with us on our honeymoon so we walked under the wet drops deciding to get an el cheapo umbrella from Chinatown. Chinese shops = surely it must have cheap umbrellas!

The entrance to Chinatown has a gigantic archway. You know you must be in Chinatown after the arch because the shops are crowded with items for sale, spilling onto the walkway just a few feet away from the street. There are also antique shops aplenty, selling sculptures and artefacts. We almost immediately felt at home because everyone around us were speaking Cantonese at the top of their voices. Actually everywhere we went in San Francisco we saw Chinese residents. It was a big change from New York.

By this time we were getting hungry and were really excited to be able to eat Chinese cooking. We were craving the Asian taste pretty badly. New York was mainly burgers, hot dogs, pasta, pizza, soups, bacon... you know, the typical American diet. There were so many shops to choose from so we kinda eeny, meeny, miny, moe-d and picked NEW KING TIN Restaurant!

Oh boy, was the food good. It had the necessary ‘wok hei’ that makes Chinese cooking yum. The portions were gigantic. We had our fill and still had enough to pack away for dinner. Alex and I got really excited when we saw their takeaway boxes. It’s the Chinese paper ones! Just like in American movies!

Stir Fried Beef with flat noodles

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Haha... you must thinking “What la- like that also excited.”

Australia don’t have ok? Takeaway in Aus comes in plastic microwave-able containers. Very boring. It doesn’t complete the Chinese feel.

Anyway, if you do end up in Chinatown, look for New King Tin. Their portions are huge, prices are so much cheaper and its good stuff.

After eating to our brim, we headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf. The sun set at 5.30pm and once it goes down, the chill comes on pretty quickly. So by the time we hit the wharf it was nearly all dark. We took the tram to Pier 39. That’s where the sea lions were! Pier 39 was a brightly lit place with shops and restaurants for tourist shopping.

Pier 39 with many shops

Sea lions on deck

Lone sea lion making 'sea lion' calls... Oo-uk! Oo-uk!

We took the old San Francisco tram on our return trip and it was a nice relaxing ride back. The trams here are still run the old way. At the end of the line, the conductor gets down to pull the tram around a circle for it to head back on the opposite direction on which it came. I thought it was pretty quaint. Great that an old contraption like that can still work effectively in this day and age. Not to mention it’s a great heritage to keep for a city.

See the circular structure under the tram?

The conductor pushing the tram right around

Voila.. circle completed!

More on San Francisco Day 2 later!

cheryl

New York: Day 5

These are our final memories from New York. Our flight to San Franciso was leaving at 3pm so we had to be at the airport at noon. We had to account for any delays caused by potential traffic jams. So we got up real early to make time for Central Park! Can't leave NY without having a stroll through it right?

It was a frosty morning and although it hadn't snowed the night before, the ground was still covered in white. Beautiful!

The rays of the morning sun reflected by the windows of the high buildings surrounding Central Park made for a pretty shot.

My cold, teeth chattering grin...


Many people were out walking their dogs. Dogs making friends too!

Lone tree branch poking out from snow covered ground

Wish I had ear muffs

More of the park

We were looking for the bridge featured in Home Alone... not sure if it was this one

View of city buildings from the park

I was surprised there were already people skating in the rink so early in the morning

This lady was doing twists and jumps

The Plaza Hotel in the morning

A part of the river was not frozen and there were ducks

We really enjoyed New York. Prior to arriving in the Big Apple I was real sceptical about enjoying the sights when temps were below zero celcius. But now I can say that it was lovely. We would really consider coming back for more in the future.

Goodbye New York!!

cheryl