We Climbed. We Saw. We Ate.

I looked at my camera card last night and noticed that I took 963 photos this past weekend. Yowzers. While I didn’t get to workout at all, my camera sure did! I had a blast eating my way through the festival, but I was eager to get out and really SEE the city. After brunch on Sunday (the last Foodbuzz Festival event), it was finally time to explore San Francisco…by foot!

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Sunday morning was rainy, windy and cold. Instead of letting the weather ruin our plans (and spirits), Heather, Ashley, Kath, Emily and I borrowed umbrellas from the hotel and braved the rain.

We Climbed. We Saw. We Ate.

Starting with a walk through Chinatown.

Soon enough, the rain stopped and the sun peaked out from behind the clouds. Perfect!! Except now we were stuck carrying our big red umbrellas.

So we had a little fun with our new accessories.

Photo Credit: Kath

Photo Credit: Emily

We used them as walking sticks and held them tightly by our side. In fact, we treated them with tender, loving, care because they were $50 each under Kath’s name!

We risked our lives one too many times for the perfect shot.

Everywhere we turned there was another breathtaking view…and another steep hill to climb.

I think I muttered “Oh my gaaaaaaaaaawd” about 968 times this weekend too.

Finally, we arrived at Fisherman’s Wharf, a touristy shopping and dining hub by the water.

This is more like how I felt….

Kath <3s Biscoff

For a late lunch, we stopped at Boudin Sourdough to experience a SF classic, soup in a sourdough bread bowl.

Kath and I shared the creamy tomato with croutons and parmesan cheese.

Check out that hunk o’ bread!

Demolished.

I broke into some chocolate covered raisins for some sweet.

Sea lions by the pier

Alcatraz in the distance

Windy windy windy.

These goshdarnbulky umbrellas

Then it was time to head back. Instead of taking the trolly (that would’ve been too easy), we hiked up the mountain peaks of San Fran.

These were no joke.

They made for great views though.

Can you imagine parallel parking on these hills?

Makes me nervous.

Not before long, we stumbled upon Lombard Street, the crookedest street…ever?

It’s a crazy, winding zig zag.

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After a recharge at the hotel, we ventured to a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant in Little Italy. But first, we walked through Chinatown…again!

The restaurant, Franchino, was a small, family-run restaurant. It felt like we travelled to Italy for the night.

I ordered a seafood stew (mussels, shrimp and calamari) in tomato sauce that came with buttered toast and a side of veggies.

This may have been the best Italian restaurant I’ve eaten at—even better than the ones I visited in Italy.

What a day! If you can believe it, there’s still more to come….another 263 photos or so to sort through. They’re my favorite photos from the entire weekend though so get excited!