Friday in San Francisco

I woke up with Paula kicking me in the head in her sleep, she had turned around in bed. When we booked a room for four – two parents, two kids – we did not know that the beds for two would be more like for one big or two tiny persons. With the radiator heating my side (it was October), and Paula kicking me a few times during the night, we woke up only when the noisy garbage truck tried to empty the garbage to the extent that there was nothing left in it and hitting it more would break the bin. 

Like every morning, I woke up before everyone else and worked on the pictures on my phone. One by one, everyone got up, and as soon as the morning glass of water was empty, we did our small ritual - walked down the stairs for a cup of drip coffee for us and two hot chocolates for the girls. The morning start around 6 am was slow and lazy, waiting for the big city to rise and places to open. This morning we started earlier as the plan was more extensive than one would expect. With Halloween almost here, we walked the streets trying to find the most beautifully decorated houses, giving points to the ones that were (one has to find a way to entertain oneself), slowly arriving at the feet of the Painted Ladies. The park on the other side of the street was a pleasant place to relax after the long walk from the hotel and dream about the food soon to come. We had to stop at Sightglass Coffee just for the sake of their coffee’s great taste and later sit down at The Mill for a proper breakfast that would fill us up until the evening. The Lyon Street steps gave us the gift of magnificent views all the way over the bridge, but the magic of hiking up and down them revealed romantic spots and gave us more options for dinner plans. On our way to the Walt Disney Museum, I took one hike while at the Presidio. Entering the park, the sign warned of coyotes (since it was their time of the year to play in the forest). Coming from a country where one only tells jokes about meeting a bear, you don’t expect to see a coyote until the moment it is standing next to you. My panic made me walk much faster, grabbing both of the girls, but when it disappeared, I wondered if I had really seen it. While I was worrying whether the beast would attack, Lovers Lane appeared on the right - the most mystic and enchanted trail through the forest where no one else except you is present.

With hunger approaching, yet no one talking about it and no place to buy any food, we slowly walked closer to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was there, but still so far. The idea to walk to the middle stopped somewhere between 1/3 and half way across the bridge. While trying not to look down, we enjoyed the warm fall sun (hotter than usual at this time of the year). We did not even mention to the kids the way we still had to go for food, but I knew that the moment we got to Crissy Field Beach, no one would think about it. With the first bit of sand beneath our feet, we took off our shoes and went into the freezing cold water, not caring about the cold – it was the most magical thing to do that moment, knowing that back home it was 1 degree and as damp as a wet sauna. The magic happened when a lady passing by started to talk to us in Latvian (she is an American Latvian), her dogs wanted hugs, and the girls just ran around like they had never seen a beach before.

It was Friday night, and the Marina was getting into the mood of celebrating the end of the week. We walked toTacolicious, listening to the same question “How far it is?”, again and again. I pretended I did not care when all that I wanted was to bite into that heavenly taco at Tacolicious and nibble on their nachos, which is what we did 30 minutes and a glass of rosé later. The city was getting louder and louder, and with bellies full of fantastic food, we were all in the mood for a good night's sleep with one more treat – Smitten Ice Cream. I had it on my list as a “must” while there as they are freshly made 90-second ice creams with the smoothest scoops you've ever tasted (only because of their invented machine). We sat down and ate it spoon by spoon, as did everyone else, no matter that it was past nine and Weight Watchers would judge us. 

Days plan:

Walk to Painted ladies
Sightglass coffee - coffee and sweet snacks
The mill - coffee, breakfast, lunch, pastries and fresh bread
B Patisserrie - pastries
Lyon street steps
Lovers lane
Walt Disney Family Museum
Golden Gate Bridge 
Walk on the beach
Palace of fine arts
Tacolicious (Chestnut street)
Smitten Ice cream on California Street

Story and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s
Flying with Turkish Airlines