Toucan2 - I'm with you. We were thinking about going back to SF next fall and heading south and I think reading andrew8's trip report sealed the deal!

MomDDTravel - you're in southern Ca, right? So what's with the Cowboys?

5alive - thanks for the post. You have actually inspired me to rejoin NH. We were members for years (Bronx Zoo too) and stopped going when our boys got older and didn't want to go with us anymore. I pass the museum at least once a week and just live crosstown, but haven't gone in years.

My question to you is where on the link that you provided does it say that you can use the membership at other museums around the country?

Friday continued

We leave Alamo Square and I drive to Lombard St. The crooked part is amazing and I drive down it. No problem. I would love to park, but there are no spots. We circle and eventually dh gets out and takes some photos. Here’s where the story gets murky. DH and I can’t agree on what streets we were on and where I had my breakdown. I think we might have been on Leavenworth and I needed to make a right and then continue and make a right onto Mason where the car rental is (back near Union Square). I’m driving on Leavenworth (maybe) and when I start to make a right, I realize I can’t see where this street goes – it feels like it’s going to be a vertical drop. I start repeating over and over that I can’t do it. I pull back onto Leavenworth (to the probable delight of the cars behind me) and continue to the next street. The exact same thing happens again – that cross street heading east is so steep that I am freaked out. DH says that I was just able to drive down Lombard Street, but it is not the same to me. I tell him that I will drive miles if necessary until I can make a right that isn’t like Mt. Everest – the next block is a street we were on before – it has tracks on it and there is one lane only heading east and it is a little lower than the tracks next to it – this I can do. So, where were we???? It is very important for me to know because I want to mark my map and when we return for another visit, I’ll be sure to stay clear of those streets!!!!! I’m driving since I’m 17 and never had a panic like that.

We return the car near Union Square. It’s been a long day and we take a rest before dinner.
Dinner is at Rose Pistola on Columbus. And Mr. Jaguar is available again (I could get used to this!) to give us a lift to North Beach. We go early and walk around the neighborhood for awhile. Unfortunately a shop with great Italian ceramics (like those from Deruta) is closed. North Beach is already lively and it’s still early. We have dinner starting with bellinis and share an octopus appetizer and the wonderful sizzling skillet of mussels. Chianti, pasta and a mushroom pizza are next – a little dessert – and a cab back to the hotel.

I wish we had a lot more time to explore SF!

End of Day 7

Hello Centralparkgirl, the Italian Cermaic shop you mentioned is:

http://www.biordi.com/main.php

They have lovely merchandise but it is not inexpensive.

But even if one doesn't plan on buying anything it is an interesting shop to visit.

I sure hope your husband is feeling better and that he can enjoy watching the game tomorrow!

Hi LoveItaly - Yes, that's the shop. They actually had catalogs outside their front door and they are extremely expensive. I think the weak dollar and the shipping from Italy has really raised the prices. I carried back a decorative bowl from Florence last year. I sure regret not buying a lot 25 years ago when it was cheap!

Biordi has always been very expensive - even when the dollar was stronger.

Stu Dudley

Stu is right Centralparkgirl, Biordi's sure has always been expensive. I would think that anyone that goes to Italy probably does not shop at Biordi's. Having said that I do have a beautiful Italian table lamp from Biordi's. It wasn't wired so it was on sale. My husband wired it..I love that lamp! We found the perfect silk shade for it. My daughter and son-in-law gave me a beautiful container with a lid when they returned from their honeymoon in SF. It was a "thank you" for their wedding. It is priceless.

When (not IF but WHEN) you two are able to return to California if you get down to Santa Barbara here is a lovely store that cells Italian cermaics. For your viewing pleasure..

http://www.italianpottery.com/

Great website - molto grazie!

Did you watch the marathon CP?

Hi andrew - yes. I had to push him out the door. We only watched the first women go by and then the first men. It's really exciting seeing it live. There were many handicapped participants and amputees passing by on special vehicles and they are amazing - so truly inspiring - I felt very emotional just watching them.

So, I understand it's 14 - 7.

21-7 CP :)

I'm so glad you and DH saw some of the race.

Centralparkgirl - it is a strange thing...but I "grew" up on the Cowboys when they were the glory team - Landry etc..it stuck and I have loved them for 30 years... through good and bad...and obviously mostly bad for a while now. :-(

Dawn,
You still have a lot of football left as you have 8 games to play plus I think Romo will be back after the bye week.

awwhhh Andrew - as always you are so kind. I think just have to write off yet another season. But I am still a loyal fan... maybe next year? :-)

Well, I got so worried about your DH that I know I missed parts of your wonderful TR!

I will re-read but please how are things going?

DH and I have spent most of our vacations seeing Italy and France so NYC and SF were our first choices when we started on our U.S. wish list. We love them both!

Many thoughts to the health gods!

TDudette - I thank you for your support and good wishes. This weekend was tough because he's so uncomfortable. I think today is a bit better. The catastrophe of the day has already occurred - a friend was supposed to donate blood for him this morning and has a cold and 'forgot' to tell me. So, I've been scrambling to find another donor. Tomorrow is the last day they will accept it. Fortunately, the son of friends of ours is able and happy to do it.

Like you, I've gone to Europe many times (1st trip at age 19 with a backpack) and have only traveled the east coast plus Arizona. Hopefully, we will visit ds in New Mexico in the spring and go back to Ca in the fall - so much to see!

Hi, Centralparkgirl,
sorry things are still rough on your husband.

Here is a link to how the passport program works:

http://www.astc.org/members/passlist_about.htm

Before you join, you may also want to confirm with Natural History that they are still participating in the program.

Incidentally, some art museums do a similar exchange but usually only for the step-up memberships.

Hope DH is doing better CP

Day 8 Saturday, October 18

Upon leaving Campton Place, we once again passed the Nike store. Their windows on Stockton were covered with thousands of names of the runners in tomorrow’s marathon. There were women posing for pictures while pointing to their names. Many others were searching for theirs.
Such happy faces!

I had some reservations about going to the greenmarket at the Ferry Building. I thought it would be torture to see such great produce and not really be able to buy much (at home I tend to overbuy.). I was pleasantly mistaken. We walked to the Ferry Bldg and before I knew it, I was tasting butter nut crunch and talking to the person who made it. When we saw throngs of people lined up to buy breakfast, we regretted having breakfast at the hotel. Again, it was a gorgeous sunny day. We walked along the water passing the Spider sculpture continuing on to Rincon Park with the Cupid’s Bow sculpture. We walked back and walked through the market in earnest. It was so interesting to recognize the names of some farms from menus in restaurants where we had eaten in the past week. It was a nice connection. At some point, a young man offered me a taste of some kind of fruit and when I tasted it, it was Wow!!! What is that? It was an Asian pear called shinko. I spoke to the woman who owns the farm and she helped me pick out some and educated me about the storage, etc. When I told her I was from NY and had never tasted these, she said she wanted to give me a gift and gave me a shin li pear to take home. This lady was so nice! The four pears probably weighed about 4 lbs and dh gave me the look! I wish I could have bought more – the breads and cheeses looked especially tempting. You all are so lucky to have such a fabulous market in the heart of SF. We then went through the building and the shops were very nice – purchased some Scharffenberger bars with nibs and meyer lemon preserves for ds.

From the Ferry Bldg, we walked over to Tadich Grill – got a table right away – very good chowder and we shared some manila clams and calamari. This is an interesting restaurant and I’m sure it has quite a history – glad we went.
We walked back to USq and I made a little stop to check out the Friends and Family sale at Saks.

Dinner on our last night was at Gary Danko. We took the cable car there and that was a unique experience. The star was the man who collected the money. He acted as a tour guide, pointing out sights along the way, yelling at people who were attempting to get on while we were at capacity; he was quite the performer and made the ride even more fun. Since we got to the area early, we walked for a few minutes around Fisherman’s Wharf (kind of what I expected). Why are people so attracted when there are so many great things to see in SF?

At Gary Danko, we sat at the bar awhile between two guys celebrating a birthday and another man on SF on business. We all chatted and they made recommendations from the menu. The dinner was wonderful and it was a great choice for our last SF dinner.

We cabbed back to the hotel and women were still taking photos in front of the Nike window.
There was a letter from management under our door apologizing for any inconvenience before the race started and offering ear plugs. Since the race was beginning at 7am, they were expecting officials on loud speakers at 6. Since our room faced the back, we heard nothing.

Sunday Oct 19th

After breakfast, we walked over to Bristol Farms to pick up a few things to munch on for lunch while waiting in the airport. That’s a great shop with endless selections. Women are still taking photos in front of the Nike store only this time, they are wrapped in mylar because they’ve finished the race. It’s time to leave and we head to the airport, sad to go but determined to come back soon and visit all the enchantment by the bay!


Some reasons I knew I was in SF and not NY:

Public bathrooms were very clean – everywhere!

I was driven to dinner in a Jaguar as opposed to a dirty cab with a driver who has his pungent dinner on his lap.

You can’t go 5 minutes without being on a hilltop.

Water, water everywhere…………in NY, there are days I forget I’m on an island.

3.5% was added to my food bill for SF Healthcare (Rose Pistola)!!!!

Just a thank you to all of you who post terrific info and answer every question – this board absolutely helped make our trip so wonderful – my sincerest thanks.

Hi andrew8 - this has been a week from hell. dh is being admitted to the hospital again today. I can only pray that this time next Friday, the surgery is done, successful, with no complications and my best friend is finally on the mend.

I'm sorry about the news of DH CP. My wife and I are here for you if you need anything. Sending prayers your way.