Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report San Francisco weekend

Paula1470 spent the weekend in San Francisco. On Friday, we went to see the new apartment of her daughter’s friend in probably Russian Hill, from there went to Coit Tower, it was a clear day, had lunch at Mocca in Maiden Lane – my salmon salad was really good, and finished the day at the Shelton Theater with Shopping! The Musical. No plot, just a bunch of songs one funnier then the other, all making fun of shopping. If you want something less serious and cheaper then Beach Blanket, this is for you! Make sure to get the ½ price ticket on TheaterBayArea.com or the booth at Union Square.

Saturday Paula woke up to the sound of thunder at 4 am. While I tried to convince her later that what she heard must’ve been garbage collection, another loud thunder scared the you know what out of me. Never heard it that loud! Paula called LoveItaly – she even lost electricity! WOW! It was even raining a little, but a couple of hours later it cleared.

Paula rented a car (I don’t drive) and we went to Napa Valley, stopped at Bouchon bakery for the morning load of carbs, fats, and caffeine, found out that Cakebread tasting is by appointment only, no, thank you, we won’t be visiting your gift shop, and went instead to Peju. Strange thing, they just pour whatever wine they pick, we couldn’t have our choice. Paula did the tasting, I didn’t care to do that, tried a couple of sips – and we both didn’t like what was offered, even left early. They escort small groups to the tasting counter after a short wait in the gift shop.

Our lunch was at V. Sattui, they had an outside BBQ in wonderful setting, and we were under a huge, huge, huge oak tree in the shade. We didn’t want to leave; it was so nice there! A word of caution: you order first, then wait for your name to be called – check the receipt! Mine said “sausage” instead of “salmon” – but it was resolved fast with lots of apologies. Mistakes happen. As for food, I would not go out of the way for it. All fresh, good quality, but there are so many places to eat! If you are feeling like having a burger, the crowd at Taylor’s refresher was large, must be a good place to eat?

Helped the economy a bit in St Helena, there is a store named “Baksheesh” – I know in the Muslim republics of the former USSR it means a bribe. At checkout I asked the girl, she said, yes, it means “bribe” in some languages, but the name of their store means “just” in a Peruvian language – and it’s all about fair trade. We saw greeting cards made of… elephant dung. Yes, I am not kidding! Most of the items they sell come from poor countries. I got “dark” and “very dark” chocolate from Dominican Republic.

Walking past a pharmacy, I thought I saw familiar lotion tubes on the shelves, went inside, that’s right, Ahava lotions, and such a great selection – when Paula tried one of them at home she loved the quality too. Later in the day we stopped at LoveItaly’s house, and from there returned the car and came home. Mr Again didn’t mind us ignoring his version of fried zucchinis.

Sunday morning we met LindaL for breakfast at Americano in the Vitale hotel. My scrambled eggs with wild mushrooms were surprisingly good, not greasy, and the fruit plate provided a proper accompaniment. The view is over the bay, Embarcadero and Bay Bridge. They have outside seating, but this morning was too cool. I had to leave a little early; LindaL drove Paula to the airport.

Overall, it was a great weekend; I hope Paula will agree, and next time we’ll try to organize a GTG.