SF Day 6: Sushirrito, Shopping and Coit Tower

Monday, June 18th, 2012:

This was my last full day in SF, and my mini-vacation was coming to an end. Although I was sad my trip was  almost over, it's always nice to head back home for some more rest and relaxation. :)

For breakfast, Lauren, her mom and I went to Little Italy to buy Foccacia bread from this very authentic Focaccia bread place. They stay open until they sell out, and they usually close at around noon or 1pm every afternoon- that's how good they are. I forgot to take pictures...but it was really delicious! We bought mushroom, pizza and raisin flavored ones...Again, so much good food in SF. Om nom. For the afternoon, I had planned lunch with Lauren and Lillian (my USC PEER mentor freshman year) at Sushirrito!  

So I had heard of this place called Sushirrito on tumblr. According to their website, they offer "hand-held sushi burritos stuffed with savory Asian and Latin-infused ingredients and flavors." Well, given that sushi is my favorite food and I love Asian food in general, and I also love burritos and Latin food, this place sounded like heaven. I told a friend who visited SF a few months back to check it out, but they're only open M-F from 11 am-3 pm so she couldn't go since her visit fell on a weekend. But I was determined to make it!! And I did. :D 

It was great seeing Lillian again since I hadn't seen her since sometime my sophomore year (she was a senior when I was a freshman), and then she moved to SF for work. Good food , good company, and good catch-up conversations. :) Not to mention Sushirrito was so delicious! I really really liked it. If they opened in Socal well...I would probably go to ridiculous lengths to visit...

Made it to Sushirrito!! :D

Lillian's choice: Porkivore

Lauren's choice: Geisha’s Kiss 

My choice: Cali Loco

After lunch, Lauren took me around the Union Square area and into the mall nearby for shopping excursion. :) keke. I've still been trying to figure out my style (other than the usual T-shirt and jeans) so it was fun to explore with Lauren and go shopping at different stores and things.

Some nice-looking building we passed by on the way to shopping :D

What a fancy-looking Wells Fargo...@@

Statue in the middle of Union Square!

I only cared about this because April 30th is my birthday lol.

At each corner of Union Square was an artsy heart (which I loved!)
 There are five because the top left and top right ones are the front and back of one heart!

Lauren and me in front of one of the hearts!! <3
Yayy Lauren. :)

The evening was a trip to Coit Tower. Lauren's mom was nice enough to buy me admission up to the top of the tower. Ahhh they were too nice. Q_Q The top of the tower had really gorgeous views of the SF skyline, and even though the thought of skyscrapers normally doesn't sound like a beautiful sight to me, it really was! I think ultimately I came away from this trip to SF with a greater appreciation for the beauty of city-living and an urban environment...though I had to admit I think I still like suburbia a little bit more (still used to the familiar I guess!)

Coit Tower! Shaped like a firehose nozzle in memory of the firefighters who serve(d) SF

View from "ground level" at the bottom of Coit Tower

View from the top of Coit Tower! Bay Bridge :)

The Bay!

Beautiful city and buildings

Now this is a skyline!

More shots of the gorgeous view in the coming photos :)

I had an amazing time in San Francisco! I'm glad I got to do some real exploring around the city and I definitely wouldn't have had such a great time without Lauren and her family's wonderful hospitality. :)
I'm really glad I got the chance to do a bit of traveling this summer despite Taiwan not working out. Even though it was a mini-trip, it was still great and I got to see a lot! Summer adventures. :D

SF Day 5: Chinatown & Uni Reunion

Sunday, June 17th, 2012:

So I totally did not realize that I decided to go to Norcal during Father's Day Weekend. Oops. But it's okay because Chinese Father's Day is on August 8th (8/8) so I have another chance. Lauren and her family invited me to tag along with them for their Father's Day festivities, which was really nice of them! I went with them for a dimsum brunch at what they said was the most authentic Hong Kong-style dimsum place in Chinatown, though I didn't catch the name of the restaurant itself...(Self-reminder to ask Lauren later!) 

Again, when Lauren's family eats out they do it big! There was so much food and the dimsum was definitely some of the best I've had. We got there pretty early, around 10:30 am-ish and already there were so many people there for Father's Day!! Glad we got there early, because the line later on to even get a number was ridiculous. So again, no photos of the meal but it was a really great meal!

Afterwards, Lauren's family went to watch a movie and they dropped me back off at Chinatown so I could do some solo souvenir shopping and Chinatown exploring on my own in the afternoon. I swear Chinatown is seriously like a corner of Asia transplanted to the U.S. complete with shopkeepers that don't really speak English. pwahaha. It was great, but made me miss my China adventures from last summer. 

I liked the lanterns. Cute touch. haha

One of the buildings was a...bank?
Lauren told me something about it, but I forgot ><

Juxtaposition of Western and Eastern architecture!

Pretty-looking antique store :)

Gate that was the official entrance to Chinatown!

Statue of a monkey playing a harmonica?

More Chinatown lanterns!

My evening was spent at a Uni dinner reunion at Delancey Street Restaurant. Honestly, I only knew Christina, so introduced myself to the others. The others were pretty familiar with each other though, so I just sort of listened to them talk the whole time. It was entertaining to hear them talk about Uni days and teachers I had been taught by and crazy stories, even though as the youngest of the group (Class of '09) I couldn't really share in their memories. I also was reminded that I feel like the type of people I met at Uni and the type of people I have met at USC are definitely different in their general demeanor, which I find interesting. I hope wherever I go to medical school will have people of a demeanor closer to the friends I've met at 'SC. :)

While waiting, I took a picture of this cool-looking boat

Nice shot of the bridge :)

SF Day 4: Little Italy, Palace of Fine Arts and Lombard Street

Saturday, June 16th, 2012:
A simple breakfast of leftover sourdough bread and nutella (nutella makes everything yummy!) at Lauren's place and then spent the afternoon with Purnima. :)

I had yet to visit Little Italy, so we went to a restaurant there called The Stinking Rose for lunch! Named thus probably because it's famous for its garlic and garlicky foods.

The tables for two were in these cute little private booths.
Ours had a chandelier! 

Bread om nom.

Pesto pizza :)

Thanks to Purnima for showing me around. :D 

Gelato afterwards at Gelateria Naia, because it's not a trip to Little Italy without gelato!
Rose flavor (which tasted like Lychee!) and Ferrero Rocher flavor. :)

Pretty cathedral! Lauren's brother goes to school near/in there?
Also, it was the weekend of the North Beach Festival,
so the Little Italy area was CRAZY. Thus all the people.

Escaped the crazy crowds of the North Beach Festival, since neither Purnima nor I are particularly crowd-loving. All of the white tents selling food and random things were sort of cool though, but I didn't really stop to look around or pay them much attention. Just wanted to flee the mobs of people! @_@
I told Purnima I really wanted to visit the Palace of Fine Arts, so she took me there next. Yay. :)

Easily my favorite site in SF :)

Sooo big!

Inside the dome

Seriously, everything was really gorgeous!

Even the houses along the street were really nice Q.Q

Pretty fountain!

This adorable swan family was swimming near the edge of the water.
Also, I never realized that swans were so big! o__o

Puny human against large architecture x)

We had a bit of time left after the Palace of Fine Arts so Purnima took me to Lombard Street, which is the super curvy and steep street...for lack of better words to describe it. Thank goodness Purnima is such a skilled SF driver! haha. :)

View from the top of Lombard Street!! Gorgeous.

Coit Tower and...Golden Gate Bridge? Or Bay Bridge? in the distance

Proof that all of these photos were taken inside of a car haha

I'm actually surprised at how well these turned out
even though I was in a moving vehicle...o_o

Pretty much the end of Lombard Street...
This was probably the last  hairpin turn.

The evening was spent hanging out with Lauren's family and entertaining a few more family friends they'd invited over. Again, it was a nice couple and they were really funny people! Seriously Lauren's family has the best family friends. :) While they went out to a burger place for dinner, Lauren took me to a good Mexican place with apparently super good deep fried fish tacos. I was still super full from my carb-packed lunch at The Stinking Rose though, so I just got a veggie taco.

Their guacamole was super good though...
Glad I got the veggie taco!! Definitely felt deprived of veggies amidst all of the good food in SF.

The rest of the evening was spent listening to the hilarious conversations Lauren's family and their friends had together. Good company and good food are really the best! :)