The Ragfields in San Francisco: Day 7

Rob got home safely last night from his ride up Mount Tam and decided that Italian food sounded good. I made the executive decision that if we were going to eat Italian in San Francisco, we might as well go to Little Italy. We took a bus up there and wandered around just a little bit before deciding on which place to eat. I ended up getting something really good: a basil tagliatelle in pesto sauce. Nice. I had hoped for some authentic Italian gelato for dessert but it was way too cold out for that. We ended up finding a sweet shop and getting a bit of chocolate to go. It was neat being in “Little Italy.” There were actually a lot of people speaking Italian, which reminded of Nico ☺

Today was our last day in San Francisco, so we knew we had to make the most of it. I had extreme apprehension that Rob was going to convince me to ride my bike somewhere and I would be miserable all day and possibly end up killed. Just thinking about getting on a bike again in this city made me have a panic attack, so we decided to travel by bus and foot today instead.

First, we had breakfast at a place called Café Mason, and then we took the bus over to the Haight-Ashbury district (ie, the Hippie District). We walked around in Buena Vista Park (the entrance had some flowers arranged in a peace sign) for a while and then wandered on up to Golden Gate Park.

Buena Vista Park

Windmill at the west end of Golden Gate Park

After some more wandering, we took a different bus to the ocean—which as you might imagine, was pretty much the highlight of my trip.

Pacific Ocean, Cliff House is to the right

Meli-- airborne and running into the ocean

We finally came back to the Union Station area to have a really great, really late lunch at a place I had seen on Mission Street called The Organic Coffee Company. This place was so fantastic I am going to be dreaming about it for weeks. I had a hummus sandwich that also had avocado on it, which was amazing.

Our time in San Francisco was drawing to a close. Several guidebooks as well as our next door neighbors had told us that a visit to San Francisco would not be complete without an ice-cream treat from the Ghirardelli’s at Fisherman’s Wharf. I was ready to pass on it, but Rob thought we might as well go. To let our lunch settle, we wandered in a few stores downtown and then took a bus up to Ghirardelli’s. The ice cream shop had a huge line out front. We thought, well, we’ve come this far… so we got in the line and tried to decide what to get.

Everything was ridiculously expensive and I do mean absolutely ridiculous. I ended up deciding on a vanilla shake that had some Ghirardelli dark chocolate and raspberry blended up with it. Rob got a chocolate ice cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone. It was good, but honestly, probably not worth the ridiculous price that we paid for it. Plus, I am pretty sure that even though I hadn’t been diabetic before, this thing sent me into a diabetic coma, and moreover, my skinny jeans are never going to fit me now. Waaaay too decadent for someone like me. Rich food just tends to make me feel awful. I seriously need to run about 3 marathons to work this thing off. Since we ate the ice cream probably around 4:30 or 5pm, that is probably going to suffice for our dinner.

Rob, waiting for his ice cream. This place was also kind of like a chocolate museum.

Fountain in front of Ghirardelli Square

At any rate, we are just about packed up and ready to go. Although part of me is definitely eager to get back to my real life and get away from the constant busyness and bustle of this city, I am sad to be leaving San Francisco. Already I am planning on coming back next year with Rob for WWDC.

Thanks for reading!