I was very excited to hang out with my brother in San Francisco. He knows where to go and what to do in every situation. He sent us an email a couple of weeks ago stating he would be there for one day and then gave a comprehensive itinerary of the things we could do but added the disclaimer "unless you want to do something else." It looked incredible and me and Laura had no hesitation in agreeing to his plans.
The morning came and we hit the road the earliest that we have on a weekend since my arrival. The first destination was a bakery named Tartine for brunch. I checked its website and it looked fantastic. We were excited, and about 25 minutes early, so after finding the perfect parking spot (right outside) we joined a long line for Tartine! Knowing my brother, Bernard, I assumed there would be a line. But this line was out of control!! Bernard arrived and we had a good catch up and chat about his work trip and what he had been up to. There was a suggestion of leaving the line and going somewhere else when, as if on cue, the most tantalizing aroma wafted through the air. That settled it, we were staying!
After about forty minutes we got a glimpse of the pastries. We gasped at the lemon meringue cake! After all this wait, we still did not know what to get! I settled with a gougere with Lor & Bernard choosing the croque Monsieur. We all got a morning bun to go with it! Around the corner we found a park with blazing sunshine and gorgeous people lazing on the slope. We decided to join them and gorged on our brunch. It was delicious. I had order envy but Lor was generous enough to share hers. We hit the morning buns and were blown away all over again. Light cinnamon buns with a subtle orange flavor. It was incredible. Instead of giving into our food comas we decided to walk, up hill, towards Haight Street.
We went through the Castro district and past nice looking clothes shops, bars and cafes. Bernard was navigating and we soon found ourselves on top of hilltops and at lookouts enjoying the San Francisco view! At one stage we went through a hole in a wire fence to find a path which kept us headed in the right direction. That part was not on the guide.
Finally we made Haight Street and walked up towards the top of it to the bike rental company. We were given competent enough looking bikes and helmets (which Bernard insisted upon) and rode down to Golden Gate Park. A park like this, so close to the middle of the city, is such a beacon on any city and it was a melting of sporting, cultural and bizarre activities. We stopped briefly to take place in a free Lindy-Hop dance lesson in the park. We did our own thing but it was a lot of fun! Our first stop was the DeYoung museum which had a Dutch exhibition of masterpieces from artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer. The most famous being The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It was Mona Lisa-esque for enchantment and allure and incredible to think we had the opportunity to see it!
The crowd were interesting and Bernard and I enjoyed listening to the comments of other people. One man stated that the perspective of the light in a Rembrandt was "off" and a woman began comparing herself to Rembrandt at one stage. Then she got told off for standing too close to the painting. I think some of the painting's shadow was on her nose for the rest of the day!
We rode on after taking in as much as we could, heading towards the ocean along the Great Highway for a local beer at the Beach Chalet! The ride was maybe starting to take some toll and this freshen up was definitely necessary. We continued riding again, back through the park, and past the bisons. This was a bit depressing. We saw two of them and they looked very unhappy. Think the kangaroos that wander around Featherdale Farm - emotionless, lethargic and bored.
Following this we passed a few people on segue's (i wonder why that fad never took off?) and a roller disco thing going on, complete with Grandmaster Flash playing in the background and a guy giving directions. Turns out that this does happen in real life! It definitely pulled a bewildered, giggling crowd!
The next destination was to be the Golden Gate bridge itself. Something i was really looking forward to. The fog had been following us all day but it seemed to be clearing up into the most brilliant, gorgeous day! We had been going on the flat for most of the ride but we found a whole lot of hills as we took the roads and trails towards the bridge. At one stage, we climbed to the top of one of the steepest parts of the ride and then enjoyed the downhill section. IT is easy to get carried away enjoying the downhill parts and not realising how fast you were actually going. I was at the back, with Laura in the middle. I liked keeping an eye on her and also it meant i would not get carried away and take off. Soon, i found myself not overtaking Laura but overtaking cars. I was not pedaling but this long stretch of downhill saw us all picking up a lot of speed. Startled, i eased off and used the breaks carefully which meant i fell further behind. Up ahead i saw Bernard seem to make the same realisation and possibly panic. He may have slammed the breaks and subsequently fishtailed and almost hit the ground very hard. Luckily only a small graze but a reminder of what could potentially happen! He was up straight away insisting he was fine and that we should just keep riding bikes.
There was no whinging or complaining despite the hills and we all enjoyed the ride. Past the coast, up the hills, through cute neighbourhoods and beautiful gardens. At this stage we were on the road with the cars and following street signs accordingly. We saw all of the cars turning a sharp left and almost made the turn too... on instinct Laura said that it did not look right. This would have found us on the bridge itself with the cars. Thank goodness we did not make this turn! Laura said that she had cousins who made that mistake and that t was the most frightening of experiences! It did not take long for the right route to make itself known and we went past the walkers to the bike trail and onto the bridge itself. How exhilarating! It was absolutely thrilling to be riding across the Bridge featured in the opening scene of Full House and the views of the city, coastline and other side were beyond belief!
Plenty of people in lycra zoomed past and lamented the social riders taking pictures or going too slow. It seems that lycra clad cyclists are the same no matter which city you are in. Rather than trek on, uphill to a lookout we turned around and headed back with Fisherman's Wharf being our final destination. By this stage there were a few comments of "I'm over it now" and legs were becoming more and more sore!
We went past an outdoor yoga festival, through the parks, piers and people towards Fisherman's Wharf. We spoke of things that we had done at the beginning of the day and realised it felt like it all happened days ago! It was insane how much we were able to fit into one day. The sister store of the bicycle rental place was found with the help of Bernard and his trusty map and we took pleasure in jumping off and walking around, albeit unnaturally! The hunger indicator had been upgraded from curious, to peckish, to starving in a matter of minutes and we settled on an Italian restaurant just across the road and gorged on as much as we could. Ben & Jerry's followed on the way to a taxi!
Bernard was dropped off and many thanks were tiredly communicated as our exhaustion began to take over our entire bodies. Surely Bernard would now be straight off to bed. He had orchestrated and carried out the most wonderful day in San Francisco. We continued to where we had parked, out the front of the bakery and began to become a bit worried thinking of the fact that we had parked, in one place, for almost ten hours without paying anything! We came across a corner, saw no wheel jack and no parking infringements!! The perfect day continued.
We looked at the bakery, the lack of line, and gave into temptation. That lemon meringue cake had been haunting my daydreams all day!
The drive home was, of course, perfect and easy, as we tried to remember each detail, go over every mile and believe all that we had been able to do in one single day. If you only are given 24 hours in San Francisco, please do this. You will never regret it or forget it.
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