It was the third day of our San Francisco trip and we were officially engaged. And not only were we engaged, but we had a great story to tell when we got back. The CPA had done a good job with planning everything to this point and now his work was done. The rest of the trip he had left unplanned for us to do what we wanted.
So after a good night’s rest at the Ritz, we slept in and ordered room service. Then we laid around and watched a movie on tv. Our philosophy was that if we were paying the price to stay there, we were going to enjoy absolutely every minute of it. Finally, at checkout time, we dropped off our bags before making our way downstairs to the 16,000 sq. foot spa.
If you’ve never seen a spa like this, let me just tell you (since I was wearing only a robe and couldn’t sneak in my camera) that there is nothing like it. Dimly-lit rooms contained saunas, warm pools, and various body treatments. We took advantage of those rooms while we each got a full-body massage. For an entire hour, I lay on the table and let my body unwind. The soothing sounds of Enya washed over me as the massuese worked out my various kinks and knots. When the hour was up, I was relaxed and invigorated.
I met up with the CPA after a quick shower and was pleased to see that he looked as happy as I felt. After the valet brought our car, we slowly drove away.
We were in no rush as we had nothing planned and no where we had to be. So we took our time and ate lunch at a little cafe in the town of Half Moon Bay. Since the town was small, there was not much to do, so we finally drove to San Francisco.
Our first stop was our next hotel, the Sir Francis Drake. While it’s a little older than some of the hotels in the area, it was still really cool. Check out the mezzanine floor:
Isn’t that beautiful? And we loved our room – it was funky and different.
By the time we had checked in and unpacked, we were pretty tired. So after a fantastic dinner at the nearby Scala’s Bistro (one of our best meals of the trip, btw) we called it a night.
The next morning we left early to see the sights of San Francisco. As cheesy as the “tourmobiles” in cities are, they’re a great way to see the main attractions. So we hopped on the double decker sightseeing bus (the only way to see a city is in one of the open-top buses) and were on our way.
San Francisco is truly amazing – definitely one of my top four favorites (along with Chicago, NY and DC). First we went through the downtown area where we saw office buildings,
churches,
beautiful murals,
and incredible architechtural detail on some of the older buildings.
Then the bus tour took us towards some of the more residential area
which included the well-known Lombard St., known for being the world’s most crooked street.
We continued our visit by going to the famous Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch.
The Wharf was located on the water, of course, and offered an amazing view of Alcatraz Island.
It had what you would expect for being near the water, such as ships
and boats.
It also had things that you would not expect, like this gentleman. And yes, he was a real person. Why he was painted silver and standing on a box, I’ll never know.
Next, we visited Chinatown, which was a place full of wonderful colors, people and noise.
It also had some of the most crowded stores I think I’ve ever seen. They were daunting, even to a professional shopper such as myself.
By the time we left Chinatown, we had been out all day and were surprisingly worn out. I mean that bus riding was hard work, let me tell you. But we were glad we did it because it gave us a fantastic look at a beautiful city, one that was full of great architecure, diversity, and culture.
But don’t worry, all of that beauty didn’t distract from the important new ring I was sporting.
What – you didn’t think I’d end a post about getting engaged without showing another picture of the new ring, now did you?
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We did, however, visit Muir Woods and they were fantastic!! Oh – and thanks for letting me know about the silver guy, I always wondered about him!
Congratulations!
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