Day #52 - 5/3/2011 - San Francisco

You are going to want to click on some of these pictures to better view them in their photographic glory.  For some, you won't.


When I was a 4th year medical student, I spent a month in San Francisco at the university medical center on elective.  I won't blather on about how great a month it was, but after a month, I had no desire to leave.  This, on the other hand, was our final full day here.  So sad.

For all of its warts and flaws, the Facebook excels at bringing people together who want to be brought.  Brung.  Gotten.  We headed towards the Embarcadero for a long overdue rendezvous.

Lani and Jordan met at age 2, or so, at pre-school in Santa Monica and were close friends for years, but had not seen each other since they were 9.  Jordan is completing her Masters at Berkeley in Case Management/Social Work.  Slacker.

The recurring question while we were in San Francisco was "Is it time to eat and, if so, where?"  Where in this city is that hip, happening place that serves up the perfect sandwich and the perfect chocolate chip cookie?

So, Specialty's Cafe and Bakery, while it is a chain, is an exceptional chain.  You can order on-line before you drop in and pick up your meal, or just drop in.  It had a nice vibe and made a great sandwich, even if I can't remember what I had.  I do remember dessert.  Russell is standing in front of the fresh baked goods seamlessly blending in with all the other hip locals.

Having to watch my caloric intake, I'm pretty fussy about the little junk food that I eat.  Whatever it is, it has to be excellent, otherwise I'll be pissed that I wasted the calories.   It's tough to beat a good chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven: melted islands of dark chocolate with just enough warm cookie dough to hold it all together, with a 60/40 dough/chip ratio.  And, that's what Specialty's offers fresh from the oven.

It was almost like there was a layer of melted chocolate sandwiched between a near-perfect cookie dough, as good as any chocolate chip cookie I've ever had.  When a fresh batch came out of the oven, the workers behind the counter launched into song and dance to alert all nearby.  They even offer a website to alert you when the cookie of your choice has freshly emerged from the oven.

Comfortably stuffed, we hopped onto a bus and headed towards Golden Gate Park.  At >1000 acres, GGP is 20% larger than NYs Central Park while being much more scenic and in a much nicer neighborhood.

Standing on the foot steps of the Conservatory of Flowers, I found myself thinking "what do I need to do to move here?"

In addition to the Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park features Kezar Sports Stadium, the AIDS Memorial Grove, the Music Concourse, the De Young Museum of Fine Arts, the Japanese Tea Garden, the San Francisco Botanical Garden man-made lakes and miles of walking paths and a windmill.

The Conservatory of  Flowers dates to 1878, is the oldest building in the park  and the oldest municipal wooden conservatory remaining in the United States.  What I love about it most is the Dahlia Garden.  Here...I'll show you a picture I took on a previous trip.

Unable to avoid a great museum, we took in the California Academy of Science.  Heavily damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, it reopened in 2005, ½-billion dollars later with an environmentally-friendly design and a Platinum certification under the LEED program.

My favorite exhibit is the Rainforests of the World, an enclosed 4-story sphere with a living rain forest featuring 1,600 live animals (including 250 free-flying birds and butterflies, 100 exotic reptiles and amphibians, and a cave full of bats. Each level represents a different rainforest around the world - Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Amazon. IMHO, it's way cool

The museum features a 2.5 acre living roof made of 50,000 porous, biodegradable trays made from tree sap and coconut husks as containers for the vegetation.

One-sixth of all electricity consumed in the U.S. goes to cool buildings. The Academy's green rooftop keeps the building's interior an average of 10 degrees cooler than a standard roof would. The plants also transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, capture rainwater, and reduce energy needs for heating and cooling.

The California Academy of Science is the only place on Earth with an aquarium, a planet-arium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof.

The aquarium features 38,000 live animals from around the world, representing more than 900 separate species, including this Moray Eel. I wonder if it bites and if those teeth are sharp?

This being our second trip to San Fran within the year, staying at the same motel and completing several runs to/from the Bay and bike, I had come to know the sites, shops and restaurants along Van Ness Blvd.  Looking for a convenient place for dinner at the end of a long day, I knew where I wanted to go.

One of the cool things about a multi-cultural/multi-ethnic cosmopolitan city like San Francisco is the plethora of ethnic cuisines.  Pre-9/11, who knew of Helmand Province?  I wondered if the Marine campaign  there created name recognition?  Inside, it was surprisingly upscale with a nice wine list and a menu that, for me, provided a new and exciting flavor palate. 

After a satisfying meal of artfully seasoned lamb, rice and grilled vegetables, we walked back to our motel, ending our final day in this marvelous city.