Finally, some time to blog and share our fabulous girls weekend in San Fransisco. In spite of the drab weather my little Fashion Police and I had a blast celebrating her 20th birthday in the City By The Bay.
I've always loved exploring neighborhoods and getting the flavor of different cities, were the locals hang out for coffee and tea, the best cafes and of course boutiques, etc. So in planing this trip, which was from a Friday to a Sunday, we had a lot to cram in, and we did, neighborhood by neighborhood by neighborhood.
We arrived very early and had lots to do before our hotel check in was available. Our first stop in the pouring rain was Chestnut Street.
We started out with our favorite activity, eating!
The Chestnut Street Epicenter is between Chestnut and Scott Street. It has a cool neighborhood feel and a nice mix of unique boutiques along side of stores you would recognise.
Next stop Polk Street. I was really looking forward to going to Criss, a beautiful upscale designer re-sale store known to carry labels like Chanel, Prada, Torry Burch and more.
The Epicenter for this neighborhood is Polk Street and Broadway. We found the recommend Bob's Donut Shop but we were saving ourselves for our next stop, Macaroons in Hayes Valley.
We fell in love with Hayes Valley, a quiet upscale yet funky neighborhood and home to La Boulange (for brunching) and Chantal Quillon for the above mentioned and absolutely amazing Macaroons. I think we tried every flavor, this gorgeous purple one is lavender, it smelled great, but tasted like a flower, not that I eat so many flowers, but you get the idea.
The Hayes Valley Epicenter is Hayes and Grough. It's a beautiful blend of boutiques, galleries and interior design studios. We had fun looking at all the cool funky Johnathan Adler stuff.
La Boulange was a recommended stop for brunch (we ate backwards mostly.)
Off to do a little sightseeing on the worlds crookedest street, Lombard. I love this area and I love the homes that line this street, although I'm not sure I'd like living amongst nosy tourists like us every day but it sure was fun to walk the 250 steps down and the 250 steps back up, (all that eating needs balance.) This is the mid point for the cable car route and a neighborhood filled with beautiful homes and apartments. Great views of the bay from everywhere.
Eventually we checked into the Carlton Hotel downtown, near Union Square, a great location about 10 -20 minutes from every place we wanted to go, but more importantly...
I picked this hotel not just for it's location but because I stayed there 20 years ago when I was pregnant with the birthday girl. Here we are two pooped shoppers. Stayed tuned for part 2 :)
