Playing tourist in San Francisco - May 23-26, 2014

**Warning - supersized blog entry!**

For Memorial Day weekend, Kaleb and I decided to stay local as we had been traveling long distances the past few months.  Kaleb hadn't visited Fisherman's Wharf or Alcatraz Island before; why not make a long weekend of it?

Hotels near Fisherman's Wharf were pricey (parking fees also sky high!) so I decided to book a room at the Holiday Inn Express San Pablo as it was a short drive to a BART station.  I had enough IHG hotel points to book award nights, but it was less expensive for me to reserve a room at a travel industry rate** than the cash value of the points.

On the way to the Bay Area Friday evening, we stopped by one of our favorite restaurants, Michael Warring, located right off the I-80 freeway in Vallejo.  The prix-fixe menu format had changed from the last time we were here, and it was a nice improvement with the addition of extra courses.  It (still) felt like eating at a good friend's house.  I enjoyed watching Michael moving efficiently in the kitchen.  It's amazing to find this style of restaurant in an unassuming little strip mall at the Vallejo city limits.  I'm happy to see he still maintains a 5-star rating on Yelp.

smoky squash

hamachi...yum!

chilled sesame noodles with pork belly snow (which Michael added for us tableside)

muscovy duck

vanilla ice cream with caramel

petit-fours

After dinner, we drove to San Pablo and checked into the Holiday Inn Express.  It was a nice, clean property.  Right next door was a Ross Dress For Less store, so I shopped there for an hour and found a couple of tops.

Tonight, the sky was supposed to be littered with a grand meteorite display (Camelopardalids), so we drove around looking for a dark place to view the heavens.  We couldn't find anywhere close by that had no light pollution, so we returned to the hotel and got online to view a live stream from an observatory.  There weren't as many meteors as expected.

We hardly got any sleep that night.  "Audio on the Bay" EDM festival was happening in Richmond and the group staying next door came home from it around 2am Saturday and played thumping music all night long until they finally passed out around 6am.  I thought I could sleep through it since I was so tired, but could not.  The solution would have been to call the front desk to have them check on the room, but from prior experience, it'd end up to be futile so I didn't bother - the noise would go down for a short time, then turn back up, even louder, seemingly to spite the complaining neighbors, which was just us as the ice and vending machine room was on the other side.

Holiday Inn Express offered a complimentary hot breakfast including eggs and make-your-own pancakes.  After eating, I went to the front desk to tell them about our neighbors and asked to move rooms.  The clerk apologized and told me that usually the hotel was a very quiet property but because of the rave, some of the participants spent the night there and a lot of commotion had gone on multiple floors.  She assured me that our neighbors were checking out today and to call them next time there was a disturbance.

We drove to the Richmond BART, bought tickets ($4.50 each way) and hopped onto a train to take us into San Francisco, getting off at Embarcadero station.  We then walked towards the bay, stopping at the ever-popular Ferry Building Marketplace, also home to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  Lots of yummy delights to be found!  The longest lines were seen at Blue Bottle Coffee and a Mexican food stand outside.

some "tasty salted pig parts"

custard-filled bombolini

view of the Bay Bridge

grabbing lunch here

honey smoked salmon

white salmon lox

After lunch, we walked over to Pier 33 to board the 1pm boat to Alcatraz Island.  As recommended, I bought tickets several weeks in advance through Alcatraz Cruises and had no problems reserving the daytime tour for the time I wanted.  However, I noticed that the early bird and night tours were sold out so if you want to do those, you should book them even earlier.

top deck of the boat

view of Coit Tower

leaving the City behind

visitors getting off the 12:30pm boat

After disembarking, there was a short orientation talk given by one of the rangers but we bypassed this (since we heard it from the boat while waiting for the 12:30pm boat to empty) and walked up the hill to the prison block for our self-guided tour.  We were given headsets and an audio guide to follow along.  The last time I was at Alcatraz was on a high school fieldtrip...tours used to be guided, and visitors would be locked in "solitary confinement" cells for a brief moment...pitch dark and scary!  The cells were still there, but you didn't get to be locked in them.

shower room

cell blocks

doing the self-guided tour

where visitors and prisoners spoke using phones

inside a cell

prisoners' recreational area including a baseball diamond

views from Alcatraz

attempts to beautify "The Rock"

boarding the boat to return to Pier 33

leaving Alcatraz

After the tour, we took the boat back to Pier 33, then walked to Fisherman's Wharf for some supper at Fog Harbor Fish House.  There were no reservations available on OpenTable when I checked weeks ago, so we took our chances with walk-in as it was only around 4pm.  We were told it'd be a 20-minute wait, so we got a cup of coffee and hot chocolate from a nearby cookie shop as it was a bit chilly outside, but we ended up getting seated within 5 minutes.  We were fortunate to have gotten a table by the window, as guests usually request it way in advance.

Our meal was all right considering the restaurant was located in a tourist area.  We received a free calamari appetizer, an offer from the coupon books that were given away at the California Welcome Center near the restaurant.

table by the window

too foggy to see the Golden Gate bridge on the left

sourdough bread with lots of butter packets

fried calamari

seafood cioppino

mixed grill

After dinner, we considered walking around the wharf and Pier 39, but it seemed every square foot of sidewalk was inundated with tourists...a stark contrast compared to our New Zealand and Maldives vacation.  We didn't want to fight the crowds, plus there wasn't anything we wanted to buy in particular, so we returned to the BART station, then back to the Holiday Inn Express. 

Our new neighbors were quiet during the night, but around 6am Sunday morning, the man in the room decided to sing out loud as well as have a shouting match with his lady companion.  I was happy to be checking out; hopefully we'd be able to check in early at our next hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Mill Valley.  I booked this using IHG hotel points, which was a steal of a deal compared to best available rates or even travel industry rates.  When we got there, we joined a long line of cars exiting off the freeway onto a two-lane road, but fortunately the hotel was nearby so we didn't have to be stuck in traffic for too long.  We inquired if our room happened to be ready; the clerk didn't think so, but when she checked the computer, she was surprised to see that it was available and we were able to check in.  This Holiday Inn was so much better than the previous property.  Located adjacent to a waterway and bike trail, it was very serene.  Our room was decorated in a contemporary yet natural style, with a sliding glass door to a patio affording views of Mount Tamalpais.  There were unique complimentary amenities like bike rentals and S'mores kits, which were explained fully to us by the front desk clerk.

view from our patio

comfy bed

After relaxing for a bit, we decided to do one of the trails in the area, East Peak.  It was an easy hike from the parking lot, with fabulous views.


We attempted to visit Muir Woods but it was a madhouse...no parking and cars everywhere.  I would suggest not visiting during holiday weekends.  We gave up and went looking for dinner.  I found a place on Yelp called BBQ N Curry that served Pakistani food.  The restaurant was small and there were already a lot of customers seated despite it being early evening.  We were able to get the last inside table for two. (there were two-top tables outside but it was windy)  The food was delicious!

mater paneer

tender basmati rice

plain naan

samosas

chicken karahi

lamb tikka masala

Pakola cream soda

We returned to our hotel.  The sun was still out so we took a pleasant stroll along the bikeway.  One man who was biking by said that we looked very happy!

along the bike path

interesting floating homes

egret

stopped by a market for dessert

beautiful sunset from the hotel parking lot

On Monday morning, we scrapped all plans to do more hiking or renting bikes to ride to the Golden Gate Bridge as we figured it would be way too crowded.  We had a nice breakfast in the main building, then headed home, with a stop for lunch at Mary's Pizza Shack in Dixon.  I had passed by this restaurant countless times but never stopped in because I was always going somewhere.  Billboards from the road constantly tempted me for years to try the spaghetti and meatballs.  Since today was an idle day, it was the perfect opportunity to stop by.  Even though Mary's was a chain restaurant, the food tasted like homemade and the pizza was very good.

breakfast at the Holiday Inn Mill Valley

Mary's signature salad

minestrone soup with crusty bread

spaghetti with giant meatball...yum!

Mary's Combination pizza...very delicious

Our long weekend trip didn't unfold perfectly but it was still nice to experience new things with each other.  Where will we be going next?  Stay tuned for a 7-night Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity Equinox with a pre-cruise stay in Rome and post-cruise stay in Barcelona!

**Discounted rates from participating suppliers such as Holiday Inn Express are offered to travel agents.  Are you detail-oriented and love to travel?  Interested in becoming a travel agent?  My host agency, Travel Planners International, offers contracts that include training for new agents.  Click here for more information.

***

If you came here from a Facebook or Twitter link, thanks for clicking the "Facebook Like" button below or retweeting!

Don't wait for Facebook or Twitter to let you know of new entries...sign up for blog updates direct to your inbox here!

Come check out my other blog "What in the world is Kat Kong doing now?", documenting things other than traveling...sign up for blog updates direct to your inbox here!

Previous post:  The end of our Star Princess repositioning cruise