SYD IN SAN FRANCISCO: DAY FOUR, PART ONE

My favorite day of this entire trip to be honest. There's something about being in a city with your friends that make things worthwhile. No matter the circumstances (in our case, the hills), being with people you love makes the trip even more memorable. 

Ok, enough of this sappy crap, on to adventure. 

On our fourth day, we took the BART to what is essentially, the heart of San Francisco. Union Square is the center of shopping, hotels, and other urban shenanigans. If you're in San Francisco, then it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to not go to Union Square. It's Union Square, go. You have to! 

The BART ride wasn't so bad, it's was roughly around an hour because of all the stops so we got up earlier to get a good start. 

Another quick history lesson, brought by AeroDynamo.

 A. Union Square is a 2.6 acre wide public plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post, and Stockton Streets.

B.  Like I said earlier, Union Square is the center of fashion, shopping, and hotels. 

C. Union Square got it's name because of the protests in support of the Union back in the Civil War. 

D. They have Uniqlo. Which was our main objective. 

We got off Powell station because it connects right to the Westfield Mall. We didn't do much shopping there because all the stores in Westfield could be found in Vegas. 

One of the prettiest Forever21 stores I've seen. Just adding a Victorian facade to everything makes it the more prettier. Come on Vegas, get with it! 

The building to the right is Gap. Pretty right? 

The interior of the Forever21. Reminded me of my time in Versailles! 

Hello my love, we meet again. Remember the Uniqlo post I published a while back? Unfortunately, they only had a few of the shirts I wanted so I just got those. Thank god for online shopping! 

Right across Uniqlo was this rather striking building. I guess it's the Hotel Union Square? I've never heard of it, or if I did I'd have forgotten about it. I like the Cruella deVille homage with the colors. 

After we shopped at Uniqlo we went towards Union Square itself and took some pictures while we people watched. At that point we were deciding where to eat. With an area as big and diverse we were pretty stumped. Until Amber and Ryan suggested Sushirrito. 

We were joined by Amber's friend (and our new friend), Ryan! Hi Ryan! 

Union Square was a cool place to get some footage for the blog, so we stayed around. Tiff and Nikki vlogged while I photographed. 

Like us, there were tons of tourists in the area. 

 

The statue from the opening/transition credits from That's So Raven! I actually have no idea what this statue is called. (edit: it doesn't have a name, it's just a statue on top of the Dewey Memorial)

 

Funny story. Actually I don't know if it's funny, I just needed something to segway this, lol. Anywho! Nikki pointed this building out to us. The Westin apparently used to be an older hotel that burned down, and now it's haunted or something. If you look closely in the windows, you should see a ghost. Just kidding. There's no ghost. Or is there????

OOTD! 

Shirt: Comme des Garçons PLAY

Pants: the RAMP

Shoes: Converse

Uniqlo galore! It was Tiff's first time at Uniqlo, I'm glad she enjoyed herself. 

After Union Square we went down ahead and found Sushirrito. The name is exactly as it sounds. A portmanteau of Sushi and Burrito. Sushirrito!

Cute casual couple! 

The line itself looked pretty jarring, but it went by really fast. Think of the process as lining up for Chipotle. They have a set menu and once you pick your choice out, they make it quickly. 

I sat outside saving our table and took that opportunity to go and do some street photography again. I was in such an obvious spot I had to make it quick, so I only caught a few candid ones. 

They actually called me in because there was a spot for us to eat, lol. 

I ordered the Sumo Crunch, which was Crab Meat, Japanese Mayo, Yum-Yum Sauce, and two Shrimp Tempura, all wrapped in Nori, Rice, and a crunchy layer of spicy Tenkasu. 

The Sushirrito itself wasn't so big, it was probably half the size of my forearm. 

We ate and afterwards Amber suggested we try Plentea. 

Honest to whatever higher power there is, Plentea is one of the cutest Boba/Milk Tea places there are. The place itself was tiny but it was two stories. We managed to snag a table for five. 

Some of their desserts/lunch items. What's cool about Plentea is that they serve the Milk Tea to you not in a plastic bottle, but in a glass one that you can take home. Bring it back and you get 10% off your next purchase!

The second story. 

 As soon as we got there, the people started packing in! I guess we were lucky enough to get there when it wasn't so full. 

The Milk Tea bottles! It reminds me of the Magnolia Chocolaite bottles from way back when. 

After Plentea, we decided to head on forth to Fisherman's Wharf. Instead of walking all the way, (which is a trip I tell you)we decided to take the trolley. When in San Francisco! 

The line for the trolley. 

 

This woman was squashed by the trolley shortly after. Just kidding. 

 

Gap looked like some sort of city hall. 

Thanks for reading part one of Day Four, stay tuned for part two later!

.x 

SYD IN SAN FRANCISCO: DAY THREE, PART TWO

As promised, here's the second part to my third day. I've been having a blast making these posts and I do hope you feel the same way reading them. Muir Woods was beautiful and green, but there's something about the urban cityscape that screams being alive. I guess it's the hustle and bustle of things that I've noted. 

After we traveled down the mountains and out of the forest, Amber's dad decided to take us to the Palace of Fine Arts since it was around the area we were in. I've only ever been to the Palace once and I didn't even go in, we only took pictures outside of it. 

 

 The one on the right was my favorite. The white accents against the gray and taupe are beautiful. Adding in a touch of maroon for the gates made them pop. 

We were all in awe at how beautiful the homes were facing the Palace of Fine Arts. I would love to have a home with huge windows one day.

SUCH A CUTE DOG. HE/SHE IS SO FLUFFY. 

The Husky saying hi to their swan friends! 

A short history lesson summarized in five points. 

A. The Palace of Fine Arts is a monument constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition to display artwork.

B. It was reconstructed in 1965. 

C. The Palace was designed by Bernard Maybeck who took inspiration from Greek and Roman structures. 

D. It used to house the Exploratorium before they moved to the Embarcadero.

E. IT IS BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL AND MY FRIEND KIM HAD HER PROM PICTURES TAKEN HERE AND IT WAS MAGICAL. 

The one thing I can say about the Palace and being finally up close to it is how monumental and gargantuan this construct actually is. I fell in love with the small designs on the columns. Much respect to Bernard Maybeck for his wonderfully crafted skill.

The dome oh my god. I love everything about it. The angels on the top of the columns were giving off that creepy stare, but I still loved it. 

Did I lie down on the ground to take the picture before this? Nope. This guy did. Props to him and his pro photo skillz. 

Hey Nikki! Nikki recently posted her vlog of our trip. Watch (here) for a simple and direct overview of the week we spent in SF. Tiffanie also recorded her perspective of the trip, watch (here) for day one!

Immediately after The Palace of Fine Arts, we drove up to Lombard Street. The walk around Muir Woods kinda tired us out a bit so we just opted to drive down the iconic Street. What is Lombard Street you ask? Well, according to Wikipedia:

Lombard Street is an east–west street in San Francisco, California. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns. The street was named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia by San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell.

I couldn't take a proper picture of the street because we were in the car, so here's an aerial shot of it from Wiki. 

 Thanks, Wikipedia. 

However, I did catch this one, from the bottom up! 

 Still pretty awesome, I would say. 

From the top of Lombard, I took this one awesome view of the city, Coit Tower and all. 

After we drove down Lombard Street we drove to China Town for a bit to sight see. 

One of the trolleys! We rode this, but that's another post for later. 

San Francisco's China Town is one of those places where a huge diverse cast of characters roam about. I took this opportunity to go and try my hand at street photography. 

Another chic couple. San Francisco has some of the most fashionable people around. 

The smell of China Town was extremely nostalgic to me. I love the smell of incense and rather odd herbs and dried things only Chinese grandads and grandmums would know. 

After China Town we drove into Little Italy. It was my first time there and the huge difference a street can make is so shocking! One minute we're in the heart of China Town and the next, we're traversing down lanes with the smell of garlic wafting our noses and Italian opera playing. 

I love street art. 

The Stinking Rose! There's one in LA and my sister would probably love it here. With her love of garlic and food, she would have a blast here. We settled to eat at this small pizza place and it was delicious. There's something about small family owned Italian restaurants that make their own pizza special. 

Amber thought the hill would have a really pretty view at the end of it. 

This reminded me of the Full House house. 

I think the one thing that kept running on my mind was, "how the heck do these San Franciscans deal with all these hills?" Shortly after, I saw a woman carrying groceries like a champ, even jogging her way up to her apartment. 

At the end of the hill, we expected a view but nope, there was only another street. Until we turned around. 

I took my friend Eva's advice and tilt shifted one of the shots. It turned out absolutely wonderful. 

There was an artist's studio at one of the buildings we saw and I fell in love. I would love to have a studio with windows all around, especially in a cityscape. 

After our walk down the hill, Amber's dad took us to Washington Park and we strolled around. I twas nice seeing local artists sell their products while at the same time we saw Chinese grannies dancing. 

We entered into one of the churches and the structure was absolutely beautiful. I didn't take any pictures out of respect. The interior reminded me of churches back in the Philippines. 

So after Washington Park we went up to Coit Tower. The original plan was to go up the elevator to see the view of the entire city but once we got there, the wait was 45 minutes. We opted out! In the end we still got some pretty awesome views from the base of the tower. 

Still a pretty good view!

From how high up we were, it was cool seeing the rooftops of some highrises. I think the one in the center was a hotel? 

Thanks for reading this one huge chunk of my third day in San Francisco! Day Four, my favorite one, will be up soon. 

.x