Spring Break - San Francisco

Taylor outside of the Drake Hotel in San Francisco.

The Drake is located on Powell Street next to Union Square. This is where you will find most of the great shopping in San Francisco. It's also only a few blocks from China Town. The Drake has a nice atmosphere and the lobby is beautiful.











Taylor and I wandered over to China Town this afternoon. We found a great little organic tea house called Blest Tea. Taylor had a Chamomile Tea called "Bella" that was fragrant and sweet. She said the tea made her feel like spring on a cold day! lol.  I had a cup of "Mango a Go-Go" which was a very strong mango infused tea. On my second trip I had the Peach Oolong. This was a light and fragrant tea. They offer a tasting of several different teas if you are curious and have the time. It's a cute little shop and worth the trip. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.blesttea.com/index.html

Blest Tea on a chilly day

China Town here is a full-on kook show with blocks of shops selling really cheap chinese tourist stuff.  I am fascinated by the herbal remedy shops that sell shark fins and the penis' of at least a dozen animals.  Good stuff.

Taylor enjoying the internet in our room at the Drake.

We took a Cable Car down to the Wharf this morning. That was a thrill. Of course we had to see the seals at Pier 39 and check out the tourist shops. I would not recommend that part of the City unless you are down there to catch a ferry to Sausolito or Alcatraz. There is just no much there to see.

Lombard Street by the crooked street overlooking the Wharf and Alcatraz.

If you ever get to San Franisco put the Golden Gate Park on the top of the list. We loved the Tea Garden, the Museum of Art and of course the Museum of Science. We must have spent four hours in the Muesum of Science checking out sharks, plants, bones and of course the Planetarium. There was an area where the kids could touch live starfish and urchins. As a D.C. guy who has done the whole museum thing a million times, I can assure you it one of the better museum for kids you will see.

Taylor made a travel video with her flip at the museum:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypeeuRHVyiE

We had a terriffic dinner tonight at Empress of China. It's a chinese restaurant in China Town. It's a cool spot because it's on the sixth floor overlooking Mission Hill. The views are terriffic. The food was pretty good and the ingredients were fresh. Tomorrow we are off to Napa.