New Year Nostalgia, San Francisco

It's new year and I'm having a major case of nostalgia. San Francisco *sniff* Looking through my album I realize there are tons of pictures taken during 2013-14 I haven't posted, probably because I had been in denial and the pictures will only remind me that I'm not there anymore. So here goes, me facing my past ^.^

In the fall of 2013, right around the second week of September, Eno's colleague from Tokyo, A-san came to visit us in San Francisco. If you don't remember him, he's the bubbly foodie with whom we've shared many  adventures:

- He introduced us to his favorite hangout, Hibiya Bar in Ikebukuro. 

- He took us to Nagoya, where I learned I cannot live without fried chicken wings, preferably those from Yamachan. 

- He visited us in Taipei as well, and together with my sister we went to the onsen in Beitou, the National Palace Museum, survived a dinner from hell at Wang Steak (hell of a name too ^.^!), had hotpot though not the super spicy variety which would have been even better :P

Anyway, when A-san visited the fall of 2013 we took him to Ruth Chris, R&G Lounge, and pretty much drove him around the city all weekend! These are some of the photos I didn't get around to post.

We took A-san to see Land's End and the Sutro Baths, but unfortunately it was foggy and freezing that morning :( Here's Sutro Baths looking cold and lonely. We asked A-san if he wanted to walk down for a closer look, and he took one peek down at the baths and said, Nope. LOL!!! Anyway, my sister visited us the second time in May 2014 and we took her here again, and the weather was much more favorable then. I'll post those pictures soon!

The next day the weather was much better. Here's the usual spot, the Vista Point, with Karl the Fog swallowing up the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Rim Fire was raging at the time, and we actually saw the smokes from the distance! Nuts!

Anyway we drove up what I believe was Conzelman Road (not sure, it's been a while...) for a higher overview of the Golden Gate Bridge versus Karl the Fog showdown ^.^ And it was San Francisco, meaning spring weather all year round. Actually, it was warmer in the fall than the summer, serious! 

Then we took A-san up to the neighborhood around Sutro Tower - some fancy homes around there, I tell you! And Twin Peaks. Here's me with Market Street in the background.

To cap off the weekend we actually lined up for a whole hour just to inch our way down Lombard Street. It's actually nothing spectacular, and Lombard Street is much much much better when viewed from afar (from Coit Tower, for example) than when you're actually there -.-" So if you're in San Francisco and tempted to drive down this street - DON'T, walk down instead! Here's why: this picture is taken from inside the car at the very top of the street as we started to drive down. Can't really see much of anything, can you? Whereas if you were to talk, there's a whole sidewalk that's just as windy, with a much better view to boot!