Long Weekend in San Francisco-The Arrival

Thursday September 30, 2010

Brian and I had been talking about going to San Francisco since early 2009 when we were dating long distance.  Brian had never been and the last time I was there, I was 10 years old.

We flew out of LAX and arrived in San Francisco Thursday evening.  The airport is really in South San Fran, so it's not super close to downtown.  We had decided to not rent a car and to rely on the public transportation there.  From the airport we headed to the BART station, which is their underground subway system.  The BART was going to take us just a couple of blocks from our hotel.

Here's Brian at the BART station.  He's trying to find "Platform 9 3/4" from Harry Potter!  Yes, I have him reading Harry Potter now, but that's for another post.  :o)

We then got off and walked the few blocks to our hotel.  I'm so glad that I have an iPhone, because it really helps with navigating!

Brian booked a room at the Hotel Astoria!  Never heard of it?  I hadn't either and I was a little wary about staying there.  The reviews weren't great and I knew it would be nothing like a Marriott.  Does that make me sound spoiled?  I hope not, cause I don't think I am!  Anyway, the room was just $65/night, which was about $50 cheaper than everyone else.  I was expecting a total dump!

Here is a picture of the outside (yes, it was taken on another day, since we arrived at night).

This is me in our room.  Notice the 2 twin beds?  Yeah, that was the first thing I saw too.  I kept joking to Brian that he booked this room on purpose to get some decent sleep (I've been told that I kick while I'm sleeping, who knew?).

The hotel really wasn't that bad.  The walls were thin, but we didn't get loud neighbors, which I was grateful for.  We were really close to Chinatown, so we could hear noise from there, but it was nothing that kept us up at night.

After we dropped off our things, we were hungry.  We decided to grab a bite to eat.  Unfortunately it was around 10pm, so there weren't a ton of options.  We did happen to find a cool Irish place.

These pictures were obviously again taken during the day.  It was too dark out to get decent shots Thursday night.

It reminded me of the pubs in Europe.  It was very cozy!  I wanted something warm to eat since the weather was much cooler in SF than it had been in LA.  We ordered the Shepherd's Pie to share.  It was warm and delicious! 

Brian wanted lots of shots of the restaurant.  Here's one of me by the bar on our way out!

 After we ate we decided it was off to bed.  We wanted to make sure we were well rested for the rest of the trip.  There's lots to do and see.

Come back soon for more of our San Francisco trip!