Jul/091
Things to do and see in San Francisco
Out of the places I’ve been to in the US, San Francisco is definetly one of my favorites. I’ve been there 3 times, and I always seem to find something new to see or do every time I’m there. My recommendations for San Franciso are the following:
- Take a picture in front of the Golden Gate bridge (from the opposite side, with SF in the background)
- Ride the Cable Cars
- Visit Chinatown and it’s novelty and heritage art stores
- Shop for food or eat in the Ferry terminal building
- Go to Alcatraz, but make sure you book your ticket well in advance. During tourist season there’s a minimum 3 day wait, and that’s the reason I’ve never been there.
- Drive down Lombard Street
- Visit a thrift store in the Castro neighbourhood (the gayer part of SF)
- Go shopping in North Beach
- Visit pier 39, but don’t feed the seals (it’s not allowed)
- Eat at Fishermans Wharf
- Go shopping at or around Union Square
- Eat at 21st amendment and try the home brewed beer
- Take ferry ride to Sausalito (a rich suburb, and very idyllic)
If you rent a car there are several other options aswell, like:
- Visit the Redwoods at Muir Woods (North of SF)
- Visit the UC Berkeley campus
- Shop at Great Mall in Union City (The biggest mall on the west coast)
Please write me a comment if you’d like more information on any of the tings listed here, I’d be happy to help. And now for some pictures!
Ferry terminal
Jul/090
Restaurant Cyrus
First off I have to say it’s really a shame I don’t have any pictures from this restaurant, because everything was pleasing to the eye; the food, the decor, even the presentation of the wine was something else! 2 thumbs up to the restaurant, and one in my eye for not bringing a camera!
I visited this restaurant with two collegues back in July 2006 when I was in San Francisco taking a training in relation to work. I spent 6 weeks there, and during one of the weekends, me and the two other Europeans (British and Swedish) who we’re there decided to rent a car and go to Healdsburg in Sonoma Valley to visit a restaurant, Cyrus, which had been highly recommended by a sommelier we met during another restaurant visit.
Upon arrival we we’re escorted into the bar adjecent the dining room, and offered a liquid apptizer. After a while we taken to our table, discretely located in one of the restaurants quiet corners, without feeling cramped.
I have to say that the thing about this restaurant was the way the food was presented. Unlike traditional American cooking, nothing was in abundance. Needless to say, we didn’t leave feeling wanting anything and least of all to fill a void in our stomach, but the point I’m trying to make is that in some magical way they managed to make every dish a selection of smaller dishes, greatly varied in taste, yet coming together like a symphony of tastes; each dish presenting a different melody and each ingredient a different instrument.
The restaurant focused heavily on local wines. Sonoma, beeing the largest wine producing county in the US, has a great selection of wines. Some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted came from the US west coast, and some of the best wines I tasted from the US west coast I tasted during this visit. Selecting wines to match a dish composed of 3-4 smalles dishes, and an endless array of tastes was a challenge, but it was a challenge meet and defeated by Cyrus’s skillful sommelier.
In retrospect I have nothing bad to say about this restaurant. If you’re ever in Californina, this restaurant is well worth a visit. I’m told that it’s also a good alternative to the more expensive and exlusive French Laundry in Napa Valley, and it proves once and for all that Americans can cook to!
Visit the restaurant website here
To make up for not having any pictures from the restaurant, here are a few scenic shots from Sonoma in general.
Jul/090
Berlin for New Years 09
So this is an old happening, but I didn’t have a blog at the time, and I’d still like to share the experience simply because it was a good one!
My friend Torstein’s father owns an apartement in Berlin, and Torstein had courtly invited my girlfriend and I to stay there with him and his wife Hilde for new years. Personally I had never been to Berlin, hell I had barely been to Germany, so I was not about the let the chance pass! To add to the story, this is the same Torstein that has me hooked on foie gras and perversely delicious variations of shellfish. Naturally he planned a few restaurant visits along the way, from a fancy twist on Austrian cuisine, to the big blowout at Facil, a Michelin star restaurant well known for their awesome decor and equally awesome food!
During our stay we went shopping at B5 outlet mall, we visited all the sights like the Jewish Holocaust Memorial and right next to it the Myth Germania exhibit, showcasing Hitler’s plans for the rebuilt Berlin after the war. Hitlers bunker is situated right next to the jewish memorial, but it’s only marked with a small plaque to avoid neo-nazi pilgrimmers flocking to the site. Getting around was easy as Torstein and Hilde had been smart enough to rent a car for the duration. We used it quite alot, and I suggest anyone who goes to Berlin to do the same, atleast for a day or two.
We ofcourse visited some of the typical tourist places like Brandeburger Tor, the Berlin wall and Potzdamer Platz. We also went by the new Hauptbahnhof, the main train station, with trains in 4 stories, going everywhere in Europe.
That the Berlin people are free-spirited became evident during a visit to the the Badeschiff. The badeschiff are several barges turned into a bar and a swimming pool. During the winter they’re covered and heated, but even then they have an outside area. As we changed I passed a woman walking out of what I thought was the mens dressing room, turns out it was uni-sex. Not only that, but when came down to the pool, we saw that we we’re about the most dressed people there. Most of the guests we’re nude, and luckily not 50+, but rather our age, in their twenties. We didn’t quite find our inner nudist while there, but we didn’t mind that the rest of the people did. Alas no, I don’t have any pictures from here…
New years celebration in Berlin is a perverse thing! It was fckng cold (-20c by night). and we took to the streets to join the party. Short story even shorter, the Germans are quite friendly, and even more so when they have something to celebrate. On the tram we met two girls, Julia and Alexandra, who tipped us on where to go to really see the party up close. We ended up on a bridge, can’t remember which one, but spirits we’re high and fireworks flew low and it was just like blitzkrieg, except everybody was happy and incredibly enough, noone got hurt!
All in all we’ve got great memories and good pictures, which you can see the rest of right here!
Berlin for new years with Torstein and Hilde
15 Photos
Jul/090
Dublin in a weekend
So I guess I could’ve called this post “a weekend in Dublin”, but I thought it made more sense this way as we actually fitted quite a few things in. We got to see the sights, eat well, go out and even do a little shopping. I’d call it a successful weekend.
We didn’t just go on a wim though. A college flatmate of Hedda, my girlfriend, was getting married, and I was the “plus 1″. For some reason they scheduled the wedding for a Sunday, but this gave us ample time to explore Dublin first.
Some things to do in Dublin (and if we got to do them):
- Guiness brewery: The Guiness brewery makes that darkest of beers Guiness. They also helped initiate the Guiness Book of World Records in 1951, originally to help settle bar disputs. Also from their brewery bar at the top floor you have an awesome 360 degree view of the extended Dublin area. We went there.
- Jamesons Whisky distillery: Jameson is one of the most famous irish whiskys and a natural ingredient in irish coffee. We didn’t get to go there.
- Trinity college: Founded in 1592 it’s one of the oldest remaining learning institutions in the world, and has a beautiful campus. We went there.
- Temple bar district: Ok, so I thought Temple bar was a actually a bar, but it turns out it’s actually a district of pubs and bars. Very high spirited nightlife, and when we went there we encountered atleast 10 hen-parties, some of which we’re very scantilly clad. Leave it to the irish to go all out, and leave it to the norwegians to like it!
- Phoenix park: This is the biggest enclosed park in Dublin, and it houses a number of famous landmarks, monuments and an entire zoo. We went there.
We also ate at a pretty good restaurant called Imperial Chinese restaurant. We started off with sharing some aromatic duck, then I had the Calamare in Satay sauce and Hedda had the Chicken in Satay sauce. The food was good, but it didn’t match the price at roughly €72. I feel this place rides along on it’s prime location between the Temple Bar district and the busiest shopping streets in Dublin.
While on the subject of shopping, Dublin is actually pretty reasonably priced. Ofcourse if buy a Levis 501 you’re going to pay about the same for it here as you would in London for instance, but I did found some cool t-shirts for less than €10, which would typically have cost €20-€30 in Norway.
All in all Dublin is a laid back city. The people are friendly, and unless you come between an irish and his pint, you’ll probably enjoy yourself tremendously.