Even the Barista can't get off his phone and we represent the Fetner Frontier

We thought this barista was concentrating intensely on making this seemingly complicated coffee.  This amazing coffee making process involves; some beautiful italian glass contraption, heat source that can boil water, gravity, and just enough attention from the barista that he can text the cutey who came in earlier that loved the heart he made out of cappuccino foam.

We got the chance to touch the Pacific from the US side.  Looking out across the water, it was fun to think that tomorrow we will be on the other side of that big lake, looking east at California.  We took the opportunity we had on San Francisco beach and did a little self advertising.

San Francisco Panoramia

The Palace of Fine Arts

Although Ayn Rand may be disappointed at using ancient architecture in relatively modern structures, this was an impressive site.  The surrounding gardens were very beautiful and made the modern sculpture in a busy city seem like ancient ruins.  The parking was pretty good too.

The Painted Ladies and San Fran Skyline

The full Full House.  The San Fran we had in our head.  Great to see, but we left pretty fast with the idea of Mission Burritos in our head.

Graffiti in the Mission

A beautiful graffiti'd street connected Valencia and Mission.  More art than graffiti, some people still took the time to "tag" it, just to keep it real.  Very cool stuff.

Delores Park in the Mission

Sondra, Alex, and I spent a great afternoon in this park.  With Mission High School (one of the oldest buildings in San Fran) and the skyline in the background, it was the perfect spot to drink a beer and hang out.  Also, we enjoyed the dancing unicorns and street jello shots.

Outside the bathroom of Mission Chinese

In New York and Chicago, you often have to stumble down the stairs to relieve yourself.  In San Fran, you just walk strait through the kitchen, past the cooks, waiters, and sous chefs, and find a unisex bathroom.  After we got through the awkwardness of thinking we were in an off-limits area, we realized this really gives you an opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes view of restaurant.

Muir woods

Yesterday, Alex R., Sondra and I explored Muir woods.  Before starting the trail Alex told us that some of his friends informed him there was a German house in the woods that had a beer garden once in awhile.  We wanted to find this house.

The woods were foggy that day, my friend.  Our initial foray into the forest was unsuccessful and we turned and looked for a new rout.  Sondra found us a path and about a mile into the forest we could see the peak of a German style house.

The house rose out of the forest like a Beer Garden Neuschwanstein.  A line had already formed  in front of the gate.  The line contained about 50 hip San Franciscans and our ragtag group somehow jimmied our way to the front.  About 45 minutes later, a nice old woman of probable German descent opened the door and let in 200 beer crazed hikers to buy their German beer at $20 a pitcher and play games from scrabble to battleship.

Good times were had.  The hike out was much stranger than the walk in, due to the rapturous drunk voices emanating from the forest like obnoxious ghosts.

Ready, set, go (away for 7 weeks)!

The adventure finally begins! After saying goodbye to the pups (they were in good hands with my parents last night and will be watched by Alex F. for the whole trip) and getting hugs and kisses from my parents, we took off from JAX airport. With a short delay in ATL caused by a rainstorm, we landed in SFO at 7 PM pst. 

Alex R. met us at the hotel, with 3 big bottles of beer and 2 brown paper bags. He almost talked us into walking the street with open containers but the concierge told us it wasn't actually legal! We ate a delicious dinner at Baretta's in the mission district (Alex's hood) and checked out his apartment and roof top views. 

Today, I took the plunge for comfort...

After hearing about "arch support" from my mom, Danny and Michael, I gave in and bought a pair of real sandals. As many of you could expect, it was a tough decision

 to buy something not purely for fashion. With Michael's help I decided to purchase the Abeo Bahia in walnut. They are from the store brand of The Walking Company. I chose them because they have soft straps, cushiony soles and adjustable Velcro straps to adjust to my awkwardly narrow feet and long toe fingers (I definitely did not get the model feet gene that my mom was blessed with!)

 

I'll let you know how they stand the test of 7 weeks of walking, hiking, and strolling through 6 countries!

Ciao!

Sondra

Planning to Make Plans

Although Michael and I share many traits, he is on a whole other level with his planning skills. As I write this post, Michael is working his way through our 7 week trip and planning daily itineraries. Whether its making sure we check out a highly recommended sushi joint in Tokyo or mapping out the train route to Mt. Fuji, Michael has it all figured out. When I travel sans Michael, I tend to get overwhelmed with the planning process and end up having to "wing it" because of a lack of planning. Although this may make for more of an adventure into the unknown, I would waste so much time thinking about what to do next.

Within the next few weeks, Michael will have a daily plan for the first 5 legs of our trip done (SF, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand and Istanbul)! My sole responsibility is Italy, which should not be so hard...
Here is the skeleton I am working on so if you have any tips or recs let me know!

Venice - Aug. 9-11

Varenna on Lake Como – Aug.11-14

Monterosso - Cinque terra – Aug.14-17
Hiking,

Siena- Aug.17-18
-Day trip to Florence, Late dinner in Sienna on 8/17

Sorrento – Aug. 18-20
-Amalfi coast, Mt. Visuvius, Pompeii

Rome – August 20-22
-aqueduct bike tour, coliseum, Sistine chapel, etc.

Another Big Step

Our Japan rail passes have arrived! At a mere 90,200 yen we will have unlimited rail travel for two weeks anywhere in Japan. This includes the famous Shinkansen bullet trains. We can't wait shoot all around Japan.