♫ We Left A Friend, in San Francisco ♫

Well, gentle readers, another interesting day "on the road," though there wasn't THAT much road today.

Since the biggest thing, the most fun, was breakfast (and there's some food porn), I will start there.

Over Michael's objections (if I had a dollar for every time he said "why are we waiting over an hour to eat here?...it's ONLY breakfast!" I would be very rich...though not as rich as if I had a dollar for every time he said "I've been down this road before" [duh, you've been here 4 times, and gone to essentially the same neighborhoods multiple times.  Just f***ing DUH!])

Yes, we went to Mama's, which is a breakfast place near Fisherman's Wharf (on our first trip to SF in 2011, we walked up from our hotel near the sea lions).  Yes, Mama's takes no reservations; it's not big; there's usually a line on the weekend, of some extent.

It is on some Top Ten lists of things to do in San Fran.

We got there at 825.  We got in at 950.

We stood outside in line.

Finally, Michael needed a personality, so I looked up "nearest coffee" (if you type it into my Google app, it comes up with just "nearest" -- LOL) and there was a place called "The Hole in the Wall."

It was a block and a half away.

It was...wait for it...a hole in the wall!  The barista said it was 27 square feet,  with an opening onto the sidewalk, waist high for him.  He did pourover coffee (if you don't know, this isn't the place for an explanation).  We got 4.

He asked what we were up to and we told him and he said "oh, happens all the time."  The patron sitting there said, "You should take it back and walk it under everyone's noses...no! you should buy six extras and make the money to get yours free!"  We didn't.

BTW, did you know that the darker roast has the least caffeine?  Who knew?  According to our barista, for lack of a better explanation, roasting burns off some caffeine.

We stood in line, drank our North Beach roast, which was quite good.

And chatted about where we got coffee in London.

About half an hour from the door, remember, Michael has had a good cup of joe and now has personality, I realized everyone was chatting away but there was a solo woman right in front of us in line.  She kinda looked over her shoulder at one point and I said "hi, are you here alone?"

She answered in an English accent, yes...we asked where she was from and she said London, and that she'd been listening to our conversation about Cafe Nero versus Costa and knew of some good independent coffee places...but not right where we usually stayed.

We chatted for the half hour to the door.  She had travelled a lot and was in San Fran on business; she is in HR and works in talent management.  She used to work in talent management.   Her husband, back in England, is a tennis coach.

By the time we got to the door, Michael invited her to join us for breakfast.  She was nice about not being too enthusiastic, but we said we were sick of each other already, so needed a new foil, so she joined us.

Oh, did I mention that Mama doesn't take credit cards (the barista told us about the skim at such restaurants :))?

We were in the door -- at Mama's you order at the counter, then sit, before we did introductions.  Our new friend's name was Jill.

And Michael, flush with cash, bought her breakfast.  I suspect it was to recompense for all the nasty things we might have said about London BEFORE we knew a Londoner was next to us, listening.  I suspect...

Here's the best picture of the food -- they are making French toast, which both Karen and Michael had.

But it must not have been any good:  Michael took two minutes to eat his. :)

We had a nice time with Jill, we all had alcohol (Karen had the unusual thing of a grapefruit mimosa) and then we were back on the sidewalk.  There's a picture of us with Jill in the link (here). 

We then walked around the square (Washington) which Mama's sits on, where they had an art show.  Karen liked a picture depicting a Buddhist version of "Go with the Flow." It was $3,200.  We didn't buy it.

Goorin Brothers has a shop on Washington Square (hat maker; started in Pittsburgh, we were told, actually!).  In the end (to shorten the story), I was the only one who bought one.  I tried on 5 different sephoras, from paper to cotton, a red bucket hat (couldn't quite pull the trigger), at least 4 flat hats...and ended up with a chocolate flat hat (notably, with a soft brim), over the objections of the sales person, Sheila, who at one point claimed "I could get you to buy that hat if I wanted" (!!!) and my 3 companions.

Then to the Legion of Honor, which is the big art gallery.  I have no good pictures of the surroundings -- it sits on a hill in Golden Gate park, with a golf course around it, and on a clear day (which wasn't today), you can see the Golden Gate Bridge through the trees.  And it is a great piece of architecture, with a miniature of Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre in its courtyard.

The album has one photo from inside of "Peasant Girl and Sheep."  Remember the Scotland trip.  Need I say more?

Then downtown for shopping.  After that, we didn't know what to do, and Karen suggested lunch.  It was 4 PM.  We fought a crowd, which moved faster than at Mama's, for this:

Yes, ice cream for lunch!!!  Oh, did I mention this was at Ghirardelli's (chocolate maker), whose home is there in San Fran, on the water.  No, the chocolate fudge sauce was nooooo good.  No,...no I didn't actually try to get the woman behind me to share HER chocolate brownie sundae.  No...that didn't happen.

To the hotel, cleaned up, Michael watched 5/6ths of the hockey game (the Penguins were still ahead when we got in the car), and drove into the business district for dinner.  I need to point out, because he did frequently, that Michael had had two glasses of pinot while watching.  He had his "personality" ON (if you can imagine...thankfully, he was distracted by the game :)).

At Perbacco.

Originally an Amy recommendation (thanks), this was Karen and my third time.

Because I find it disturbing, here's a picture of Barb's entree -- the quail.

We had Schamburg Brut Rose with dinner, which was half the price it was at the Waterbar!, and which we decided was a bit better than the Domaine Carneros version.  This info will come in handy on Monday, when we plan on drinking our way to Yosemite via Napa.

From the pics: I had the canneloni (no meat), Karen had the pappadelle (that's lamb ragout), and Michael had the scallops.  But Michael seemed to most enjoy side dish of asparagus.  He must have eaten six stalks.  

And then home.  Tomorrow we are going to Monterey, so see the golf course, the beach, the views, etc.  In a funny back reference, Ian took us to the airport Thursday and we told him we'd bring him a souvenir from Pebble Beach, and he said "I only want one if you play there."  (grumbly tone)  I said "not even a ball marker."  His witty mother says "yes, he might give it to you as a tip for picking us up."  She laughed and laughed.  So effin' funny.

The other big funny of day was our waiter at Perbacco.  After asking for coffee, I said "can you do a decaf espresso" and Adam assured me they could.  He was about to walk away and I said "hold it...let's go crazy, can you make it a double?" He said "Yes...you know how to live it up, sir."

LOL.

A good day.  A new friend, a new hat, sheep in paintings, ice cream for lunch...hard to top.  Again.