Destination: San Francisco

San Francisco, California, is a City that I never get tired of visiting. My sister lives nearby and I "must" visit at least once a year. Every time that I'm in San Jose, I have to go to San Francisco even if it is just for a few hours. The top tourist attractions can be done in one day. There are many things to see and do for at least one week, but if you only have a day or 2 it  will be plenty to at least see the City and leave wanting to go back for more. Having a car will make the day easier, but there is a great bus and trolley system to move around the City. 

The itinerary that I would recommend for someone who has never been to SF would be:

1. Start @ Pier 39 & Fisherman's Wharf, take a walk around the Pier, watch the sea lions, see Alcatraz island from there and eat some sourdough bread with clam chowder soup.

Pier 39

Famous Sour dough bread

Sea Lions in Pier 39, San Francisco

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

2. Walk towards Ghirardelli square and have a big ice cream sundae at the Ghirardelly shop. You will see the trolley line.

3. Walk towards the trolley station and ride the trolley towards Lombard street. On a weekend the line is at least one hour, but if it is your first time in SF this will be a great experience. Take some pictures of the crookest street in the world and get back on the trolley. The trolley will drop you off at the top of Lombard Street, but then you have to walk back to take the same trolley towards Union Square.



Lombard Street

Holding tight to the trolley

trying to take a pic from the trolley

4. Get off the trolley @ Union square. Walk around and go shopping or at least window shop. Then walk a few blocks towards China town. The little Italy or Italian neighborhood is also near union square, but it is in the opposite direction.



Union square, San Francisco

5. Go to Alamo square, this is a little off the way but the typical San Francisco's architecture can be appreciated from the houses around the park. The "painted ladies" are right in front of the park. The ladies are 6 Victorian houses that are very famous in San Francisco.


The Painted Ladies

The painted ladies, San Francisco

Alamo Square Park



6. Last but not least, go see the Golden Gate. I love going to the other side of San Francisco and then stay in Sausalito for a while. The pictures with the bridge covered by fog are not in the winter like most people think, that happens in the summer. San Francisco has cold summers so be ready and pack a jacket. The pictures below were taken at the Vista Point overlook. If you are driving from SF, at the end of the bridge make a right. If you don't have a car there are bicycles for rent but I am afraid of heights and walking a few meters on the bridge for a picture is different than  crossing it. If you want to take pictures from above the bridge, I highly recommend driving towards Hendrik Point. To get there, drive past the Vista Point and exit to your right. Then make a U-turn towards San Francisco again.  Make a right at Conzelman Rd. Then just keep driving until you see the crowds and get ready for the heavy winds and the beautiful sight of the Golden Gate bridge below you. The pictures where the fog is covering the Golden Gate are in the summer. San Francisco is the City with the coldest summer so don't forget a jacket.

This picture with the Golden Gate is a MUST while in San Francisco

Walking across the bridge

If you stay longer, do not miss the museum of fine arts, SFMOMA, have a meal or a coffee in the Italian neighborhood, and a visit to Alcatraz Island where you can tour the infamous prison. The tickets are always sold out so if you plan to go buy them in advance. The ferry to Alcatraz departs from Pier 39.

Italian Cafe

I love the mix of architecture & art that are common in San Fran

If you have an extra day head off to Napa Valley for some wine tastings. Don't miss the Beringer Vineyard. This place looks like a castle from Europe and they have tours to their cellar as well as tastings. We didn't have time to go to the Robert Mondavi winery but it looks beautiful too. When you arrive to Napa, stop by the visitor's information center to get a map of the wineries in the area. I plan to go back to Napa and take the train or even do the limo tour and spend the night there. Let someone else drive so that everyone can enjoy the tastings. This is the wine train website http://winetrain.com/. This is the official website for the Napa Valley official visitor's guide: http://www.legendarynapavalley.com/.

Wine Ridge Winery, Napa Valley, California

Wine Ridge Winery, Napa

Mumm Napa Valley

This is the view from the table where we had our lunch



Other recommended day trips while on the Bay Area are Sonoma Valley for more wine, Monterrey, Carmel, and the 17 mile beach drive. I was there 12 years ago and at the time I didn't have a digital camera. I am sure I will be back and I promise to take lots of pictures.

I have been to San Francisco many times and I still have a lot left to see. I'm fascinated with this City and specially that they always have been controversial. The only bar that I've been to is the Redwood Room in the Clift Hotel. They have very strict door policy but it is worth visiting.  

Bono & the "Latin American Bono"

Today, I got tickets for the JUANES concert in Orlando next October. I am beyond exited to see Juanes in concert again. Juanes is a Colombian singer that has been called the "Latin American Bono" for his involvement with political causes and rock music. I love his music and he is the best good-looking Colombian!!!! Trust me, Colombian men do not look like Juanes! He is really our best export "product" after coffee and Shakira of course.

Juanes

Buying those tickets made me think of Bono and the upcoming U2 concert in Miami that I am NOT going. I'm still not over this subject even though it has been over 3 months that I got a refund from ticket master. For the 2009 U2's 360° tour, the only concert in Florida was in Tampa. I was lucky to live here and know the stadium and know that even if we had seat in the 3rd level we were going to have a good view. Two friends traveled from Colombia just for the concert. It was a great weekend. I love to plan trips with concert excuses. The concert was SPECTACULAR! The stage, sold out the stadium, and the lights were unbelievable.  I had been to a U2 concert in 2005 and it was amazing but 360° concert was just too good, even for U2! The seats for the 2005 concert were incredible! We were only 10 rows away from Bono. We could even see what kind of shoes Bono was wearing. I will be eternally grateful to my friend to take me to this concert with her. She had this tickets given to her as a gift. Here are some pics from the 2005 show:

View from our seats! Row 10 from the stage!!!!

"where the streets have no name"

Sold out show

with our U2 shirts on! ;) 

When U2 announced a second tour in 2010, I joined the official fan club to have access to the pre-sale code for the tickets. This time the concert  was going to be in Miami. Great excuse for a weekend away in Miami with one of my closest friends... After paying $50 membership to www.u2.com and getting good seats for the Miami concert, Bono had surgery and the tour was postponed. I waited to see the new dates. The new date was a year later AND it was on a Wednesday night. With my heart broken, I asked for a refund to tickemaster. I have to say that I've always complained about ticket master and the monopoly that they have over event tickets but now I have real reason not to like them and no choice to get tickets somewhere else. It took me about 5 months to receive a refund from them when I was supposed to get it in 7 to 10 days. The concert will be June 29th and I need to have a plan for that night because I will be telling this story to someone who has probably heard it 10 times. My heart is still broken but I do not have a lot of vacation days to spend 3 of those precious days in Miami which I've been to many times. I am a true U2 fan but sadly I'm not going to see them. I have lots of videos to share from that night but I'm sure nobody cares to hear me and my friends "sing". I found this HD video, from the official 360° tour DVD, of "Walk On". The video is long but it has a moving peace message. Enjoy!



These are some of the pictures from the 2009 concert

ready to go in

first look of the "space ship"

View from our seats. Not as good as the 2005 seats but those were marketing tickets :(

360° stage 

The stage transforming for "The City of blinding Lights"

At the end of "walk on"

Sunset Sunday @ Sunset Beach

These pictures were taken outside of Caddy's, a beach bar/restaurant located in Sunset Beach, Florida. I was driving towards St Pete beach but I took a wrong turn and found this nice place. It was in December and they had a snow man in the sand. I loved it since this was the first "snow" man that I've ever seen! During the summer Caddy's has live music and LOTS of people.

Winter in Florida

P.S: This was 2 years ago, I still haven't seen a real snow man! 

Visiting the Parque Nacional del Cafe (Quindio, Colombia)

I added a song to this post because I can't think of Colombia without the appropriate music. This is Jorge Celedon a famous vallenato singer. The song is about the many great things about Colombia and it is called "la invitacion" which means the invitation.

Parque Nacional del Cafe

(Km 6 vía Montenegro Pueblo Tapao, Quindío, Colombia)

During my last trip to Cali in December I knew that one of the things to show my boyfriend about my Country was the National Coffee Park. He is not from Colombia, and since he loves Colombian coffee this trip was a must in our itinerary. 

The trip in December had been planned for months and even years with my family. We had all been back to Cali during the holidays after we moved to the US, but we never planned the trip together as a family. One of the reasons that we wanted to go back was "La feria de Cali". La feria is the end of the year celebration that happens every year from December 25th to December 30th. There are concerts, parades, the best full fighters from the world come to Cali, the country clubs have parties with the most popular singers and bands, and the whole City participates in a massive party.

We arrived December 25th and stayed until January 6th. I had planned the whole Feria week but for January we could just relax and recharge from the parties. On January 2nd, together with my family we rented a van to go to the Coffee park. Two and a half hours away from Cali is the Colombian Coffee Region. The Coffee Park is right at the heart of this region. This park is about the history and production of Colombian coffee and the culture, la cultura del cafe. I'm a coffee lover and I can drink it at any time of the day without problems with caffeine. I highly recommend this park for any Colombian and not Colombian. 

The land where the park is located is beautiful as well as the scenery on the way there. I visited the park first when it first opened over 15 years ago. It has changed a lot since then. My favorite part is the "Sendero del cafe" this is were they teach you how the coffee bean is grown and you get to walk though thousands of coffee trees. I also liked the replica of the coffee region town. This is a beautiful part of the park, there is replica of the Plaza de Bolívar from the City of Armenia in 1926, a colonial church, and many houses modeled after the typical architecture of the small towns in the area. There is one show that nobody should miss. This is called el show del cafe and it is a folk dance show about Colombia and in a way they also explain how coffee is part of our culture. The end of the show is very moving for those that live out of the Country. The song ends with a line that says something like: this is my Country and why will I live somewhere else? and of course there were tears in our side. Pictures and video were not allowed during this show. Make sure that your ticket includes the show because this is extra. 

The food court is in the middle of  a replica of a coffee town

the plaza with the food court in the back

small coffee trees

raw coffee beans. This is how they are sold and exported

The view

Taking a break at Juan Valdez

Enjoying a cup of the best coffee in the world

The coffee museum was also a highlight of the day. The only thing I don't like about the park is the kids zone where they try to imitate an amusement park. I understand kids getting bored, but I think the beauty of this park is to learn about coffee not to go to the bumper cars. I do not see a reason for having mechanical rides for the kids when they can ride horses, train rides, walk the trail with all the myths from the country side, and many other things. I am not complaining, I just had to do a complete review including the things I don't like. I just stayed away from that side of the park and enjoyed my day!

Typical coffee region house in miniature 

The jeep Willy's was an important part in the development of the Colombian coffee boom

This is how the coffee is stored and exported

The cost of this trip is approximately $100 dollars per person (including transportation, park entrance, and food). For more information visit: http://www.parquenacionaldelcafe.com/newpage/