After finishing up at Haight Ashbury, I continued to walk east toward Soma. However after about a mile or so, a vision popped into my head, one that told me that I would be be at Lombard street by the end of the night. I reoriented myself northward and soldiered on up and down the hilly landscape. I soon found myself in Alamo Square park, where from the top of a hill, I could look to the east and see the city scape of San Francisco proper.
Continuing north I walked up Fillmore street through Lower Pacific Heights, a laid back area full of coffee shops and small boutique stores. I was tempted to stop for a beer here but I felt I had to continue making progress as the clouds were rolling in and it was now getting dark. As I made it to the top of Pacific Heights, I looked out northward and was able to see the edge of the land and the Golden Gate bridge ahead. Now with the north coast in sight I had an extra burst of motivation, as I knew there would be a drink near that ocean.
On the north side of Fillmore street, I guess it was steep enough that architects gave up on the idea of sidewalks and just put stairs on the side of the street. After navigating a couple blocks of this I finally came to flatter ground, slowly I began to pass bars and restaurants as I came into Cow Hollow. I saw a wine bar called Cellar Door on the west side of the street and popped in for a drink. This was a quiet place to relax and the Ned chardonnay I ordered helped me unwind a little bit. After asking, bartender explained that indeed I was close to the Lombard street attraction, which was a relief after the 7 miles of walking I'd just done. As I sipped the wine, the clouds which had come in earlier began to unleash rain.
As I exited the wine bar, I realized I was a bit famished again. I walked up and down the block to get a feel for what was around, further north wasn't so interesting so I went back toward the Union Street intersection and found an active place serving appetizers called Brixton. I got myself the spring rolls and another glass of wine, there wasn't much special about the food, in fact the bartender joked that since the appetizer was small, hopefully the heavy grease would make me feel full. Either way it was nice to get food in the stomach and a buzz off the wine, after all I was about to visit one of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco, in the rain and the dark of night.
From the Brixton I went outside in the rain and hailed a cab. When I told the driver I wanted to go to the tourist attraction on Lombard street, he looked at me with amusement and asked why I would want to see this at 9pm in the rain. Now I can't say Lombard street was an amazing site, and I couldn't really even get great pictures of it, but at least I walked from Golden Gate Park to Lombard street in a day.
Continuing north I walked up Fillmore street through Lower Pacific Heights, a laid back area full of coffee shops and small boutique stores. I was tempted to stop for a beer here but I felt I had to continue making progress as the clouds were rolling in and it was now getting dark. As I made it to the top of Pacific Heights, I looked out northward and was able to see the edge of the land and the Golden Gate bridge ahead. Now with the north coast in sight I had an extra burst of motivation, as I knew there would be a drink near that ocean.
On the north side of Fillmore street, I guess it was steep enough that architects gave up on the idea of sidewalks and just put stairs on the side of the street. After navigating a couple blocks of this I finally came to flatter ground, slowly I began to pass bars and restaurants as I came into Cow Hollow. I saw a wine bar called Cellar Door on the west side of the street and popped in for a drink. This was a quiet place to relax and the Ned chardonnay I ordered helped me unwind a little bit. After asking, bartender explained that indeed I was close to the Lombard street attraction, which was a relief after the 7 miles of walking I'd just done. As I sipped the wine, the clouds which had come in earlier began to unleash rain.
As I exited the wine bar, I realized I was a bit famished again. I walked up and down the block to get a feel for what was around, further north wasn't so interesting so I went back toward the Union Street intersection and found an active place serving appetizers called Brixton. I got myself the spring rolls and another glass of wine, there wasn't much special about the food, in fact the bartender joked that since the appetizer was small, hopefully the heavy grease would make me feel full. Either way it was nice to get food in the stomach and a buzz off the wine, after all I was about to visit one of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco, in the rain and the dark of night.
