guest blog #9 - san fran love
A mere 11 days ago, my girlfriends from Texas and I were all arriving in San Francisco getting ready for what was quite possibly one of the best girls weekends and bachelorette parties ever! The bachelorette party was in honor of our good friend Laurie who is getting married in Dallas at the end of April. m.press cards (aka Cari) created the most wonderful black and pink invitations for the weekend which helped set the theme for the shower (as well as the weekend!) See Cari’s post on the invites here . If you have not been to San Francisco, then you are missing out. Our group of ten stayed at the W San Francisco, which was beyond fabulous! The staff at the hotel was top-notch and incredibly accommodating. We were fortunate enough to book the Fantastic Suite at the W, where we held Laurie’s lingerie shower. The room could not have been more perfect – the décor throughout the hotel is very modern with a bit of trendiness mixed in and is located in San Francisco’s Union Square area. Below is a selection of restaurants and touristy activities I would highly recommend should you visit San Francisco in the future!
Fantastic Suite at the W – Lingerie Shower!
Actual shower décor on the left and our décor inspiration courtesy of Utterly Engaged
Saturday evening, post lingerie shower, we went to a fabulous tapas restaurant called Andalu. This restaurant had been rated as the best place to dine with a large party and they could not have been more correct. Andalu was ideal. We sat down to a tasting menu with ten different small plate options for each of us to choose from and an all you can drink sangria option as well. Read the NBC review here if you don’t believe me!
{via Andalu website}
On Sunday, we were up and ready to go with a 10 AM bottomless $9 mimosa brunch at Circa. The food here was phenomenal – bacon, egg and cheese sliders anyone?! The mimosa's were bubbly and not too orange juicy; the atmosphere was lively and upbeat. After brunch, we set off to be tourists for the day! We walked down to see the Golden Gate Bridge, which is an obvious must for any visitors! From there, we made our way to Ghirardelli Square to do what one does there – stop by Ghirardelli Chocolate Company’s flagship store to sample the yumminess of their chocolates and make a few necessary purchases to send home to our moms. Little known fact – they’ve been in business since 1852, so they are doing something right!
Golden Gate Bridge {via Cupcakes and Cashmere}
Following the sweets stop, we made our way to jump on the infamous Hyde Street Cable Car, which took us up Hyde Street and even past Lombard Street, San Fran’s most crooked street! You must take the cable car when in San Francisco! We rode up to Union Square just around the corner from our hotel.
Hyde Street Cable Car (via personal photos)
On Monday, we decided to partake in a group wine tour. This was a must for our group of girls and we simply knew that we could not leave the San Francisco area without visiting Napa Valley and Sonoma. I highly recommend that you do not skip this either. We kicked off the day long trip to the wine country with a little drizzly rain (note: to be expected in San Fran) and made our way to Muir Woods to see the Red Wood trees, which was delightful.
Next stop … wine tastings! The first winery was Cline Cellers, a delightful little winery in Napa, which specialized in Zinfandels. Of course with our discount, most of the girls in our group purchased Cline’s 2008 ancient vines Zinfandel – described as a rambunctious, bright and zippy wine!
Wine tasting at Cline with our new friend Ralph!
Our second winery was the Kunde Vineyard where we had a wonderful time! We got to visit the wine cellars underground, where there was volcanic rock that surrounded their barrels of wine. We all purchased the 2008 Gewurztraminer which was amazing!
{Photo via Kunde Winery website}
Our last vineyard was the Jacuzzi Family Winery. This was a beautiful winery where we got to enjoy not only a wine tasting, but also an olive oil and vinaigrette tasting in The Olive Press. This was a wonderful end to our wine tour as we all purchased a bottle of wine and sipped in enjoyment!
{Photo via Jacuzzi Family Winery website}
For more ideas on sites to see, things to do and places to eat and stay in San Francisco, check out local San Fran blogger’s SF Girl by Bay & Cupcakes and Cashmere. I also would look into Brooklyn Nomad’s Sunday City Spotlight post about San Francisco! I am sure you will fall in love with this city as much as we did!
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