San Fran Travelogue

Matching the postcard in the mind to what you eventually see on the ground is always the trick of travel – to seek, or not to seek, that is the question when trying to devise your own small portion of the travel fantasy.  I try not to over-do the research of the actual look of things (the size, color and feel of a building or body of water), but do like to know where I am on a map and to be able to point out things in my mind and hopefully share a spare detail when possible. I remember our trip to New York a couple of years ago, we were on a fairly short Revolutionary War tour of deep downtown, near the stock exchange, and we had randomly run into Beaver Street, which I remembered was the location of my number one restaurant location, Delmonicos, the oldest in New York.  I asked if we might walk a block and a half west and just take a look at the place, maybe take a pic or two.  We got to the restaurant only to find out it was closed for repairs.  A workman happened to be watching our little party and must have felt like sharing a spare detail himself, walked up to us and mentioned he was a cousin to the owner.  He let us in with his private key and we had Delmonicos to ourself for half an hour while the cousin went about his business painting tables.  Even the locals might not know every fog-laden corner of every block of San Fran, but it's fascinating beyond anything I've experienced to know the neighborhood, its history, and why people are where they are at any particular time of day, weekday, weekend, happy hour, or floor-level.  We got somewhat lucky with our postcard of a hotel, the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, for more reasons than I can list.

Atrium level at Hyatt, Ferry Market tower in background

We knew from the post card research a few things about this hotel: one, is that it was right at the same
center as the Ferry Market, the thriving foodie conglomeration that also served on the same pier as the cross-water ferries; we knew, then, it was at the hub of transportation which skirted along the shoreline, right toward the Bay Bridge, and left down to Fisherman's Wharf and beyond toward the Marina and Golden Gate; finally we knew it had the largest atrium of any hotel in the world, and were intrigued.

The atrium was enormous, sheets of strung lights falling down from around the 10th floor, underneath the Eclipse restaurant.  We were never quite sure how they did it, but the atrium was actually very pleasant and quiet, and you felt like you were inside a well-lit and windowed mountain, looking up to the ceiling for the crack of sun.  Across the street, the Ferry Building, and toward the Bay Bridge piers

looking out into the blue waters and beyond, Treasure Island, and beyond that Oakland.

Under the base of the Bay Bridge, the Waterbar our first restaurant

Cupid's Span bow and arrow at Bay Bridge Embarcadero

So far, in the first day anyway, the postcard had come alive – no fog to dampen the colors and a pleasant ocean wind tumbling off the bay as (what Carly called it anyway) "free air-conditioning."