Living With the Locals in Pacific Heights

When we went to San Francisco with the kids many years ago, 

 we stayed in a hotel in the business district near the cable cars.   

I didn't want to do all of the touristy things on this trip.  I wanted to 

stay in a quiet neighborhood with quaint restaurants and shops.

I looked on Airbnb for San Francisco and found 

this beautiful apartment in a Victorian house just

a few blocks from Fillmore Street.

We were met at the front door by the owner, Christie, who lives in the upstairs apartment.  There was an locked entryway from the street leading to the doors to each of the apartments.

We entered into the sitting room which had a writing desk with information about San Francisco and the neighborhood.

To the left was the front room which had a 

beautiful old piano, sofa, and television.

Walking to the back of the house, you came to the kitchen.

It was very clean and stocked with everything you'd need

to cook - although I wasn't planning on doing any of that!

Walking straight through the kitchen, there were stairs to a cute outside deck.

Next to the stairs was the bedroom.  

There was a full closet to store our things in.

The bathroom was small, but nice.

After recommending a few really good neighborhood 

restaurants and answering our questions, 

Christie gave us our keys and left us alone. 

We were hungry, so we decided to try one of 

Christie's recommendations: Curbside Cafe.

We had an excellent lunch!  It was so good, 

we went back for dinner!

Fillmore Street is a fun, lively street with plenty of small boutiques, restaurants, and bars.  It seemed like many locals eat out a lot because the waiters in the restaurants seemed to know many patrons by name.

For breakfast we tried this wonderful bakery.

And for dessert, we frequented Smitten Ice Cream.

Their ice cream is made-to-order.  Right after you order, they churn your ice cream fresh.  They use liquid nitrogen for an ultra-cold freezing process and it is ready in just a few minutes. 

To celebrate our anniversary,  we ate dinner at Via Veneto, and were treated to a delicious Italian meal.  The owner brought us two after-dinner drinks on the house!

On our final night,  we had pizza at Pizzeria Delfina because

we noticed there was a line out the door every night.  The pizza

was extremely good, but the dessert was even better.

We each got an Amarena Cherry Sundae.  

It came with your choice of gelato, a pitcher of hot chocolate sauce

so you would never run out, and fresh whipped cream.

We loved them!

You might think all we did was eat.  

We went other places too-  Sausalito, Japantown,

Fort Pointe under the Golden Gate Bridge.  But I'd say 

eating occupied a large part of our time!

This neighborhood is in Pacific Heights.  It was relaxing 

to be able to walk to restaurants easily and not deal with

driving and finding a place to park the car.  I'd highly recommend

it for your next trip to San Francisco!

Vance had to leave for a few days for business, 

so I had two days to explore on my own.  

I'll tell you about that in my next post.