By Mikela Mertens | Writer
January 11, 2014
This past weekend my mom, my best friend, and I decided to take a trip up north to see the city of San Francisco. We armed ourselves with blankets, pillows, and days worth of movies for the torturous seven-hour drive. Just when we could not handle sitting in the car anymore, we arrived. When we got off the freeway we were greeted with what seemed like an endless line of beautiful buildings and a stream of never ending cars. As soon as we arrived at the hotel we dropped off our bags and ran out the door to enjoy the city of San Francisco!
Best places to eat…
While roaming the city, we soon came to realize that there was a highly-rated restaurant around every corner you turn, it is just a matter of which one you choose to go to.
We chose to go to an Argentinian steak house called Lolinda and ordered an arrangement of seven different dishes from their thirty-nine-item menu. With our mouths watering and stomachs grumbling, we patiently waited for our dishes to arrive. Empanadas de Espinaca was my favorite of the night had spinach, caramelized onions, mushrooms, brie, and marinara, they had a crunchy texture on the outside of the tortilla but inside it was cheesy gooey goodness. Throughout the rest of the night a variety of amazing dishes continued to come our way, such as Ceviche de Pescado, Alcachofa, Bife de Chorizo, and more. From the first bite, Lolinda became number one on my list of best places to eat.
Best places to shop…
San Francisco is known for many wonderful things, one of them being Union Square. This is a popular shopping location contains many stores, even a ten-story Macy’s. Union Square also includes high-end stores such as Marc Jacobs, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Louis Vuitton along with more affordable stores like Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, and H&M. When you are all done shopping, you can have some fun at the ice-skating rink in the middle of Union Square!
Best places to go…
San Francisco is filled with so many places to explore and we chose to explore the Alcatraz, an island where some of the most notorious criminals stayed. To get to the island you must take a ten-minute boat ride over. Upon arriving, you are greeted by a volunteer park worker who explains all the important facts about Alcatraz. Then they send you on your way to explore the island in any style you please. We chose the popular interactive audio tour that takes you to places throughout the jail showing some pictures of some of the inmates. It then plays a recording of that particular inmate telling you about his memories of living in Alcatraz, giving you a visual of what a day in the life of a prisoner at Alcatraz was like. At the end of the tour, when I had finally snapped out of the trance, all the information I had learned really settled in and I was astounded at events that happened during the short time it was operating.
Overall, it was not only a beautiful city to visit but also very educational. I highly recommend a stop to the City by the Bay.
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