Traitor!!!!!!

It only took one day for my HTB (husband-to-be) to be seduced by SF and to now proclaims it ... his favorite city in the US! While I am still reeling from the shock, I have to admit that I can see the attraction – the city is buzzing but at the same time laid back, there is a huge focus on an outdoorsy lifestyle and generally having a good time, the weather (at least while we were there) was near perfect with balmy sunshine and a light breeze, the bay is right there ready for you to go windsurfing or running and cycling along the shoreline, the architecture where is survived the big earthquake and fire of 1906 is amazing, it's streets are filled with quirky cafes, bar and restaurants all serving locally grown food – a real SF craze by all accounts! Last minute planners that we are, we ended up only having a single full day in SF which does not do the city justice but we still had an amazing time.
I, for once, got up early and went on a walking tour of Victorian homes. We wandered around a neighborhood called Prospect Heights admiring this amazing houses and learning what a “painted lady” is ... NO, not that kind of painted lady, you people with dirty minds!!!! A SF painted lady is a Victorian house in which the redwood of which the house has been build has been painted in at least three different colors. Originally the wood was painted gray, white or brown to fool neighbors into thinking that you were able to afford the much more expensive stone to build your home ... entertaining considering that your neighbors were doing that same, thinking they were fooling you :) Anyway, since then however the owners have done away with wanting pretend that there houses are made of stone and they now just go crazy with the paint pots ... so you have houses that are white, with purple cornicing, pink window frames and gold gingerbread which is that lattice work that decorates the houses – that looked amazing!!!!! I then met my HTB for a cycle tour but was so taken by these little go-carts that you can rent that I bullied the poor chap into renting those and zipping around in them instead ... BOY, was I foolish!!!!!While he was loving every minute of it, I was scared within an inch of my life and at two stages had to even get out of the little thing to push it up the hill because it was too steep and the little soapbox's engine to weak to make it up alone. That said ... going down SF's famous Lombard Street was amazing and I am sure much more exciting in our soapbox than in a car – please see video!
In the evening we meet my old NY friend Ryan and his partner Rhonda for dinner in a bar called 21 Amendment – geeks may like to know that the 21 Amendment was the amendment that lifted prohibition. After a very tasty meal made with the afore-mentioned locally produced ingredients (the menu even told you which farm the beef came from!!!!!), the HTB and I went on a little pub crawl ending up at the rather swanky W Hotel and few G&T's rounded off what was a perfect day in SF!!!
Having said all that ... NY is still my favorite city in the US and so I am super excited about getting on the plane and visiting this fabulous city!!!!!!!