North Beach Festival 2013

It's the 59th annual North Beach Festival in San Francisco.

We all have our favorites

"Tony's" (Pine-Taylor Market) is our favorite convenient store in Nob Hill. He makes the best hummus in town. Even Sarah can crawl out of bed on a Sunday morning to go and get some for our breakfast.

SF median home prices reach $1M

San Francisco median home prices make a 32% jump from 2012 and is now $1M. That's prices The City hasn't seen since before the recession. The chart shows prices per SqFt, listed and sold.

Clean views

Cleaning the windows today in our downtown rental apartment.

From iPad

Sutter street

Wednesday morning on Sutter street, San Francisco.

Sausalito

A photo of  the artwork outside The Spinnaker Restaurant in Sausalito. We have eaten here hundreds of times (nah, that was probably an exaggeration. But say 40 times, give or take). A lot of seafood of course but they have great veggie options as well.

What's the deal with the real deal?

At the Westfield mall there is a place that has faux meat sandwiches. They are delicious.

From phone

Sunday Fair in Haight Ashbury

We went to the Haight Fair in Haight Ashbury today. Man do I look stupid while trying to figure out how my new camera works...

"That island that's named after that cancelled TV show"

From the crest on Hyde you have a great view of "that island that's named after that cancelled TV show" as I heard someone say quizzically the other day ;-)

Lombard street

I haven't taken very many pictures of Lombard street, the "crookedest street in the world" throughout the years. You don't see much of the switchbacks on this one but it's a damn fine photo nevertheless.

Make way for new and fresh stuff

I like them, I really do. But these old lawn chairs from like the 70's or 80's got to go. If they weren't jampacked with repellants they could probably make an honorable exit as fuel for our next BBQ. What do you say, honey?

From phone

Tending the garden

As a newly self-appointed gardener I have to take care of our backyard (and our front yard but it's less demanding). And there are a lot of these aloe vera cactuses which I like as they don't need very much attention under the fierce Califonian sun. Non at all, actually. They look a little scary but are a self-appointed gardener's best friend :-)

From phone

Roasted Duck Curry

For lunch today I had a Roasted Duck Curry. Veggie duck with pineapple, tomatoes in red curry. The place is located on Polk in the notorious Tenderloin district. But everyone in The City knows the best chow can be found in the worst of neighborhoods. The name of the eatery? Thai Idea Vegetarian. Not very tasty name but the food sure is great. You can check out the menu right here.

From iPad

The beauty of a neighborhood

The colors of Filbert Street, North Beach.

Nob Hill

Ladies and gentlemen, Nob Hill in all its splendour!

View from Telegraph Hill

The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Photo taken from Telegraph Hill.

Big and small

The big and still cosy city...

555 California Street

555 California Street, also known as the Bank of America building.

Extremely hungry

The guys are telling me our pizzas are ready to meet our chompers. Extremely ready.

You got to try these

Mouth watering treats...

Nettie's

Nettie's Crab Shack is considered an icon here in Cow Hollow.

From video games to food

My restaurant is doing great.

Nice to meat you

Dead body parts for those who still cherish the stone age.

For the 37th time

Union Street Festival, San Francisco, June 1 2013.



Festival day

As Sarah is in Chicago this weekend I have to take care of business (enjoying myself, that is) and head down to the Union Street festival myself. Maybe pop in at Trevor's place while I'm in the Marina. I'll get back to you later with a report.

Chilling

Sarah went to Chicago this morning so I'm taking it easy, zapping through the channels on the TV, munching snacks and just chilling.

From iPad

Broadway view

Broadway with the beautiful Bay Bridge in the distance.

A neighborhood to die for

Green street facing west. North Beach, San Francisco.

Get in shape

The steeper the streets are, the more San Fran they get. Filbert Street, North Beach.

For it is a human number...

The Saint Peter & Paul Cathedral in North Beach has a funny street address: 666 Filbert Street!

A brand new day

Early Thursday morning over lower Nob Hill, San Francisco.

Cosy living

A cosy block in the financial district of San Francisco.

One pointedness

The recycle bin and the Transamerica pyramid point in the same direction. That's San Fran right there. Photo taken from Columbus/Stockton intersection.

Tony gives me a break

Tony's, one of the best pizzas in town. Full stop.

All these familiar places, filled with memories and love...

Russian Hill from Washington Square Park, San Francisco.

Gorgeous North Beach

After dealing with my online students I went out to practice with my new camera today. This is my favorite park in San Francisco, Washington Square Park in North Beach. But you probably already knew that...

Gotta love gifts!

I got a brand new Canon Rebel T5i (700D) from Sarah in a combined birthday and welcome gift! It's going to take a few days to explore and understand the thingy but... I'm on it!

G'morning San Francisco

Late Sunday morning view from our downtown apartment (temporary rental).

Homeland

30 000 feet above California, my home.

Are we there yet?

This is how the poor travelers look like after almost 10 hours in the cabin.

Lights out

Somewhere over southern Canada...

"Improvements"

The wifi is free now at Arlanda Airport. It took an eternity for them to open up this service which is something you should view as self evident at any modern airport. It's a sign-up procedure though and you need a cell phone to receive an activation code. But what the heck, it's working.

From laptop

Going home

Finally time for me to go back to San Francisco again. I'll be flying to Copenhagen and then with SAS to The City. It will be interesting to fly with Scandinavian as they are fresh on the job. The destination is new to them.

From laptop

B2B

Yesterday the wacky 102nd Bay to Breakers race/party was celebrated in San Francisco.
30 000 runners ran, walked or crawled (did anyone do that after all the jello shots?) the 7.5 mile stretch from the bay to the ocean. Springtime San Francisco is full of party and celebrations. The Union Street festival and the North Beach festival is just around the corner. And so am I. I'll fly in on May 25th.

Photo: Michael Short

Magnolia blossom

Downtown Stockholm has been bathing in warm sunshine a couple days and all the trees are waking up. Today I saw this beautiful Magnolia. I have always liked those big and chunky flowers on the leafless naked branches. It's as if the flowers want to greet spring before the rest of the plant.

Oakland rising

Believe it or not, Oakland made it into no 1 as the most exciting city in America according to Movoto. You gotta be kidding, right? And by exciting you mean things like getting shot, right? Nope, there are ten criteria and all of them are about good stuff. Check it out right here.

Photo: Oakland Tribune

Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday on Saturday May 4th the San Francisco Cinco de Mayo Festival was celebrated in Dolores Park. In gorgeous Californian sunny weather thousands of people geared up for the Cinco de Mayo proper, which is today of course, the 5th. I wasn't able to participate as I'm still in Sweden for three more weeks but my friends sent me this photo. San Francisco at its best :-)

My San Francisco

Sometimes you bump into a really nice video about San Francisco with tourist-y implications but made very delicately in all its turns. This one is a very fine one recently added on Youtube by Japan Airlines. If you have been to San Francisco you'll definitely feel the vibe and atmosphere of The City in this quiet and down paced video.

Not every house in Sausalito is fashionable

One of the weirdest looking houses in central Sausalito, not far from Rachel's old house, is on sale according to Nadine Greenwood. It's not a very beautiful house. It's chunky and blocky. It looks like the upper part has been added with too much need of space and too little awareness of style and fashion. The asking price is $2.095 million.

Listing: Nadine Greenwood

Gorgeous home

In just five weeks I'll be arriving in my beloved San Francisco again. This time around I won't be working, thank goodness. I'll be taking my (our) time to check out nice new homes instead :-) What about this gorgeous house in San Rafael, 6 miles north from Sausalito? Asking price? $2.25 million. A bargain!

Photo: Matt McCourtney