Are you going to San Francisco?

You bet I am! Actually, Joel and I went down to celebrate our 11yr wedding anniversary and I wanted to tell you all about it before I left but it was a secret. Honestly, it was. Joel planned the trip, our anniversary dinner plans and the tour of Alcatraz as a surprise and I didn't find out where we were going until we arrived at the airport. It was funny that while we were heading to the airport a dance remix of the song "Are you going to San Francisco" came on the radio and I had to tell Joel how much I hated the song when it came out the first time.

Joel did suggest that he contemplated drugging me so I wouldn't know where we were going until we landed in San Fran, but we figured that airport officials may think he was kidnapping me and he just might get himself arrested.

What a wonderful city! We had a great time hitting all the local galleries and viewing numerous beautiful works of art - many that we could never afford. We were fortunate to find that the Fine Arts Museum was hosting a fabulous Monet exhibition. We also took a tour around Alcatraz which was interesting - I recently watched a documentary about life on the island for both the prisoners and the officers who lived there so it was an even richer experience to see it for myself. Of course, now it is basically a huge bird nest where numerous seagulls and other birds stop to mate and poop but the views are awesome.

On our anniversary we dined at a sophisticated little italian restaurant called Venticello, located on Nob Hill I would advise anyone going there to get a cab or to wear sneakers because the hills are a nightmare. Joel definitely made the right choice for our anniversary as this place was absolutely fabulous. Venticello serves truly authentic italian meals and the service was exceptional; warm and friendly while still maintaining a professional attitude. Our meals were served in a timely fashion, with each meal portion almost large enough to feed two people! There was no way that we were even going to contemplate squeezing in dessert, that was until the waitress arrived at our table with a complimentary dessert, a glass of port and a glass of deliciously sweet dessert wine. We had a wonderful time at the restaurant and then headed to a local bar - actually it was right next to our hotel - for reasons of convenience. This proved to be a very good idea after we consumed more alcohol than our bodies needed.

So am I going back to San Francisco - you bet I am!