Jan, from San Fran, Reports!

This is a great read from SanFranJan. Interesting she stayed at the Westin St. Regis.  The first time I was in the area I stayed in Oakland.  Took the BART under the bay and emerged from the underground into a surreal atmosphere of San Francisco.  Spent hours walking around the city and walked past the St. Regis, walked into the very ornate lobby and thought, wow, only the super rich could stay here and not someplace for the unwashed from Ohio so I exited quickly.  An image of the lobby is below but here is Jan's report: 

I left on Tuesday flying Southwest through Chicago Midway and arrived into San Fran roughly 7 hours later. The good news is that Southwest serves endless snacks and drink, which of course made me happy. I was really looking forward to a good dinner that night at Scomas, based on your recommendation. I squared your recommendation with my PR agency chic local to San Fran, but only as of a couple of months. She hadn’t heard of the restaurant but checked it out and agreed it was worth a try having received four to five stars for its cuisine. Joining us was my boss from Boston, who also said he was game. We met at 5:30 pm local time in the lobby of the Westin St. Regis, grabbed a cab and headed for Scoma’s.  Boy, there were some steep climbs on the way to Pier 47, the site of Scomas. I  kept imagining what it would be like to ride my bike here – a heart attack for sure.  We were dumped in front of Scoma’s and I was kinda wondering what I had gotten my colleagues into; it was pretty touristy (and kinda trashy or should I say interesting) at the waterfront…My co-workers were very good natured and we ventured down to the wharf and saw what appeared to be the real deal as far as seafood restaurants. Scomas looked very authentic as if the fish had been caught, killed and drug in that day by the local fishermen.  We asked to be seated and rejected our first table given its location and the view; I was beginning to wonder if this was a good pick after all. Next we squeezed into the bar, where I ordered my signature drink on the road – Kettle One dirty martini with three olives and waited for a seat by the water. Presto, in two more minutes, the four of us were seated. John, a gracious and kind waiter, served us. My colleagues knew it was my birthday on Monday, so of course, we needed to continue the celebration on the West Coast. They announced to John; it was birthday.  We all laughed, since I had told them it was my week-long birthday celebration (which btw continues through tomorrow.)  We ate like kings and queens. The food was completely outstanding.  The meal started with the house bread (of course, I was completely starving since my stomach said it was 9:30 p.m) and then moved our way to a fish sampler appetizer of oysters, calamari, oysters and something else.  I ordered the seafood sauté for dinner which included lobster, crab and scallops. WOW!  Everyone was super pleased with their meals and loved the authenticity of the restaurant.  After finishing our meals, the staff came and sang happy birthday to me and then brought my chocolate (to die for) slice of cake with raspberry sauce. Of course, obligated, I shared it was my colleagues also thinking of all the calories I had just consumed!  On the way back to the hotel, it was scary. The down hills were so steep I was praying the cabbie’s breaks were in good shape. Riding a bike through the streets of San Fran would no doubt be a challenge!  .

On Wednesday, I had to attend an all-day meeting in downtown San Fran. My boss thought it would be a good idea to walk to the meeting…okay, I was game. Wearing my ever so fashionable tennis shoes and my black work dress, I packed my four-inch heels in my laptop bag.  As we headed out for what was supposed to be a two-block jaunt, we ended up walking for at least 20 minutes.  I was literally sweating by the time we arrived at our destination (kinda like overdressing for a bike ride now that’s it’s cool out.). You see, we had to make our way through the throngs of people who had lined up to wait for the Giants World Series Winner’s parade to begin at 11 am local time. WOW, at 8 am local time, there was A LOT of folks on the street. So much so that we couldn’t even get through. Miraculously, one of the guys from our ad agency knew how to take us underground through the local public transportation station to arrive on the other side of the street. Plus I think someone forget to let the locals know that the marijuana legalization bill did not pass; as the smell of it was everywhere. I was rather amazed. Fast forward through Wednesday’s all-day meeting (where more great food including lots of fresh veggies and fruit was served) next onto another so called “drive-by meeting” (new term for me) with another PR agency and it was time to go out to dinner again…Once more, my colleagues announced to the wait staff it was birthday and this time a large hot fudge sundae was put before me after a merry round of singing by the staff…At this point, I’m wondering how I’m gonna be able to work all of this food off, given this weekend’s weather forecast.  Again, I happily shared the fantastic desert with my colleagues in hopes of reducing my caloric intake and upping there’s!  I was super tired by the end of the dinner, as it approached 10 pm local time (1 am e our time).  I think my body was switching over to local time, but regardless I had to get up this morning at 3:30 am local time to start the return trip process.  Right now, I’m sitting on the flight back on Southwest drinking water and eating the abundant snacks, a bit tired having done what is always in my line of work a three-day blur of a trip out to the West Coast, with too little sleep, too much work and too much food.

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