San Francisco - Day 2 - Shopping downtown, Transformers

We started our day with lunch at a very authentic-looking Japanese restaurant located on Post Street, near our hotel. I was thrilled that the sashimi chef and most other patrons were Japanese. It only means that the food is good.

#1

J's beef on rice

#2

Katsu chicken

We then proceeded to walk down Post Street, towards Union Square. I head inside my all-time favourite US store - Victoria's Secret. Why don't we have this brand in Australia?!? I grinned from ear to ear upon seeing the huge SALE sign! How wonderful. And to top it off, today was the first day of the special promotion - nighties were 50% off on top of their already reduced price! I bought a nightie that was only $8 when its original price was about $39. Poor J waited for over an hour for me (okay, I lied, its probably 2 hours). He entertained himself by replying e-mails on his blackberry. After that, I kept apologizing profusely and said, "I'm not usually like this but everything is so cheap and nice!" Sigh.

Total damage: $400. Very painful.

#3

Very extensive receipt

I told J I'll treat him ice cream in return for waiting for me (tip: A man's happiness is through his stomach). We head to the famous Cheesecake Factory that's located above Macy's, Union Square. The Cheesecake Factory is a famous American franchise. The company currently operates 146 dining outlets in the U.S. This place reminds me of Swanson's, only better. We are yet to try their famous cakes.

#4


#5

Outside courtyard on the 8th floor of the Macy's building

#6

Forgot to take pictures of their food.

#7

View of Union Square

J then headed back to do some work. I continued shopping. Notable stores were Forever 21 and Zara (why doesn't these stores exist in Australia)?

#8

Forever 21, 7 Powell Street, San Francisco.

Image taken from here

#9


Image taken from here

#10

The shop occupied three levels

Image taken from here

We met up again at 7.30 pm, had dinner at Firewood Pizza café in the Metreon*. We share a salad and pasta. That's fast becoming our typical meal to order in an American joint. I find the American portions extremely huge and cannot finish a meal by myself.

#11

The pastas in a typical American joint are always very cheesy. Americans must love their cheese.

#12

Huge bowl of salad

We then watched Transformers 2 in the cinema at Metreon.

#13

*Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of 4th St. and Mission St

The interesting thing about many of the cinemas here is that there are no allocated seating. This means that we have to arrive pretty early in the cinema to secure good seats. Also, their cinema menu is very extensive - hot pizza, fried chicken pieces, nachos, hotdog, etc. On top of that, what amazed me was the butter popcorn. You can add your own BUTTER DRIPPING from the self-serve dispenser to drip over your already buttered popcorn. Oh goodness, imagine the calorie count.