Day 2: Exploring Sonoma Valley

I woke up early, around 7 am, with 2 things on my mind... where am I gonna eat breakfast today and I can't wait to visit Sonoma Valley!

It was another gorgeous day in San Francisco! All the locals said this weather was not typical for this time of year... we had clear, blue skies and mid to high 70s during the day. It was perfect.

We decided to grab a taxi and eat at the Top of the Mark located in Nob Hill at the Intercontinental Hotel. It's a wrap around sky lounge with amazing city wide views of San Fran. They have a breakfast buffet that was excellent and offered a good variety of food such as waffles, eggs, bacon, yogurt parfaits, smoked salmon, and other light items like fruit, bagels, and muffins. But the best part of breakfast was the view.

Yogurt parfait

City view from Top of the Mark

So after our filling breakfast, we took a taxi to the piers to check in for our 1/2 day Sonoma tour (5-6 hours). We were about an hour early but that wasn't an issue as we visited Ghirardelli Square and just walked the main street and looked at all the little shops.  We returned to the tour pick up spot and left for the tour at 12pm.

It was a little less than an hour getting to the valley. Our tour guide was fun... knowledgeable of the area and history of wine. We visited 3 wineries and did taste testings at all of them.  Each tasting was a $5 fee but well worth it as you get 4-5 glasses of wine to taste test. I'm more of a white wine gal, but having the opportunity to try the different reds and all was cool...

When we visited the vineyards, they let us know that the grapes weren't in bloom yet so all we really got to see were the vines of where the grapes would grow.

As you can imagine, the view of Sonoma Valley is amazing.  So beautiful, picturesque, and peaceful.  I couldn't stop staring off into the distance....

After Sonoma we drove back to the city and our tour guide dropped us off in Union Square which was super convenient. 

We were starving after a long day of sight seeing and drinking so we decided to try out Hubert Keller's The Burger Bar.  It's in the Macy's building in Union Square. One word... Delicious! I had the veggie burger and it was so flavorful! I'm mad I didn't take a pic of it! :)

Later in the night we met up with some friends and partied in the Castro district. Let's just say I left my camera at the hotel on purpose! :)

Day 3 and our last day in San Fran is coming up! Trip to Sausolito and a tour of the Pacific side of San Francisco!