San Francisco.......... here we come!

We did return to San Francisco in June ..... but it was still somewhat cold!  Blue skies, but warm jacket needed......
We like the SF MOMA......

so returned to check out their current exhibition.....

We sat out on the roof garden restaurant...... but didn't try to remove jackets!!

loved their cakes.....

and  had a fantastic view of the surrounding buildings and rooftops....

Then on to Chinatown..... still pretending to be tourists!

We also returned in early August...... just check out this photo of Union Square... now no blue sky and still somewhat cool......

We returned to stay in our favorite hotel there, the Clift........

We love the quirky lobby........

 and the hotel rooms are very comfortable..

...with nice little touches!

For dinner we went to Canteen

 which is very small so one needs to book ahead.
The food is excellent, however they have a prix fix menu so it might not suit everyone.

The kitchen is also quite small........... amazing that they can produce such good food there!

This amuse bouche was a clear tomato juice which was fantastic.......the red at the bottom was a cherry!

 and they have good wines......

For lunch we went back to an old favorite the Grand Cafe.  This is just next door to the hotel so is an easy option......

we love its quirkyness also......

and the casual food is very good........

and on to Barolo, Piedmont.......

From Alba we went to Barolo, quite a short distance away!

We arrived after dark and it was raining.... I had checked the location of the agriturismo  on Google before leaving and I knew that it was in the centre of the town.  So, on my advice, we ignored what our trusty SatNav was telling us!  It has on many occasions been wrong........ however this time it was right!
 Il Gioco dell Oca is actually about 2kms outside the town.

 So don't rely on placements on maps by Google!

Our room was very nice......

and it turned out that is was a very short distance from the Cappello delle Brunate a  Ceretto winery piece of art ( they are owners of La Piola in Alba and enjoy art!)  that we had seen also last year.
This was painted by Sol LeWitt and David Tremlett.

We went to a small wine bar/ restaurant in Barolo for dinner...... where we had a very good wine. A wine tasting visit to that winery, the  Pecchenino Winery, was arranged for the next day......... which was fantastic.  The weather had changed overnight and who knew?..... we were surrounded by snowy peaks!

 Apart from wine, this winery also has rooms......

It is in deep countryside ........but a fantastic place to have a peaceful vacation.
And the views are unbelievable!

We can recommend enthusiastically two restaurants in the Barolo area
Osteria Veglio which was very close by in Annunziata.....

where we had an excellent meal..

and again had an excellent local wine.  This winery was just down the road from the restaurant ........

and the other restaurant was the Osteria del Vignaiolo  about 4kms away,close to La Morra. We had a much smaller lighter meal than the previous night!! We had also had lunch on their terrace last year...

 La Morra......  is a beautiful small town with fantastic views..... well worth checking out!

We also checked out Cherasco....

just a short distance away....... but definitely not frequented by tourists!
We were amazed to watch a large lorry work its way around a tight corner without demolishing the parked cars!!

The streets were empty........ this is one of the two main streets...

It had some very nice buildings

and some very interesting chimneys.......

We wondered where the wealth had come from in the past....... it seems to a be a little on the edge of the wine growing area. It is famous however for chocolate......

and of course they do have a ceremonial arch....

only completed on the side facing the town....

presumably the arch was to celebrate Napoleon's visit!