I was walking up to California Street, and there were some cute little kitties painted on the side walk. I also passed by the Nob Hill Cat Clinic, which I thought was pretty cool, just because I am a cat vet. I peered in to see if they had any kittens I might hug (I was in severe kitty withdrawals at this point), but they didn't seem to so I kept on walking.
Walking to Wholefoods. I do love it so. I had come here by suggestion to try out their famous hot food buffet, and to try out some vegan breakfast options. And to do some more grocery shopping! I am happy to report that I was finally able to track down some Tings here.
As always I was in awe and in love with the huge variety of amazing fresh produce that is available in the the US. Look at all this goodness!
I am also in love with the huge variety of vegan ice creams that the US have available. My supermarket only has So Good Vanilla, sometimes Chocolate if I am lucky. Look at all of these! There was another cabinet next to it as well. Excuse me while I quietly weep.
There were also lots of vegan baked goods. Not all of these are vegan, but most of those donuts were. Oh, I just realised I said the Pepple's donut I had the previous day was my last donut of the trip. I lied.
So here was my breakfast. In the box, from the vegan hot food breakfast section, there is soyrizo hash (nom!), tofu scramble (a bit bland) and breakfast potatoes (I left the capsicum portion of this in the bain marie, the potatoes were amazing). I also had a crumb donut (quite good) and a So Delicious Coconut Strawberry and Banana Yoghurt, which was OMG delicious and I had to mini internal rage over the dismal state of commercially available vegan yoghurt in Australia. Let me just have another quiet weep.
After breakfast, I walked up California Street to Grace Cathedral, for some more touristy and cultural adventures. On this particular day, I was wearing my Secret Society of Vegan's Saving the Unicorn t-shirt. As I was wandering through, a girl came up to me and said 'High five for vegans'. And we did. We vegan high-fived. Totally awesome.
The cathedral has an indoor and outdoor labyrinth. Nothing like the movie of the same name, these are flat with the lines tiled onto the floor. I walked the labyrinth, which was soothing. It isn't a maze, there are no options, you just walk the path until you get to the middle.
There was also lots of pretty stained glass. This is the Rose Window. But they had lots of nifty windows there, including one for Einstein.
The have this statue there, Bufano St. Francis. Apparently it is meant to be welcoming. Maybe I've watched too much Doctor Who, but this creeped the hell out of me. I bet it totally comes to life and chases you if you are in there after closing.
Across the road from the church is a beautiful little park. There are fountains and flowers and grass. Again Brisbane, please note example of beautiful public green space. It's a great spot to sit for a minute, maybe have a little snack, and look out over the skyline from Nob Hill.
Nob Hill is on a hill. Duh. It is a super pretty section of the city, but you have to walk to get there. I had walked up from California Street, which to be honest I didn't find that horrifically steep. When you look at the streets coming off from California Street though, you can see that it is quite a climb!
But you will be rewarded with exceptionally pretty views out over the city and to the hills beyond.
I stopped back at the hotel to drop off my Tings before catching the BART back the 16th Mission. I was going to another grocery shop.
Rainbow Grocery is a co-op that is full of some pretty nifty stuff. I was expecting something like Sidecar or Food Fight, but it is much bigger and not all vegan.
There are a lot of nifty vegan products, including this pretty awesome tubs of vegan cookie dough. They also had a great bulk section. I did a little bit more shopping here, including some Cafe Gratitude cookies and a slice of raw peach pie (more on that later).
So far, my day had been pretty heavy on visiting grocery stores, but fear not - in my next post I shall talk about the two amazing restaurants I visited for lunch and dinner (plus another grocery store).
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