When you cannot decide what to eat, just order everything. La Mediterranee Noe, which is actually in the Castro, offers an amazing lunch meza platter where you can taste a little bit of everything. This option requires a minimum of 2 people, which is why I was excited to take my cousin here for her birthday. La Mediterranee is one of the best Mediterranean restaurants in San Francisco. The 10 dishes in the meza include: hummus, spinach and feta fillo, cheese karni filo, dolmas, chicken pomegranate, potato salad, lamb kofta, baba ganoush, tabouleh, and levant sanwiches.

January 2 - It was a really cold day in San Francisco!
To walk off a bit of our enormous meal, we took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens in San Francisco. This whimsical garden, in the heart of Golden Gate Park, is a staggering 55 acres with over 8,500 plants from around the world; yet it somehow remains a hidden gem in SF. SF residents have free access to the garden, and it is lovely to visit rain or shine.