I'm Back

view of san francisco from delores park
Originally uploaded by mygothlaundry

I went to San Francisco. Now I am back and I have much to say and even more pictures to show - they're all here, with more to be added. I'm running out of energy tonight to go through them and then I must somehow trick the camera into coughing up the 100 or so Friday pictures that somehow got corrupted or disappeared, which is a bummer, because those are the pictures of the DeYoung Museum and the Japanese tea house and the Botanical Gardens and the ever inimitable it's a little too much like Asheville Haight Ashbury. I'm exhausted and still a bit sick - naturally, after not having a cold all fucking winter, I managed to contract a doozy by last Thursday, so that you could follow me around SF by the sneezing noises and trail of kleenex (I'm sorry San Francisco! I hope I did not infect the entire city with the plague! I might be typhoid Mary but I mean well!) - but I will copy down a few bits from my journal for your amusement tonight anyway. San Francisco, by the way, is amazing. It is even more amazing, I think, for dogs than it is for people and if my dogs ever find out how great it is there then they will never let me rest until we move. Therefore I am whispering when I say things like no leash laws! and the beach is full of happy dogs! and the dog parks have no fences!

Let's see, journal stuff. First off, I hate flying. Klonopin is a wonder drug, as is vodka, but it is not enough. The only thing that would be enough is full anesthesia. I kept saying "This is a bus. I am on a bus" to myself but since planes are smaller than buses, not to mention less comfortable, this didn't work very well. But I made it! I got in late Wednesday night and the next day my brother launched us onto what I am fondly referring to as the Death March to Bataan Tour of San Francisco, which involved so much walking that I have blisters on parts of my body you don't even want to know about. It is kind of remarkable what you can fit into a day when you're dedicated.

Thursday:
Delores park with coffee & a croissant.
J train to Powell and Market.
Cable car up the hill to Sacramento Street
Chinatown - I bought stuff! Cool stuff! I should have bought way more stuff!
Walked into North Beach and had coffee at Cafe Trieste
Walked back to Chinatown
Walked back to North Beach
Walked up the Lombard Street steps, which are steep.
Took the cable car down to Fisherman's wharf.
Had a delicious seafood lunch and a bottle of wine at Alietos
Took a cab up to the Coit tower (thank GOD we did not walk)
Went up the elevator at the Coit tower - there was an incomprehensible and charming deadpan guide in the elevator.
Walked down all the steps from the Coit tower - saw the Telegraph Hill parrots! That was cool! - to the waterfront.
Had a shot of espresso with Tcho chocolate in it. Yum.
Walked through the ferry terminal market.
Walked through what I guess is sort of the financial district.
Met my old and wonderful friend Mimi at a microbrewery / yuppie bar called the Thirsty Bear.
Went to SFMoMA
Walked over to Powell St. and caught the BART train back to the Mission.
Walked up to Valeria and had dinner at Taqueria La Cumbria.
and finished the evening by having beers at the 500 Club and then walking another four blocks or so back.
AND THAT WAS JUST ONE DAY.

In the next couple days - this was also when the cold decided to really kick in - we walked through most of the Mission and went to Golden Gate Park and the DeYoung Museum (which is fantastic. I mean wonderful. I mean amazing. I mean I want to work there or live there or something. Perfectly great.) and the beautiful Japanese garden there and through Haight Ashbury - on the bus my brother said that it was worth seeing because it was full of old hippies and I remarked that everywhere was full of old hippies, which cracked up a lady on the bus. Actually, the Haight Ashbury was nice and all but honestly it was just like Asheville only slightly larger and with better grafitti. However! That night I went to a Metafilter meetup at the Mission Bar and then on Saturday went to the Asian Art Museum where my friend Angie used to work and went to Ocean Beach and back to Chinatown to buy more stuff and have dinner - my first ever bowl of Pho! I love Pho! We need Pho here in Asheville! - and to a couple of bars. Sunday I took the ferry across the bay to visit my friend Mimi and we drove over the mountains to Bolinas and that was all insanely wonderful as well. Yeah, San Francisco is just as great as everyone says it is and that is good to know but it is also good to be home.