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Going to San Francisco may be the wrong direction geographically but it is a huge leap towards NYC culturally speaking. Some school friends of Rachelle's picked us up at the airport and took us to San Mateo for lunch (thanks Vicki & Brian) and we actually walked around looking for a restaurant that was open on Sunday lunchtime. In Dallas that is not only inadvisable because of the heat and lack of sidewalks but in some areas it is probably illegal or at least an indication of criminal tendencies.
I has previously been to SF for a single solitary day seven years ago when Rachelle was still a Roth. I remembered liking it but time had blurred exactly why, however as soon as we got into the city I remembered. SF is pretty much the most cool and relaxed city I have ever had the pleasure of getting lost in. People use public transport or walk pretty much everywhere. Each district of town is identifiably different with excellent cafes, unique shops and some excellent street art. The streets climb and fall the dozens of small but steep hills with relatively low traffic levels and are crisscrossed by the old cable cars / trolley buses which tourists flock to inevitably but are still used by commuters on the way to work. In short it is hard not to walk around the city with a slow stride taking it all in with a dreamy smile on your face.
In our four days we had no car and we took one taxi (when I made Rachelle walk eight miles along the bay front and we could find no other way back - I was not popular). However we were not idle, we managed to do the Lonely Planet walking tours through the Chinatown and North Beach districts (Chinatown disappointed as it was not smelly or polluted enough for us and no one tried to overcharge us!). The walk round the Mission district had some huge murals and some pretty fine tacos. We also managed to get to a good comedy club, go see a movie, see the sealions in the bay and fitted an enormous amount of wedding related and recreational shopping into the gaps. The final night before we left we went out on the train to Berkeley to have a look around the campus (no demonstrations, I was again disappointed). We had dinner at a restaurant famous for starting 'California Cuisine' where food is fresh, locally sourced and prepared simply. I reflected on the principles behind the food as I tried to decipher the menu and came to the conclusion that if the bay area is not always 100% successful in bringing its ideas to fruition it is never short of new ones.
To summarise SF lulls you into gentle smiles with warm temperatures and cool breezes but everywhere it buzzes with a creative and individualistic energy. No wonder the hippies loved it in the sixties and by the looks of it quite a few of them are still here keeping the dream alive by smoking random substances and playing Frisbee in the park so that we don't have to. Now we have crossed the Golden Gate bridge north and SF is barely visible through the smoke from forest fires that has made all of Northern California smell like a barbeque. Places to go, people to see and weddings to attend - the city will be there for us if we need some relaxation and stimulation soon. I hope it isn't as long before we are back next.
Love A & R
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