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Thank you, everyone, for all the birthday well-wishes!
I had a lovely birthday yesterday. Daniel and I went up to San Francisco, armed with my copy of City Walks: San Francisco. (This is a set of 50 cards, each of which has a map on one side with a walking route marked out, and a few paragraphs of text describing the key points of interest along the route on the other side. So, you can grab a few cards and string together a little walking tour. It worked well.)
We al know what Mark Twain said about the coldest winter he ever spent being summer in San Francisco, but the San Francisco microclimate still surprises me. It was a warm, clear, sunny day when we boarded the BART train in Millbrae. By the time we got to Colma, the sky was overcast and the hills blanketed in fog. And it pretty much stayed that way the whole time we were in the city.
We got off BART at the Powell street BART station and walked up to the location of a cafe we usually frequent when we're in San Francisco, only to discover that it had been replaced by a Starbucks. To be honest, it probably wasn't that much of a loss - the coffee is just as good or better now that it's a Starbucks, but it was nice to know a place that did decent coffee and pastries that wasn't a Starbucks.
I have to say, whatever woes are afflicting Starbucks nationally don't appear to be relevant in San Francisco. I must have counted at least 10 stores, many on adjacent blocks. And when you consider that we spent a good chunk of the afternoon in Chinatown, which is (to my knowledge) a Starbucks-free zone, it's even more remarkable.
So, we started our walking tour proper with Chinatown, entering through the Dragon Gate on Grant St. Grant St. is the touristy face of Chinatown, where you can buy Buddha statues, "ninja swords", and other assorted kitsch. I bought a teacup with dragons painted on it. I'm also afraid I rather horribly offended a stallkeeper by picking up a fake silk skullcap with a fake braided queue sewn on the back, and exclaiming, "Oh my GAWD, that is so TASTELESS!" (I stand by my statement, but it wasn't necessary or polite to announce it to the whole street.)
After walking up Grant, we walked back down through Chinatown on Stockton St., which is full of places where the locals actually shop. Mostly grocery stores, though there are restaurants, bakeries, and places selling all kinds of strange dried medicinal products. (We stopped to admire a window display of dried seahorses. They looked like some strange kind of moulded sugar candy.)
After Chinatown, we wandered through the Jackson Square historical district, which was notable for its complete contrast to Chinatown just a few blocks away. The streets were tree-lined and nearly empty. We got lots of stunning views of the Transamerica building with its top disappearing into the fog. We spent a little time in Sydney Walton Square, sitting by the fountain. We walked over to the base of the Transamerica building, where a bunch of masked anti-Scientology protesters were amassing, and saw the redwood grove planted behind the building.
At that point it was cold, we getting tired, and we had three hours until our dinner reservation. So we stopped for coffee at one of the ubiquitous Starbucks, and then wandered back to Union Square to visit the Borders Books. I bought a book called Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge. Yes, it's a history of royal mistresses.
And we finished off the evening with some rather stunningly good seafood at Aqua. Mmm. It's good to be the birthday girl.
I had a lovely birthday yesterday. Daniel and I went up to San Francisco, armed with my copy of City Walks: San Francisco. (This is a set of 50 cards, each of which has a map on one side with a walking route marked out, and a few paragraphs of text describing the key points of interest along the route on the other side. So, you can grab a few cards and string together a little walking tour. It worked well.)
We al know what Mark Twain said about the coldest winter he ever spent being summer in San Francisco, but the San Francisco microclimate still surprises me. It was a warm, clear, sunny day when we boarded the BART train in Millbrae. By the time we got to Colma, the sky was overcast and the hills blanketed in fog. And it pretty much stayed that way the whole time we were in the city.
We got off BART at the Powell street BART station and walked up to the location of a cafe we usually frequent when we're in San Francisco, only to discover that it had been replaced by a Starbucks. To be honest, it probably wasn't that much of a loss - the coffee is just as good or better now that it's a Starbucks, but it was nice to know a place that did decent coffee and pastries that wasn't a Starbucks.
I have to say, whatever woes are afflicting Starbucks nationally don't appear to be relevant in San Francisco. I must have counted at least 10 stores, many on adjacent blocks. And when you consider that we spent a good chunk of the afternoon in Chinatown, which is (to my knowledge) a Starbucks-free zone, it's even more remarkable.
So, we started our walking tour proper with Chinatown, entering through the Dragon Gate on Grant St. Grant St. is the touristy face of Chinatown, where you can buy Buddha statues, "ninja swords", and other assorted kitsch. I bought a teacup with dragons painted on it. I'm also afraid I rather horribly offended a stallkeeper by picking up a fake silk skullcap with a fake braided queue sewn on the back, and exclaiming, "Oh my GAWD, that is so TASTELESS!" (I stand by my statement, but it wasn't necessary or polite to announce it to the whole street.)
After walking up Grant, we walked back down through Chinatown on Stockton St., which is full of places where the locals actually shop. Mostly grocery stores, though there are restaurants, bakeries, and places selling all kinds of strange dried medicinal products. (We stopped to admire a window display of dried seahorses. They looked like some strange kind of moulded sugar candy.)
After Chinatown, we wandered through the Jackson Square historical district, which was notable for its complete contrast to Chinatown just a few blocks away. The streets were tree-lined and nearly empty. We got lots of stunning views of the Transamerica building with its top disappearing into the fog. We spent a little time in Sydney Walton Square, sitting by the fountain. We walked over to the base of the Transamerica building, where a bunch of masked anti-Scientology protesters were amassing, and saw the redwood grove planted behind the building.
At that point it was cold, we getting tired, and we had three hours until our dinner reservation. So we stopped for coffee at one of the ubiquitous Starbucks, and then wandered back to Union Square to visit the Borders Books. I bought a book called Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge. Yes, it's a history of royal mistresses.
And we finished off the evening with some rather stunningly good seafood at Aqua. Mmm. It's good to be the birthday girl.
