san francisco

Nick, a friend of Paul's from Cape Town, whom I met in London, now lives in San Francisco. With the bustle of the holidays over, Paul contacted him. We didn't turn down his invitation and promptly used Dad's United companion passes for a four night stay with Nick in his lovely Pacific Heights apartment. The springlike weather in Colorado was on its way out, replaced by a winter storm, so the timing was perfect. We enjoyed the ocean air: cool, but fresh and balmy compared to Colorado. We got to see San Francisco covered in its gray mantle but also unveiled in its sunny glory of cobalt sky, deep green ocean, colorful Victorian houses bathed in sunlight and all of it accented by the unique red gold of the Golden Gate Bridge.

My first feelings after leaving the underground BART train and emerging in the middle of the business district's skyscrapers was that I missed London. I hadn't thought much about it until I was back in the atmosphere of the big city again.



This homesickness for London was further intensified as walked through charming neighborhoods of terraced and detached houses in some of the most beautiful examples of Victorian architecture I've seen.













We did as much sightseeing as time, Tim and our feet could stand. The main events are all in a relatively small area, and so we walked. We learned quickly to choose our route based on the streets that were on a similar altitude instead of sticking to the straightest line. The hills are not exaggerated. Our shins have muscles we didn't know existed. We went through Chinatown on our way to Coit Tower and were surprised by an excellent parade. Chinese New Year was Monday but we didn't expect to see celebrations early.






Coit Tower was built by an eccentric woman to celebrate fire fighters. It's supposed to look like the nozzle on the end of a fire hose. The paintings inside are impressive and a nice celebration of the worker.





We didn't see all the sights, so we'll have to go back, but we got in enough to feel like we've been to San Francisco. Including Chinatown, we got in the area frequented by the beatniks.











We made a trip on the cable car from near Union Square to Ghiardelli's Square and Fisherman's wharf, including a walk back up hill to Lombard Street, the curviest street in the world. I didn't know that cable cars are called this because they use a cable that runs under the ground to move them. A mechanism under the car grabs the cable and the operator controls how fast the thing moves.





While enjoying our lunch at Fisherman's wharf, a pro-life march began. We ate lunch and left before the end. It was peaceful and active. I may not agree with them, but I appreciated that they were doing something about what they believe in a place that encourages such action. This also reminded me of London.

Like the Eiffel Tower to Parisians, the Pyramid was not well received by San Franciscans. I like that this is a city with a building impressive enough to be disliked.



Alcatraz is so close that the prisoners must have felt they were being doubly punished to be imprisoned and so near to such a lovely place. Some of them had million dollar views. We didn't go out for a tour.



Reading over this entry, I realize that it sounds like I'm feeling a bit of the small town blues here in Fort Collins. That's not true. I like it here and seeing it through Paul's eyes is a great experience. It continually gets ranked in the top ten places in America to live. It's what we want for now, and I hope you'll come for a visit once we get our own place. I'm fortunate to be able to call London home as well, and this trip has just reminded me of that.