The most recent trip I made was to San Francisco for four days in May 2013. My boyfriend was spending a week in Mountain View (about an hour south of SF) for his new job so I thought I would take advantage of his free hotel room.
I arrived on a Wednesday morning and took a bus from the airport to downtown San Francisco. I'd intended to go to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), but apparently it's closed on Wednesdays, so I went to the Museum of Cartoon Art next door instead. Afterwards, I looked around the multistory Alexander Book Co. and ended up buying a book by a Hungarian author, The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noemi Szecsi. Going to bookstores is one of my favorite things no matter where I am, and the next day I ended up at the City Lights bookstore, which famously published Allen Ginsberg's "obscene" poetry, offending the sensibilities of absolute squares everywhere. Across the street is Vesuvius, the bar where cool Beat Generation dudes like Jack Kerouac used to hang out. I sat on the second level, which looks down on the lower level, and creeped on people. Just kidding, it was one in the afternoon so no one was there.
In the nearby North Beach neighborhood, I had a coffee at no-nonsense Caffe Trieste before walking up Telegraph Hill, where trees blocked much of the view with their inconsiderate foliage. North Beach seemed like a nice neighborhood, with all sorts of cute little shops, most of them pizza places. After spending about an hour coughing from dust in an old maps store, I took the train back to Mountain View. I didn't realize the one I was on was an "express" train that didn't stop in Mountain View, so I had to transfer and cried a little bit when I got lost on the Palo Alto station platform (there weren't any signs, okay!).
San Francisco isn't that big in size, but it feels more like a real city than Seattle does. This is especially noticeable in the shady areas near downtown. Mainly because there are actual shady areas, which Seattle doesn't really have on that scale. Because I have some aversion to using public transportation for any distance under two miles, I walked through one of these areas on the way to Haight-Ashbury. I never felt in danger or anything--I just reassessed my choice to wear a skirt that rides up every few steps, which I'd probably be reassessing regardless.
On the way, I stopped to try some of this Blue Bottle coffee I've heard so much about. It was pretty good, but then again, I only got a (pour-over) drip, because working as a barista made me hate drinking coffee with anything other than coffee in it (although I do occasionally enjoy a cappuccino, it's surprising how many places can't make a decent one).
Haight-Ashbury is a former hippie, current tourist area with interesting vintage shops, cafes, and bars, and uninteresting souvenir shops full of tie-dye and hats with fake dreads coming out the back. I know the first thing I think when I get off the plane is: "Now, where can I find some tacky shops in which to purchase a onesie featuring a marijuana leaf for my future baby?" I would definitely rather buy ten drip coffees. Or ice cream cones. Or pizza slices. Or waffles. Why does everything I enjoy make me fat?
Saturday was the only day my boyfriend was able to spend in San Francisco, as he was working all week, so that was the day we did touristy things like go to Fisherman's Wharf, but mostly we ate tiramisu in North Beach/Little Italy and laid in a park drinking beer.
San Francisco Highlights:
The Victorian houses lining the streets make San Francisco's neighborhoods a treat to stroll. You won't even mind the many extremely steep hills.
San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest in the country. I ate at a vegetarian restaurant that had a sign on the door with pictures of various cute animals saying, "Love us, not eat us!" Precious.
The Little Italy area in North Beach near Chinatown is just the sort of place you want to be if your main interest in life is sitting at sidewalk tables outside cafes drinking coffee/wine/beer and eating tiramisu/gelato/pastries/pizza, which it probably is.
Museums:
In addition to original art on display, the Museum of Cartoon Art has the artists' books available to read. It's small but I really enjoyed it, except when a very displeased employee came through and berated me for having a coffee cup in the museum, then was condescending to the girl at the counter who had let me through with said coffee cup. Surely there are less rude ways to go through life. To be fair, she probably thought I was part of the school group that had just walked in, and if there's one thing I know it's that people who work at places where school groups visit hate school kids. Admission is $7 for adults.
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| Inside MoMA |
I was there in time to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) before it closed for renovations--it won't be open again until 2016. I really liked the exhibit on architect Lebbeus Woods, who makes up for his lack of implemented designs with creative futuristic ideas and delightful name. There was also an exhibit on Garry Winogrand, whose street photography depicts several decades of American life. Admission was a rather steep $18.
Musee Mecanique is a popular spot, due both to its location at Fisherman's Wharf and the nature of it: it holds several dozen old, mechanical, sometimes creepy coin-operated arcade games and a peculiarly large number of love testers. Admission is free, but most machines are .25-.50 cents, unless you get fancy with picture booths, which are $3-$5 for a sheet of stickers featuring your face.
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