A few years ago, about 5 now I'd say. One of a circle of friends (henceforth named "f00f") was seduced by the multi-faceted city of San Francisco. He is addicted and sticking around..... can't really say I blame him!
Only a few short years later, a second of the f00f gang was seduced by victim 1 and the city! :) She's really finding herself in this city. Given that it welcomes all kinds with apparent open arms, I shouldn't be surprised. It's wonderful to see her blossoming like that.
I met my Bry-man in the downtown core at about 1 pm on Tuesday. My head turned every few seconds looking at the giant shops, the community of homeless people meeting up in buzzing groups, the huge range of styles people were dressed, in a rainbow of colors. Giant signs to eat here, stay there, buy this; but set subtly into some of the most beautiful old preserved architecture I've seen in a long time. (Ahem, Vancouver... please stop tearing everything old down). Demonstrated by a store at the base of Powell and Market street (Forever 21 I think). It looked like the rich and famous would shop there, so grand was the entrance of columns. And the sandstone windows in the shop reached for the sky, exposing chandeliers and transparent curtains that ran on and up, seemingly forever.
We were staying in a place called "The Fitzgerald". I arrived and they called Bryan down to meet me. After all, I am a shady character... forget that i know his name and room number... I'm a STRANGER. Well, I learned later that we are actually staying near a super shady part of town called the "Tenderloin", (bahahaha!) so it made sense that she would scrutinize me! In actual fact, it was disclosed to us that we were staying in the 'Tender Nob' which is an area right in between the "Tenderloin" and "Nob Hill" (a more refined neighborhood). The "Tender Nob" is a 'sensitive' place....almost like the 'neutral' zone in Star Trek. We were treated pretty well by most of the locals, even though we did pay a few bucks here and there for directions...
We were on the 6th floor, and they had this real funky elevator that was like a converted closet, and the el-car would drop about a 1/2 inch every time we'd get in (hold me Bryan!). We took the stairs that first time, and that was it... from then on when we went upward, it was the closet elevator for us! Afterall, SF is a great place to walk, and we really worked our glutes and thighs as we explored. Thank god too... because just about every time we stopped walking, we were drinking some wonderful craft beer and stuffing our face a bit..... TBC....
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| Whatdya think? Take an hour to walk this off? Worth it! |
