Or Julie's Big Adventure in SF!
Long story short, I had a hotel in SF for Thursday and Friday nights. Union Square, not where I would normally stay but it was a Priceline deal, so there it was. A fine room. And come on, to be in SF on Thursday when the Giants won the pennant? How cool is that? Well, I must say, very fucking cool. I had options. I picked option number 1: to be in the city by myself for that one night. I visited three different bars, drank 4 delicious Manhattans and watched the Giants on many TVs. The last was at the Taverna on Belden Place; everyone, the chef, the prep cooks, dishwashers, waitstaff, everyone was at the bar for the last two innings. It was frigging exciting, lots of yelling, lots of high-fives. Walking back to my hotel it wasn't as crazy as it was near the ballpark but it was loud and everyone was happy. Grins from ear to ear, on pretty much everyone.
Friday I left the hotel around 9:00 and walked. I walked for about 3 hours, through Chinatown, down to Battery and Sansome, near Coit Tower, down almost to Pier 39, back around to the Ferry Building and past, back up through Soma to Market and back to upper Union Square. Just walking, no dog, no agenda, just looking at the city. Sat outside at Cafe Presse, pretended I was in Paris (and why are all these people speaking English?) and had salad and two glasses of wine and Tarte Tartin. Watched large buses of tourists roll by, most of them trying to take photos or videos of what they should have been looking at. Temps were in the low 70's, it was beautiful.
One thing that struck me was how many people walk while looking at their phones, not at their route or the city or the people or the day. Just at their phones. They must have some inner radar because collisions are rare. But why not look up? Why not look at the people around you? The city is such a great place to watch people, why just look at a tiny device? It's an attachment I will never understand.
More tomorrow.
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