San Francisco

"Journee, have you ever been on BART?"

"Grandpa, I don't even know what a 'BART' is..."

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Hello San Francisco, my most favorite place on the West Coast. Last Monday Journee and I had the pleasure of traveling with my dad via BART from Walnut Creek area (where we were visiting some dear friends) to the city. Earlier in our vacation, one of the girls which we were visiting was telling me about her fairly new job in the city and how she commuted daily and I commented that I didn't think giving up an hour of my time twice a day to get to work was something I could ever enjoy doing. However, once on BART, I may have changed my mind... Public transportation is SO entertaining. As long as I had a pen and paper, I could travel back and forth all day just watching and documenting the people that spilled on and off of the subway cars. It was interesting to see in the mornings how every.single.person was on their cell phones or tablets. I stared people up and down and I don't think one person looked up at all to make eye contact with me. Journee and I began playing a game where we guessed what each person's name might be, like the "Mike" the tall fair skinned and freckly kid about my age with a long red beard and orange band tee who was propped up on his clearly well used bicycle. Or "Lisa," the Asian lady with the newscaster hair and plumb colored sweater who's eyes didn't leave her cell phone from the second she walked into the car from the second I could no longer see her walking away. Because her eyes were so lost in her technology she didn't even bother to look for a place to sit, and leaned right up against the doors in front of the "DANGER: do not lean on doors" sign. It definitely took some guts on Lisa's part, my overactive imagination had me glued to my seat, with the fear that hitting the wrong bump would send those doors flying open and anyone near them plummeting to their death. Thankfully, she and her cell phone made it safely to their designated stop. As for us, naming people and imagining what their lives were like and where they were headed was just the beginning of our people watching fun. San Francisco is just one of the most fascinating places I have ever been. From the second we stepped onto the streets we were bombarded with diversity. There are so many beautiful people who looked like they just stepped out of a magazine advertisement. People in pajama pants, people in suits. People to every extreme. As we walked up the stairs from the subway onto Powell street a stalky-tattooed-islander looking man was screaming into a megaphone about Obama. I could hardly make out any words of which he was speaking, but it was clear he wasn't too fond of the president. A black man sitting on the ground a few feet away started telling him to leave Obama alone. The man with the megaphone screamed at him to shut up. I think the immediate experience may have slightly frightened my child, but I couldn't help but giggle. This is San Francisco. 

  

We did a little bit of walking around before catching a trolley down to Fisherman's Warf. The trolley ride, and building viewing was just as entertaining as the people watching for me. The architecture through out the city is incredible. Even the not so glamorous buildings are just beautiful. What I wouldn't give to make this city my home...

I don't think Journee was particularly found of the smell down by the water. Everytime I looked down at her she had such a disgusted look on her face and kept pulling her sweatshirt over her nose to block out the not so pleasant smell of fresh fish.

We spent a little bit of time walking around an old arcade down on one of the  piers. The games weren't too exciting, in fact many of them were quite strange (yes, like the Bimbo Box where twenty-five cents sends a bunch of stuffed animal monkeys into a dancing fit), but playing tourist and checking things out was entertaining within itself.

Making wishes in the fountain.

We enjoyed some melt-in-your-mouth cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes shop in Giradelli Square.

We did a little walk through of the Bueno Vista hoping to grab one of their famous Irish coffees but the place was so packed and with my little mini still being quite underage, the only available bar seats weren't an option. However, the small cafe did provide us with an awesome suprise when we ended up running into our amazing friend Caron who watches Journee a few days a week after school. Can anyone say small world? 

One of my absolute favorite parts about the city was all of the art galleries. I wasn't really allowed to take pictures inside of any of them, but I could've spent hours just gawking at the artwork. Wall sized paintings by Phillipe Pasqua, 3D metal art by David Kracov. I didn't catch the name of the artist in the above picture so if anyone recognizes the work, fill this lady in.

We tired much more quickly than usual, probably because of the few hot days spent around the pool proceeding our visit into the city, so we ended up calling our day somewhat early. But needless to say, the trip was entertaining as San Francisco usually is.

I will be back, and next time I won't forget my camera or my notebook. Until next time San Francisco.