Today was another one of those days where everything aligned perfectly for a fantastic day. I was eager to get out of the room, and back into the city. Of course Vee had another full day of SAP class, but according to her, the class is very interesting, informative, and even somewhat enjoyable.
I started my day with another delicious breakfast in the atrium, which I inhaled just in time to make the shuttle to the airport, where I then hooked up with BART for a ride to the Powell Street station. Having a USAToday delivered to the room is such a treat, and I polished off today's just as I was ready to disembark. Yesterday, I spent some time online researching where I wanted to go, and my first stop was Rasputin's Music which happened to be right in front of me, on Powell Street, as I walked above ground from the train station. It was a few minutes before opening time, so I waited outside with a few other folks, and then got inside shortly thereafter. It was an interesting, eclectic store, kinda old-school, with a large selection of new and used CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, video games, shirts, posters, etc. It was 5 stories high, and I visited 3 stories of it, looking through their entire used and new metal inventory. Their prices were high, and I left empty-handed.
Next stop was the Visitors Center, just around the corner, where I picked up a few visitors guides and stuffed them into my daypack. I then spent a few minutes outside, standing alongside Market Street, analyzing the city map so as to orient myself in relation to the various places I wanted to visit. The next place I wanted to go was the Cartoon Art Museum on Mission Street. Actually, where I really wanted to go was the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but it is closed on Wednesdays. I crossed over to Mission Street, and started heading towards my destination. Along the way, I stumbled across the Yerba Buena Gardens, which was a little slice of tranquility along what I thought was a pretty shabby looking area along this span of Mission Street. Another unexpected diversion was the Sony Metreon, a sterile, futuristic, mall and digital entertainment experiment full of large interactive flat panel displays, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, IMAX, strange Sony-style retail displays, and a video game arcade that drained me of $10.00 much quicker than I had expected.
Once out of this Jetson-like experience, I continued on my trek. The folks at the Cartoon Art Museum gave me a warm welcome, then stripped me of my backback, as every establishment does, and directed me to the two exhibit halls towards the back. I found an entire exhibit full of original Garfield cartoons, by Jim Davis. In another area, were baseball-themed cartoons from the 40's-60's. In the back was a wall full of Will Eisner's "The Spirit" and other works, and on the opposing wall, a bunch of superhero comics like Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, etc. In the other hall was just about every other cartoon character you can think of from the 1900's to the present day including Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, the Simpsons, Foghorn Leghorn, Huckleberry Hound, Heckle and Jeckle, etc. I don't even like cartoons or comics anymore, but this is a pretty darn good museum.
By this time, I was getting hungry, so I found myself in a San Francisco original establishment, Boudin. This was a retail cafe offshoot of the big bakery that is famous for it's sourdough, and has been in business since the mid-1800's. Although I committed a sacrilege by not ordering anything sourdough-related, my turkey and avocado croissant sandwich was delicious. I ate outside where it was warm sunny and breezy. My double-cappuccino was adequate and I took it with me on my journey onward. I decided I wanted to see Chinatown, so I headed up Grant Street in that direction, walked through the "Gates of Chinatown" and peered in the strange shops as I continued up the hill through this main street of the neighborhood. It was mildly interesting for me, but not a whole lot different from the other Chinatowns I have seen in Philly, NYC and DC. As I continued though, I entered into an area called North Beach, and this I liked. It had an Italian influence and was chock full of tastey looking restaurants and eclectic bars. I knew I wanted to bring Vee here for dinner.
I cut across to Lombard Street, so that I could have a peek at what is known as the "Crookedest Street", and it sure lived up to its name. It is a perfect zig zag, with traffic one way down a steep hill, with beautiful gardens lining each zig and zag. I snapped pics from the bottom, then climbed to the top, and got some more beautiful shots from there. I continued down Hyde so I could check out an area known as Russian Hill. The views from here were amazing. You can look out over the Bay, with views to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, the Pier, the Wharf, and onward. Stunning. I took a short break in Russian Hill Park to re-orient myself, and figure out how I wanted to get back to the Powell Street Station to meet Vee. I took Mason, which was pretty boring, then cut onto Columbus, where I found a Tower Records to explore. I listened to a few tracks off the new CD by Nickel Creek, a bluegrass band, and continued on my way. I hopped back over to Powell Street where it is more interesting, and stopped in Union Square to read The Guardian paper, and wait for Vee. She got my text message earlier in the day, and was already on her way downtown. She had miraculously caught the 5pm shuttle from the hotel to the airport, even though she was a few minutes late because of her class. Then, when she got to the airport, the BART train pulled up just as she got there, and thus was whisked away in near record time to the city. We managed to hook up via cell phone, despite our dying batteries and missed voicemail messages and happily reunited outside the station on Market Street. We walked back up to Union Square to discuss our days, and agree on plans for the night. I had already picked up tickets earlier in the day for the play that we would see, so that was taken care of, and now it was time for dinner.
So we hiked through chinatown, on up to "The Stinking Rose" restaurant in North Beach. It's name derives from the fact that almost everything on the menu is cooked with LOTS of fresh garlic...thus, the "stink". We were seated immediately, our order taken just minutes later, and in less than 5 minutes, our entire meal was on the table. The atmosphere was eclectic, just as I had hoped, active, and colorful. Absolutely unbelievable, and the food was SUPER! Vee had a mouthwatering chicken and vegetable lasagna, and I had a cherry tomato, pepper, and olive pasta, and we shared a potato leek soup. I had a "Fat Tire" beer, which was okay, and for dessert, we shared a "Grande Tiramasu"...and it was MUY grande, in a huge martini glass, with a thick layer of whipped cream on top. Vee finished with an espresso, and we were back out on the street in perfect time to bounce back down through Chinatown and up Sutter to the San Francisco Playhouse for the 8pm showing of "Art". It was a very good play, just one act, 3 characters, and about 80 minutes long. The actors were a riot, the dialogue was sharp, and the plot was engaging and enlightening. It was everything I had hoped it would be. It was a very intimate playhouse, with the company only in its second season, and with only about a hundred seats. The Executive Producer was also the Box Office person, the usher, and the MC. After the show, despite wanting to hang around and mingle with the actors and producer at the after-show invitational, we hustled back to the train station and caught BART back to the airport. The last shuttle runs from the hotel at 10pm, and since it was about 10:25, I was afraid we would have missed it, but to my surprise, we found out through a phone call to the hotel that it was on it's way, and would be there to pick us up in 2 to 3 minutes. PERFECT!!!
This was a day to remember. So much seen, so much experienced. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. At least in the morning, I can expect a more vile version of the garlic-breath I'm cursed with right now!
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