The rest of San Francisco
Apr. 24th, 2003 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sierciaI realized today I never posted about the rest of my trip. I haven't quite been in the mental headspace to post in here since I got back, but things are much better now.
ANYWAY. Worked at the paper, ironed out all their issues, got their user accounts setup, all the stuff they needed. We had another lovely lunch, and a generally all around good day. And, even more importantly, we managed to get finished at about 5:00. With assurances that traffic wouldn't be too bad going into the city, I tucked my map under my arm and hit the road. Traffic wasn't TOO bad, except for going over the bridge (and WTF, $5 to cross a bridge? Holy Christ!).
Got headed in the right direction off the bridge and driving through downtown. Found the, ummmm, interesting store that I wanted to visit while I was there, and bought myself a present (well, for Wiley too). Found my way from there to Union Sq, and got to the hotel without killing myself or anyone else. (For some reason I'm always inordinately proud of myself when I manage to navigate a new city, particularly when it's a "big" one like SF or NY).
I walked into my hotel and almost fell over, it was so swank looking. Beautiful in that way that hotels from the 1920's are, if they were fancy to start with - the lobby that was two stories high, with margle, giant glass chandeliers, abd beautiful furniture. Check in, go to my little tiny room in a funky little corner. The room is lovely. A little teeny bit shabby (minor things, like old tile in the bathroom, and older fixtures, that sort of thing, but nicely decorated, with a big window, and a comfy bed. Call Wiley, rave about the room, and the hotel, and the fact that I found the place without killing myself, then head out for dinner.
Dinner was yummy sushi at Kieron's favorite place, which was ashort walk from the hotel. Walked back afterwards, strolled around window shopping, tried to figure out what they were doing accross the street from my hotel (looked like some sort of film crew), had some random man seriously try to pick me up (Now I can no longer say that I've never had a stranger try and pick me up, because I have), went back to my room, and stayed up FAR too late talking to Wiley.
The next morning I was awake at the ungodly hour of 5:15, so I got up, showered, checked my mail, and got all packed up ready to leave, then headed out to wander until I had to leave to catch my plane. I caught the streetcar right outside the hotel, and rode down to the waterfront, doing the typical crane-my-neck tourist thing. Got off near Fisherman's Wharf, walked down to the water, then walked up towards Ghiradelli Square and the edge of Golden Gate park. It was foggy and cool, and it looked like the Golden Gate bridge was floating in midair. It was incredibly peaceful and quiet, and I loved it. It gave me some much needed time to do some reflection and thinking as well, which I needed badly.
Walked back to the cable cars and rode back to my hotel. Got some breakfast as "Sear's Fine Food" accross the street, then checked out and reclaimed my car. Drove to the airport without incident. Caught my flights without trouble, and made it in on time. The airline completely screwed me over for getting to my car, but that's a story for another time. Got home exhausted and collapsed.
End of story.
Dinner was at Sanraku, which had been rocommended by
ANYWAY. Worked at the paper, ironed out all their issues, got their user accounts setup, all the stuff they needed. We had another lovely lunch, and a generally all around good day. And, even more importantly, we managed to get finished at about 5:00. With assurances that traffic wouldn't be too bad going into the city, I tucked my map under my arm and hit the road. Traffic wasn't TOO bad, except for going over the bridge (and WTF, $5 to cross a bridge? Holy Christ!).
Got headed in the right direction off the bridge and driving through downtown. Found the, ummmm, interesting store that I wanted to visit while I was there, and bought myself a present (well, for Wiley too). Found my way from there to Union Sq, and got to the hotel without killing myself or anyone else. (For some reason I'm always inordinately proud of myself when I manage to navigate a new city, particularly when it's a "big" one like SF or NY).
I walked into my hotel and almost fell over, it was so swank looking. Beautiful in that way that hotels from the 1920's are, if they were fancy to start with - the lobby that was two stories high, with margle, giant glass chandeliers, abd beautiful furniture. Check in, go to my little tiny room in a funky little corner. The room is lovely. A little teeny bit shabby (minor things, like old tile in the bathroom, and older fixtures, that sort of thing, but nicely decorated, with a big window, and a comfy bed. Call Wiley, rave about the room, and the hotel, and the fact that I found the place without killing myself, then head out for dinner.
Dinner was yummy sushi at Kieron's favorite place, which was ashort walk from the hotel. Walked back afterwards, strolled around window shopping, tried to figure out what they were doing accross the street from my hotel (looked like some sort of film crew), had some random man seriously try to pick me up (Now I can no longer say that I've never had a stranger try and pick me up, because I have), went back to my room, and stayed up FAR too late talking to Wiley.
The next morning I was awake at the ungodly hour of 5:15, so I got up, showered, checked my mail, and got all packed up ready to leave, then headed out to wander until I had to leave to catch my plane. I caught the streetcar right outside the hotel, and rode down to the waterfront, doing the typical crane-my-neck tourist thing. Got off near Fisherman's Wharf, walked down to the water, then walked up towards Ghiradelli Square and the edge of Golden Gate park. It was foggy and cool, and it looked like the Golden Gate bridge was floating in midair. It was incredibly peaceful and quiet, and I loved it. It gave me some much needed time to do some reflection and thinking as well, which I needed badly.
Walked back to the cable cars and rode back to my hotel. Got some breakfast as "Sear's Fine Food" accross the street, then checked out and reclaimed my car. Drove to the airport without incident. Caught my flights without trouble, and made it in on time. The airline completely screwed me over for getting to my car, but that's a story for another time. Got home exhausted and collapsed.
End of story.
Dinner was at Sanraku, which had been rocommended by
(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-24 03:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-04-24 07:17 pm (UTC)But I did try the Sanraku special (I almost didn't, since I'm not usually a fan of eel), but since you'd made that as a special recommendation I tried it anyway, and it was fabulous! They had some other specials that night that were fish I hadn't tried before and I tried them too (since it didn't matter that they were expensive). Simply lovely.