No quotes tonight. No t-minus. This thing is still on Central Daylight Time, and the body is screaming for a bath and sleep!
It’s not even 10:00 p.m out here in San Francisco yet, but in my brain it’s midnight. :)
Oh, and I’m being technologically challenged, so this will have to be posted tomorrow outside the hotel. I think their mui-expensive wireless is disabling my sweet broadband service. At least I hope that’s what’s happening. If it’s not, then AT&T and I are going to have a “Come to Jesus” meeting over the phone in the a.m. BUT, not until after breakfast and coffee. :9
So, here’s the report. Day 1 of the San Francisco vaca.
The flight was lovely, and I won’t waste blog space on more detail there. The pilot did his job correctly, and God bless him!!
The driver picked me up at the airport and I looked out the window all the way to the hotel - and grinned, and grinned, AND GRINNED. :D
Oh, the temperature - 72 degrees - and a breeze - YES! Clear blue skies. The bay so big and beautiful - I had forgotten how big and beautiful. Then the Bay Bridge came into view. It gets short shrift with Goldy over there preening near the Marin headlands; but, I have always loved the Bay Bridge. There it was silver and gleaming today - proud of itself - maybe even knowing that an appreciative eye watched.
Then we rounded a corner, cleared a rise, and there was The City!!
Yes, I. Am. Here!
I’ve planned this trip, and made the trip in my mind in planning it. I’ve dreamed of this trip, and made the trip in my mind each time in dreaming it. All the photos in the world, and plans, and dreams never match up to the reality of a place - and *especially* not this place.
Now, I am here and I see its hills and sun. Now I am here, and I experience its cool breeze. Now I am here, and I feel its energy - its mystical nature - its *magic*!
In the hotel bar earlier this evening, I sipped a marvelous Malbec and looked out the windows at waning early evening light. I can’t believe how much of this place I forgot, while at the same time remembering so much of its mystery and charm.
I dined at Alioto’s - a San Franciscan historic fish restaurant - Italian and fish - Sicilians to be exact. Now this is a real fish place. Music a la Frank Sinatra plays softly in the background. This is a family place - a nice family place.
From my booth, I could see the sun setting behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, this is it - seafood in San Francisco with The Great Bridge as a backdrop.
I started dinner with a nice Chianti and some calamari (I’m Greek and I love my squid, people). Then I followed with a New England style clam chowder, and then an entree of grilled salmon, followed by fresh berries (strawberries and blueberries) and some coffee.
The sun dipped down enough to let the Golden Gate show its stuff - trying to show me that Bay Bridge isn’t all that (I still love the BB, though). There Goldy has been since 1937. It is an architectural wonder, and at one time it was the longest span of any suspension bridge. When one considers when it was built, and that only 11 men lost their lives building it, it is indeed a wonder. The safety nets (which failed only once that fateful day when those 11 lost their lives) set a new safety standard theretofore never achieved. So, the thing has more historic importance than just its mere existence.
It’s rough work sipping chianti, gazing out the dining room window at the Golden Gate Bridge spanning the San Francisco Bay, leading out to the Pacific, while watching the sun set and dusk fall. Yes, it’s rough work, but someone has to do it. So, why shouldn’t it be me? ;)
Time for bath and bed. Night y’all!
Oh, and breakfast HAS been ordered for tomorrow morning. :9
Polla Filia,
J.F.
Update: Broadband inexplicably dead in the water. Not going to get on 1-800-TechSupportHell with AT&T or the computer people. I bellied up and paid for the hotel’s internet. It actually wasn’t bad. So, I am now re-connectedddddd!!!!
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