Retail therapy and discovering the Peninsula

We’ve just had a long weekend, as yesterday was President’s Day. Needless to say, we did not celebrate it by revering George Bush in any way. On Saturday morning, we headed to the Ferry Building, which is no longer a ferry terminus, but has been converted into a mall of gourmet food shops. We actually went there for the farmers’ market, which is held just outside. You get to browse the stands, all selling interesting produce – some of which you are able to taste – then end up handing over wads of cash. It was good fun, though, and we came away with some locally produced olive oil and cheese, among other things. Waiting for the bus with us was an Amish family on holiday. I was transfixed, I’m afraid, and at first sight thought they were in some kind of fancy dress (I had already walked past an Abraham Lincoln look-a-like that morning). They looked just like they had stepped out of the nineteenth century: women in bonnets and aprons, men with tall hats and bushy beards.

Saturday was a gorgeous day (in fact, the whole weekend has been lovely, but Sat was warmest), so we took our books to the beach in the afternoon, then had a nice coffee in a café in the Marina district. In the evening we went to a party at the flat of a couple of Jon’s colleagues, about a ten minute walk from us. We had a great time, and got to know some people, including a girl from Sheffield! Stayed up way past my bedtime though, which meant Sunday morning was a bit of a write-off.

After a lie-in, we went downtown to do some shopping on Sunday and popped into City Lights Bookstore on the way, a charmingly old, anachronistic shop famous for its connections with the Beat movement. When we tired of Market Street, we headed back home through Chinatown and bought a few cushions to brighten up the flat. We also had some nice Dim Sum, washed down with lovely hot Chinese tea. Sunday was in fact Chinese New Year, but bizarrely, apart from people letting off fire-crackers, business seemed very much as usual.

Yesterday we started with a long run along the waterfront, then set out in the car along the coastline south of San Francisco. We stopped at various beaches, but it was far too windy for lingering long, although some brave souls were paddling and attempting to sunbathe. We did have a pleasant stroll along the cliffs, though, before taking a look at Half Moon Bay, a quaint little town stuffed full of art galleries and the like. We decided to have dinner at a microbrewery (pub where they brew their own beer) in a fishing village called Princeton on the way back. There was a wait for the table, so we meandered out onto one of the jetties and saw starfish on the rocks. Back at the pub, the food was excellent (as was the beer), so we happily troughed our way through it, piling on all the calories (and more) that we’d burnt during the jog. Jon had fish and chips with proper chips (not fries), not unlike back home. We hope to return to the Peninsula coastline in the not too distant future to see the elephant seal colony a bit further down.