Opera and October sunshine

Went to the opera on Friday night – it was Tales of Hoffmann at the Legion of Honour in Lincoln Park. A nice drive up there with views of the ocean and Golden Gate. Opera isn’t usually my thing, but I did enjoy it – especially as they helpfully projected the words for the audience to read! We emerged to find a raccoon scavenging by the car, then saw another one cross the road as we drove off!

Jon had a cold and also needed to do his tax return on Saturday, so I headed off on my own: first for a run, then for a walk along the waterfront, from Crissy Field to the fort under the Golden Gate Bridge. The fort was open, and you could go right up onto the ramparts, overlooking the ocean and looking up to the bottom of the bridge, which is currently being retro-fitted to make it earthquake-proof - yikes! It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed meandering along the beach, watching the pelicans in low flight and a sealion diving into the waves. No fewer than two wedding parties were picking their way out on to the sand for photographs.

Sunday was another lovely day weather-wise. We headed to Chinatown in the morning to make a purchase we’d been meaning to for a while: an iron teapot. We wandered back up to North Beach, taking in a new sight along the way: Waverly Place, with its ornate Chinese balconies. We had a sandwich at a table outside Caffè Greco on Columbus, then proceeded to Mara’s Italian Pastry Shop for a coffee and a shared dessert. We took in some sunshine in Washington Square and watched the start of a parade outside the St. Peter and St. Paul church, before heading home and getting ready to meet our visitors, Dan and Michelle, from the airport. In the late afternoon, we took them over the bridge to take in some views from the other side, then on to a fish restaurant in Sausalito.

It’s been a busy and rather difficult week at work for me. It was broken up by a pleasant trip to a posh Greek restaurant on Tuesday evening, where we also saw our friends, James and Emma, but otherwise it’s been a toughie. I’m now on my own, as Jon, Dan and Michelle left today to do a road-trip down the coast to Los Angeles – I’m flying down to meet them tomorrow evening. In other news, the area where we live (North Beach) has been designated one of America’s ten best neighbourhoods by the American Planning Association!