Departures and decadence

Yet another tough week at work – I’ve just got so much on! Still managed a couple of nights out with Dan and Michelle, though: the healthy delights of Samovar Tea Lounge followed by less healthy cocktails at the Top of the Mark on Thursday, then North Beach Italian (Café Divine on Washington Square) on Friday. For once, it was actually clear at the Top of the Mark and we were able to enjoy the views over the city and bay. Rob, our friend from university who now works for Google, is over for work, and he met us there. We were pretty much obliged to go out on Friday, even if we hadn’t planned to, as a power cut – presumably caused by the heavy rain we had that day – brought darkness to us and our immediate vicinity for some 12 hours.

Saturday was a day of departures. Dan and Michelle left for home – but not before doing a bit more sightseeing and meeting me for lunch at Caffè Sapore. The weather was glorious, so we sat outside in the sunshine. Jon also left – for New Hampshire, where he’s attending another test event. I headed over to see the sealions, whom I’d not visited for a while. There were hordes of them, and they were either sleeping or fighting in highly amusing fashion. After doing some food shopping, I returned home and then headed out to the famed City Lights Bookstore. I’d decided it was time to read some more San Franciscan literature, and purchased The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, as I’d grown interested in them after seeing or hearing them most days for the last several months.

Today I awoke to fog, but still headed out on my 5½ mile run to Crissy Field and back. I then got ready to go and meet Rob, who, it turns out, is staying in a fabulous hotel downtown, with a lobby like an art gallery. We took the bus out to a rather grey Cliff House, perched on a rock above the ocean. We indulged ourselves in a champagne buffet brunch to the sound of harp music, which felt very decadent indeed. It was only right that we should take some exercise after gorging ourselves so heartily, so we took the coastal trail up to Seacliff, onto Baker Beach and beyond to the Golden Gate. Bizarrely, the fog was only hanging over the ocean side, while the bay enjoyed relatively sunny skies. We picked our way down to Crissy Field and headed on to the Marina District, past the lovely Palace of Fine Arts. After more than six miles of hiking from Cliff House, we were certainly ready for a hot beverage. My own new tipple is a chai latte – a gorgeous spiced tea with frothy milk. It was then back on the bus – to North Beach for me and downtown for Rob. Spoke to Jon on the phone. He’s arrived safely and successfully set up today. I miss him already, though!

L.A. or bust

I flew out on Friday evening to Los Angeles to join Jon, Dan and Michelle, who’d driven down there in a convertible Mustang they hired from San Francisco. They’d had a great time taking in the stunning Big Sur coast on the way down and visiting Hearst Castle, an absurdly opulent stately home. I’ll have to let Jon blog separately about his experiences en route.

We stayed in Venice Beach, at an art déco hotel rather past its best. Venice Beach turned out to be a rather schizophrenic place – very hip and trendy during the day, with lots of people roller-blading, selling art and otherwise parading down the promenade by a perfect palm-lined beach. However, at night it was a different story. Absolutely dead (nothing open) and populated only by drunks, drug dealers and the homeless. Really quite dangerous. Fortunately, Jon, Dan and Michelle had already found this out on the first night, so I didn’t have to subject myself to it personally! On the second night a fight broke out just outside the hotel – lovely!

After a hearty breakfast on Saturday, we headed up to the Getty Museum, which had been recommended to me by a colleague. This comprises an amazing collection of superbly designed buildings atop a bluff with panoramic views of the city, ocean and Santa Monica Mountains, accessed by a monorail from the car park. The buildings house the Getty Foundation art collection, an eclectic mix of pieces ranging from medieval manuscripts through the decorative arts to Monets and photography. It was such a beautiful space, with stunning architecture, fascinating art, gorgeous gardens and amazing vistas. The kind of stuff that’s good for your soul, especially after a difficult week. I particularly liked the Impressionist room, which included one of Van Gogh’s Iris paintings. Moreover it was free, since the Getty Foundation has so much money! We ended up spending a large part of the day there, before heading off to find the Hollywood sign (not easy!) and going for dinner at a Mexican in Santa Monica (just north of Venice, also on the coast). The food was great, but the service less than stellar.

On Sunday we enjoyed another nice breakfast at a café further down the promenade – a great place for people-watching. We then checked out and went to Hollywood Boulevard to look at the hand and footprints of the stars outside the Chinese Theatre, as well as the Walk of Fame. Didn’t spot any famous people, though – alas! Dan and Michelle dropped us off in Santa Monica, before setting off on the drive back to SF (we’d booked flights some weeks before, as we weren’t sure what their plans would be). We spent a bit of time on the beach (the weather was gorgeous) and browsing in the town, then flew back at just after 8 p.m. Amazingly, Dan and Michelle had a great drive and managed to beat us back!

It was a really fun and interesting weekend, but I was still happy to return to San Francisco. L.A. is a completely different place: really sprawling, which forces you to drive everywhere, and nowhere near as attractive. Not a place I’d want to live, in spite of the wonderful weather. I found myself looking down my nose at it a bit, which must mean I’m a true San Franciscan now! More photos are available on the Fotki site (http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick - password: moocow).

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!

Entertaining

We’ve had Andy and Sarah Catherall to stay for just over a week. It’s been lovely to have friends from home. They went off to Yosemite for a couple of days at the end of last week, then returned in time for a big night out on Friday (dinner at the Empress of China, followed by beers in the San Francisco Brew Pub, then more drinks at the Savoy Tivoli), which resulted in me feeling pretty rough on Saturday. In full tour guide mode, however, I didn’t let this deter me, and subjected them to a gruelling day’s sightseeing, beginning with the farmers’ market at the Ferry Building (in which we ended up buying some flavoured olive oil and a piece of original artwork – a wire sculpture of a gorilla!), followed by snapping the Painted Ladies on Alamo Square, then on to hippy-spotting and CD-buying on Haight Street. After that, we jumped onto a random bus, which by chance took us exactly where we wanted to go – the Castro via the foot of Twin Peaks – for a quick look around there and then a stroll past Mission Dolores to Valencia Street.

It was then up earlyish on Sunday for another whirlwind tour: over the Golden Gate Bridge and on to Sonoma Valley for some wine-tasting. We made a quick stop at the viewpoint on the way, but quickly retreated to the car as we found ourselves in the vestiges of the previous day’s rain – yes RAIN! The first we’ve had since April. We visited Benziger Estate and went on a little guided tour around the vineyard, before tasting their lovely wines. Our ticket also entitled us to a tasting at their twin winery, called Imagery, because they commission artists to do paintings for each individual label. Afterwards, we drove across the hills to Point Reyes and showed our visitors the little Earthquake Trail, which passes along the San Andreas fault. It was then on to lovely Bolinas, for a stroll in the early evening sunshine by the lagoon and a hearty dinner at Coast Café. Finally, we zipped over to Stinson to watch the sunset from the beach before driving back to the city via the precipitous Highway 1, stopping to admire the moon reflected on the Bay just before crossing the Golden Gate again.

Andy and Sarah left today. I think they had a good time. It’s hard not to like San Francisco. Take today, for example. I woke up to a stunningly beautiful day and admired the view over the Bay to Alcatraz and Mount Tamalpais during breakfast, enjoying the sounds of the wild parrots chattering in their morning flight, the sealions’ barking carried on the wind and the jingling of the cable cars. I took a cable car to work, occasionally catching glimpses of the Bay Bridge and beyond it the Port of Oakland, whose cranes were the inspiration behind the At-At walkers (monsters) in Star Wars. I then changed onto a bus that took me over Nob Hill past Grace Cathedral and the stately Edwardian homes of Pacific Heights. I then (sadly) had to settle into a morning’s work, but strolled out at lunchtime to have my sandwich in Alta Plaza park, with its views over the hills and landmarks in the south of the city. After a tough afternoon’s work and a trip to the gym, I returned to the flat and an unusually balmy evening, enjoying watching the twinkling lights over the water. Not a bad life!

A quick blog!

I’m a bit late with my blogging this week. Didn’t really do a lot at the weekend other than help a friend move flats (from South of Market in San Francisco to the Lake Merritt area in Oakland) and get ready for the visit of friends from the UK. One of the biggest excitements of the week was when Jon hired a Rug Doctor and we (or rather he, if I’m to be honest) cleaned our carpet. He really got into it because it involves lots of technical stuff and a whole host of chemicals. Anyway, the results were absolutely amazing. Our rather disgusting, very marked carpet has been transformed into one that looks almost like new!

Our friends, Andy and Sarah, arrived on Sunday afternoon. We went out for dinner to a local Italian, then showed them the delights of our favourite, rather Bohemian bar, Vesuvio. The last couple of nights we’ve eaten in, but enjoyed hearing stories of their adventures out and about. They’ve actually just come from Witchita, Kansas, where they were staying with a distant relative of Sarah’s that she had met over the Internet. It sounds like they had an interesting time there – it’s right in the Bible Belt of Middle America!

I heard from Mum on Monday morning that Dad had been taken into hospital for a hernia operation. Apparently he’s OK, but obviously it was quite a shock. He’ll be in for about a week. It’s pretty awful that I can’t visit. All the best, Dad – can’t wait to talk to you!

I also had quite a shocking week at work last week, but it’s calming down a bit now. The fog seems to have gone, which is great, but along with the bright sunny days we also have cooler temperatures, although I believe that’s due to some odd Arctic front that will hopefully go away soon!

Beachcombing

Had a busy week at work, albeit a four-day one! It was, however, punctuated by a night out on Thursday: my friend Gami celebrated her birthday at the San Francisco Brew Pub. Having suffered the trauma of being the only bloke among nine women all night, Jon craved a bit of male company, so suddenly announced a wish to go and visit his colleague, Ollie, who had been off “sick” (read: got drunk wine-tasting in Napa Valley and fell off his bike – admittedly causing quite a severe knee injury), so we promptly headed off to his place for another couple of hours, getting to bed very late for a “school” night!

On Saturday we headed up to Point Reyes, and did a rather foggy hike to the beach. It was such a shame that everything was so grey, because it’s a beautiful area. Still, the deer and pelicans didn’t seem to mind! Afterwards, we had an early dinner in hippy Bolinas, before heading to Stinson Beach and a holiday home belonging to my friend’s parents. Stacey – a friend from Shanti – had found out that there had been a late cancellation (the house is rented for much of the year), so organised a barbecue without further ado. We knew we were going somewhere special when we were greeted by a guard ready to take our details at the end of the road. We later found out that the writer, Danielle Steele, and the former mayor of San Francisco have properties here. The houses are strung along a narrow spit of land with the ocean on one side, and a large tidal lagoon on the other. There is even a second spit sheltering another, smaller lagoon. Stacey’s parents’ place was located opposite this small lagoon, directly on the beach, with steps leading down the dunes onto the sand. (Click here to see the location.) It was a gorgeous house. Four bedrooms and three bathrooms, all set around a planted courtyard with a huge kitchen-diner and living room looking out over the ocean. We had a lovely room with small windows facing the hilly backdrop and a little skylight directly above the bed. The next morning, we all took a walk down the beach to the village – a good mile away – to get that all-American essential, coffee. Then it was back to the house and a swift assembling of food for some 50 guests – children and dogs included. The rest of the day was spent eating, drinking, chatting, dog-patting and hoping that the sun would come out, which it eventually did in the late afternoon, and bathed the sand and mountains in golden light. We finally took our leave and headed back to the city down stunning Highway 1, which hugs the rugged coast for a good few miles before crossing to the other side.

I was still restless when I got home, so decided to go for a little walk. Headed up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower and joined the tourists watching the sun set over the Golden Gate Bridge – the peace disturbed only by the barks of sealions – before strolling down to Washington Square, past music-filled restaurants, the lovely St. Peter and St. Paul Church, old Chinese ladies out on their evening walk and the odd tramp settling in for the night. The good and the bad – mostly good – it’s all part of the fabric of a city I’ve come to love.

From Mountain Wonderland to the Wild West

We’ve just enjoyed a three-day weekend, as yesterday was Labor Day. Not being ones to stick around in one place for very long, we headed to Yosemite and the Eastern High Sierra. We’d decided to concentrate on a different part of the park, specifically the eastern end along the Tioga road, near Tuolumne Meadows. With its highest point at almost 10,000 feet above sea level, the Tioga Pass is covered in snow for much of the year and only open for about four months. We did one serious hike: a long (14 mile), but not too difficult trek from Tenaya Lake to Cloud’s Rest, which affords fabulous vistas in every direction, including a view straight down Tenaya Canyon into Yosemite Valley . On Monday, we did a couple of shorter walks – one through lovely alpine meadows to the naturally carbonated Soda Springs, and one up through the forest to Elizabeth Lake. We sighted lots of chipmunks and deer (including a doe with two fawns), but no bears! Part of me wants to see one and part of me would be terrified, but they’re so elusive! In summary, I was delighted with this area of Yosemite: a stunning landscape with lots of lakes and far fewer crowds, resulting in a quasi-religious communion with nature.

The other part of our trip was spent beyond the park gates on the eastern side. The Tioga Pass emerges near the weird and wonderful Mono Lake. Dubbed the “Dead Sea of California” by Mark Twain, it is 2.5 times as salty as sea water and lies in a huge desert-like basin at six and a half thousand feet elevation, sporting bizarre limestone formations on its shores called tufa. We had visited it on our big California road-trip back in 1999, so it was a bit of a blast from the past for us: we even stayed in the same motel and ate at the same diner, which isn’t hard given that the only inhabited place is barely a village with some 300 odd residents and seems to live entirely off the passing summer tourist trade. We marvelled at the tufa and swam – or rather floated – in the lake, experiencing the added buoyancy the salinity affords, but not liking the thick layer of salt it left on our skin!

On Sunday we also took a trip a short distance north to the ghost town of Bodie, 13 miles off the highway, three of them dirt. Bodie came about and enjoyed its short-lived heyday in the 1870s, when gold was discovered in the arid hills surrounding it. Declining yields and two major fires led to its demise, and it was finally abandoned for good in the early 1930s. Bar some necessary restoration, the remaining buildings are left pretty much as they were, crumbling in the elements and strewn with the detritus of departure. Quite amazing to think that it was once a lively Wild West town with regular shoot-outs together with plenty of drinking, gambling and opium-smoking in its saloons. Still, it must have been a tough environment, with its isolation, dry summers and snow-bound winters.

So, we had a wonderful escape – the only down-side being the discovery that my nose is prone to bleeding at high altitudes! Surprisingly, we had a good – if long – journey back (approx. 240 miles from Mono Lake). Of course, we’ve returned to busy times at work and the problems associated with transferring the mortgage on our house in the UK (the main one being that everyone involved seems to think it’s okay to charge you absurd amounts of money for doing practically nothing). However, with a weekend at the beach to look forward to, staying in my friend’s parents’ holiday home, it’s not all bad! Photos are available here: http://public.fotki.com/EllenHardwick/labor-day-weekend/ (Password: moocow)