My impression of San Francisco is that it's a friendly city.

X and I headed up to Portland on Friday night to stay at Jay's before catching the plane early in the morning. We arrived too late at his house to actually talk to him. We missed his birthday party (otherwise known as JayCon) on Saturday, but we did leave him a birthday card. I hope he had a grand time, and if I know Jay, I bet he did.

So we arrived in San Francisco around eight in the morning. The plane flight was quick and painless. I read Stephen King's Bag Of Bones. From the airport to the hotel, we rode the BART. It was familiar Oregon weather: cool with gray overcast. The bay wind made it even cooler. Glad X told me to bring my coat. She was right.

The hotel wasn't ready to give us a room. It wasn't even ten yet. So we left our bags with the hotel and walked the streets to find a restaurant.

We found a great Brazilian restaurant. It was too early for the lunch menu so we had breakfast. The food was good and we were eager to go back there to try dinner. Alas, we never made it back. We had the world's friendliest waiter who was just ecstatic that we were Americans. We were the first Americans in four days--it seems the hotel next door (not our hotel) has a lot of foreigners, and judging by the excitement of out waiter, they're demanding customers. The waiter was from Brazil (has lived in SF for twenty-some years) and spoke with a thick accent. He gave us free orange juice. I praised the coffee. We left him a generous tip. We were the only customers in there the entire time. Oh, we had fried banannas for dessert--mmmmmm.

Our first day included a ghost hunt by one Jim Fassbinder. Our host was funny and a great storyteller. He led us though Pacific Heights and showed us various haunted houses and mansions. Unfortunately we saw no ghosts but there was an eerie trick with an old key that turned by itself in the palm of his hand. We learned much history, one fact being the rich would move to Pacific Heights, build a mansion, and paaaaaaaar-tay. "You will find this is the theme of Pacific Heights."--Jim Fassbinder

Much of day two was spent with friends from Cleveland. Kat and Eric helped make this trip possible since they paid for our room. They brought their six month year old baby, Carolyn, for her west coast premier party. We spent the day at this great apartment eating and talking.

Monday was the bulk of our sightseeing. Monday was a bright, clear day and warm. We needed to leave for the airport by four o'clock so we started sightseeing early in the morning. Kat led the way, pushing Carolyn in the stroller. Kat has been to SF before. This was Ximena's second time. This was my first time in San Francisco. We rode on the streetcars and I must say I had the most fun on those things. Maybe it's the novelty of it. I hung over the side and had a blast.

We went to Ghiardelli square (ate some chocolate) and saw a neat mermaid fountain. Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf, ate some crab salad, and took a gander at the sea lions. I saw the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Kat asked around for a good dimsum restaurant and found one at the edge of China town. It was good and cheap. We were the only non-Chinese there.

We had another ride on a street car to get back to the hotel. The car operators are funny and like to joke around with the tourists and riders. And we ran into the friendly waiter from the Brazilian restaurant. Still friendly.

Then we were back on the Bart, back to the airport. There's still so much to see San Francisco. I can't wait to go back.


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I recently received my rejetion from last quarter's WOTF contest. Deadline for this quarter is at the end of this month--next Wednesday. I have a deadline.