Serena Epstein » windy

San Francisco 2010, Day 5

Serena — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:57:19 +0000

Our last day was spent revisiting places we didn’t spend enough time in earlier. We made a quick tour of Japantown, where I ate a crèpe.¹ Went into every Japanese grocery store within a 4-block radius, passing up fresh octopus for delicious but hard-to-open fruit drops.² Also picked up a pair of handy collapsible chopsticks. Headed back to the Lumiere to watch the animated shorts, followed by a very satisfying dinner at one of the city’s best Thai restaurants.³ After that, we repacked our things and went to catch a bus to the airport. Instead, the bus breezed right past us despite shouting and waving. We were grouchy the whole taxi ride to the airport.

Yes, I know it’s wrong to eat crèpes in Japantown. But there were TWO crèperies there! What was I supposed to do, ignore them both?
It took me a good 10 minutes to pry open the tin with a nickel I had in my pocket. It turns out there is a beer-flavored version of the same candies. Who knew?
Surprisingly, it was right near our scary neighborhood.

San Francisco 2010, Day 4

Serena — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:13:04 +0000

Most of day four was spent on a couch at our hostel, getting some design work done. I escaped just in time to see clouds covering up the sun and realize that the Asian Art Museum was free the previous Sunday instead of Tuesday. Whoops. We trudged back to the hostel¹ and discovered that the Oscar-nominated shorts² were playing just a short walk away at the Lumiere Theatre.³ After watching the live-action shorts, we took the bus to Ghirardelli Square, bought a large back of assorted chocolate squares to split, and then finished the day at our favorite Indian restaurant.⁴

Past a grouchy-looking prostitute and a gas station billboard with a J.D. Salinger quotation.
Watch all of them online here!
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie theater. It was small and a little shabby, but had exactly the kind of patrons I love to watch movies with. And is right across from a great thrift store.
It’s half Indian restaurant, half Irish pub, and the combination is exactly as weird as you’d expect it to be.

San Francisco 2010, Day 3

Serena — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:17:34 +0000

On day three we followed a painted truck into Japantown, visited every thrift store in Haight-Ashbury, ate surprising pasta, and made it back downtown in time to see something very San Francisco: a protest.¹

MUNI was increasing the price for monthly passes, which is already ridiculously high. We got this information from a very helpful woman sitting barefoot on the sidewalk and rattling things. Can we talk for a minute about things I hate? The MUNI logo is pretty awful. I mean, who thought that would be a good idea? Clearly someone was all like, “Oh, I know. We’ll make it all CURVY like Lombard Street but in the shape of the word MUNI. I’m so clever!” Bad choices. They should have stayed with the old logo, which was classic and charming.

San Francisco 2010, Day 2

Serena — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:08:51 +0000

Took the tram to The Castro, explored, ate our traditional lunch at Orphan Andy’s, climbed the hill in Buena Vista Park, endured very windy weather, and watched a bizarre hilltop ceremony.¹

They climbed the hill in silly costumes, with pantyhose over their heads, and began to play strange instruments. Pretty sure one of them was banging on a drum with an oversized kitchen whisk.

San Francisco 2010, Day 1

Serena — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:48:46 +0000

We started off the day with bagels at our hostel on the edge of the Tenderloin.¹ Wandered into Chinatown for the New Year street festival, then ended up at Ghirardelli for ice cream and free chocolate. Watched the sunset over the bay and played in the sand.

It was an alarming neighborhood. Shouting and banging in the streets at night, ambulances every few minutes, prostitutes on the corners, and a friendly “GO TO HELL” sign in the window opposite ours. I don’t remember any gunshots, but I’m a pretty heavy sleeper.