San Francisco - Day 2

Day 2 (Saturday 25th Dec 04’):
Merry Christmas!
After waking up at 7 in the morning, Kunal and I set off for our day-long tour of the city. En route we stopped by three cafe's (two of which were closed), trying to get coffee and a croissant. I had already noticed how exclusive each cafe was in SF; as Kunal had correctly put, every store tried to do its own thing here. That is why, the idea was to have coffee from a place that specialised in a certain variety of it, such as the Dutch Cafe near his place. Ironically, though we ended up with a Starbucks' cup in hand, since that was the only one open.
Christmas morning was beautiful, crisp and clear with the sun shining in a perfect blue sky. (Soon I was to see that it would be my only ideal "Californian" morning in that entire week). We overheard a lady basking in the sun, with her coffee say " I dont believe I am sitting out in the sun, having coffee on Christmas morning." She must probably come from the east coast, where Christmas is synonymous with the snow, not the sun.
We walked towards Powell St. where Kunal showed me how the trolley turned, literally on a huge wooden turn-table embedded in the ground. From Powell St. we walked towards the SF MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). Kunal is a member with them and thought we could possibly start of our day with a little bit of art. So we walked through a public plaza and the Center for the Arts to reach SF MOMA, which was celebrating Christmas day as well. That left us with two pictures of the building from the outside before we moved on to the Ferry Building while walking through the SF downtown. It was near the Ferry Building that it started sinking into me that this was California, a better version than the one I had lived in before, with its picture postcard palms dotting the blue sky and the unmissable green and white freeway signage! Since the morning was foggy, we could'nt get very clear sights of the Bay bridge in the distance. We walked inside the Ferry Terminal building, which was uncannily empty on account of the holiday. Kunal showed me his favourite fusion restaurant, where his firm had their Christmas dinner last year. That's another thing about him, he's the food and drink connoisseur, almost like a google search machine, you mention the cuisine and he will reply back with the restaurant which serves it best!
An interesting note here, on the parallels of water and architecture. The water's edge in SF was very similar in character to the Thames's bank in London. I think it was by around this time that my mind had established the hypothesis that SF was somewhere between NYC and London ( two cities I am absolutely in love with), thus making SF another one of my favourites.
From the Ferry Terminal building we boarded a MUNI bus, that took us through all the piers and dropped us off at Pier 39. I had been to Pier 39 before, almost two years ago, but somehow it seemed more made-up this time. That can possibly be attributed to my wider exposure to America now, than before. So the Pier 39 experience was highly plastic, pretentious and had this dishonest quality about it, you could feel it's desperation to be a tourist site. The best thing about Pier 39 were the mini donuts that we bought and almost finished too soon. I wondered aloud to Kunal, how this conscise version of the casual donut had not found itself more shores than this one.
From Pier 39 we took another bus which took us to the Coit Tower, from where we could see the entire city. Thankfully the fog had subsided by then, so we got some marvellous views of the city, with the piers on one side, the bridges from the other and the city fabric all over. The city's slopes lend it the unique character as do the absence of swimming pools, unlike in LA, flying over which reveals blue pools within each backyard. Another important difference between both these Californian cities. I had begun to fall in love with the 'SF-California', more dynamic, creative, open and wild as I compared it constantly with the 'LA-California', plastic, pretentious and secretive (Had I said 'dishonest' instead, it would equal my experience of Pier 39)
The next stop was to be Lombard St. (a.k.a Crooked St.), but due to holiday service, we were left with two options, either walk it up all the way or view it from far away and set off to the next destination. We opted for the latter choice and after taking a few shots of the famous street in the distance, Kunal and I got into another exclusive cafe to grab a quick bite. The cafe in North Beach specialised in freshly baked bagels and their variety, a welcome break from the typical Dunkin Donut/ street car bagels of NYC. We opted to share a bagel with various veggies in it, while we waited for the trolley. That cafe in North Beach classifies for my "Exotic taste on the trip" list - clearly a list that comprises of eateries, where I eat, on my travels and remember for the rest of my life.
At this point I must also mention some more SF trivia: As I looked at the picturesque houses dotting Lombard St. Kunal mentioned how there were specific designers these days, to allot colours to the exterior facades of the houses. Although, it kind of messed up the theory I had held so far, that these colours are more user-defined than designed, I did begin to notice how remarkably dynamic they rendered the streetscapes. Most victorian-style houses dotting the slopes of SF, had a unique vintage character and colours, but what tied them all together was the 'Bay Window'- a term ( I was convinced by the end of this trip) that comes from the omnipresence of these windows in the Bay Area. A bay window is a window which enhances the function of a window - it lets you seat yourself in it and become a part of it. It's foot print is three-sided and it usually juts out from the facade of a house, over the street. The more techincal description is as below:
Bay window -- most commonly a three-sided window extension projecting out from the wall plane and forming a recess within; delineated by an interior decorative arch, a Victorian walk-in bay window can accommodate a small sofa or chairs, while shallower bays may serve as window seats
Back to the cafe, where we ate, while waiting for the trolley. It was time for my first trolley journey in SF and another historic fact: Kunal told me every trolley in SF has been bought from various cities all over the world. Each trolley proudly displays its unique history and place of origin on its interior. You can say it was my destiny to be on one which displayed "Los Angeles" on it. Figured as far as you may want to run from it, you land right into it.
The trolley took us into Chinatown, where on my insistence, we walked a bit exploring the various shops. The SF Chinatown is the biggest one in N. America and that means it would possibly also be the most authentic one, hence my insistence. We went store to store, tasting chinese titbits, from dried fruits to dried animals (the latter I refrained from) until finally I had this sudden urge to eat dumplings. We ended up at a restaurant that did'nt serve dumplings (It was like the time when I asked for 'mochi'- a delicious japanese dessert ball at a Japanese restaurant and was told they did'nt offer it). Thought to myself, how would it be if an Indian restaurant did'nt serve samosa. Kunal's more logical explanation was that it may be a regional delicacy, hence all Japanese restaurants dont serve it.
I didnt care..I wanted my mochi, the kind I always bought in Little Tokyo, en route to SCI_Arc, and I still had'nt found it anywhere else!
Post lunch, we took off to Kunal's office which was nearby. He gave me a tour of the splendid views his office has of SF downtown/ chinatown and I noticed the designed public places for the very first time in the city. Time for more California trivia: California is primarily man-made and designed, most of the landscapes are trimmed and pruned and very rarely would you find a tuft of grass not touched by a gardener's clippers. Also, cleanliness takes on another meaning here: After living in NYC, I had forgotten that this coast of the country, believed in cleanliness,
seriously!
Kunal then called his friend Cary, who lives in Dolores Park, while I got in touch with my friend Amar who was to meet us in the city somewhere. Turned out that Amar and group were also heading to the Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park, so we decided to meet there. Cary, works as a medical representative for Procter & Gamble (She was to market Vioxx, until it got taken off the market). She was a recent migrant to SF herself, from NYC, so we had a lot to talk about. Cary drove us to the Tea Gardens, where the three of us walked around and took in the beautiful lush surroundings of the Zen gardens. The garden was to close at 5:00 pm so Amar could'nt make it there in time to meet us.
From the garden, we took off to go to an Asian store where Kunal and Cary wanted to shop for some exclusive asian sweets. There, I finally found my 'Mochi'- the japanese dessert I have mentioned earlier.I bought a box of green tea mochi, which Kunal and I finished off before we even got out of the store, so I bought another box to take over to Raj's place the next day.
Amar had called and mentioned that he and his family were dining at this Indian restaurant called 'Shatranj' in downtown, very close to Kunal's place, so we headed off to meet him there. It was great to meet Amar after so long, although we barely got about 20 mins to talk to each other and catch up. We said goodbye to him and left to drop off our groceries at Kunal's place.
That's when Cary suddenly remembered she had forgotten to let the dog out, whom she was pet-sitting over the weekend. So three of us, took the little dog out for a walk in the evening, right across from her place, at Dolores Park. Viral had mentioned that Dolores Park has spectacular views of the city, since its on a hill. That was so true. We walked uphill on the lawns in the park and reached the top. As we turned around, this mosaic of lights just spread out before us; from suburban houses, to tall buildings in downtown and even the silhouette of the Bay bridge in the distance. It was similar to the night view, I had witnessed before, of LA, from a friends house on the hill top. It was like the perfect end-of-the-day feast, SF on a platter. I tried my best at steady-hand photography, with some success while Kunal and Cary walked the dog. When we were done, I had about 20 pictures to choose from.
Thus ended my second day in SF, full of walking up and down the streets of different parts of the city, viewing the 'bay' and the 'bay windows' and most of all always admiring the horizon up ahead - as unique as the sloping city it belonged to...
...3/4th street, 1/4th blue sky!