Bay Area Blitz

I feel bad leaving the US in its hour of need. With the upcoming election, I feel that I should be spending the summer doing political work but instead I’m playing hooky. If I ever thought of myself as a person who makes a difference in this world, I’ll have to revise my view of myself soon. Frankly, I’ve already done so.

I’m leaving tomorrow to spend the summer back on Galiano Island in British Columbia. John left almost 2 weeks ago so I’ve spent the time on my own seeing friends and enjoying all the Bay Area has to offer. It’s been fun to take in many of my favorite activities. Last Sunday was my version of the perfect day. Here’s how it went.

I started by driving to Jack London Square and taking the 10:05am ferry to San Francisco. It was a gorgeous morning on the bay. After a quick 25 minute trip, I was met by a gargantuan motorcycle rally driving noisily along the Embarcadero. There must have been thousands of motorcycles as it went on for 10 to 15 minutes after I arrived and who knows how long before. To get away from the noise, I walked through the ferry building and then headed down the Embarcadero toward Fisherman’s Wharf. Stopping at Pier 23, I got a latte and sat at one of their outdoor tables to drink it. Continuing on, at Pier 39 I kept to the edge of the water and headed around the pier until I reached the sea lion docks. I’d read that there are now 2000 sea lions at Pier 39, the most there have ever been, and I wanted to watch them push each other off the docks, vying for space. Sure enough, crowding and bad behavior.

Leaving the sea lions, I walked up Stockton through a fairly quiet neighborhood and as I got to the crest of the hill, I enjoyed many quintessentially San Francisco vistas including Coit Tower behind some classic SF buildings, a fun wall inside a fire house, and a fellow sunning himself on his balcony. Always lots to see walking on a sunny day!

As I came down into North Beach, I ran into the Festa Italiana which I’d known about from reading the pink section of the SF Chronicle. There had been a 10k run where all finishers got salamis and there were also salamis hanging from the entrance to the festival. On the stage was a traditional italian musical group with both a male and female opera singer. I managed to hear their last song and they were followed by accordion players who I actually enjoyed even though I’ve never really been an accordion fan. There was some Italian dancing and very Italian foods on offer. I abandoned my usual no/low carb approach and had both a filled pastry and some pesto pasta, both delicious. People were out enjoying Washington Square park.

Leaving North Beach, I continued on Stockton through Chinatown and all the food markets along the sidewalks. Then I crossed California where I saw one of the California Cable Cars that I am becoming so familiar with now that I have been doing my SF City Guides walking tour twice a month since February. It was in front of the Ritz Carleton.

I then walked over, instead of through, the Stockton tunnel and into Union Square where I sat until a little before 2pm, I headed up to what used to be called the Geary Theater but has been renamed the Toni Rembe Theater after the woman who gave $15 million to ACT. I was there to see The Lehman Trilogy about the history of the Lehman Brothers firm that was started in 1844 by three Jewish brothers from Bavaria as a dry goods store in Montgomery, Alabama and ended in 2008 when it, by then a financial services firm, collapsed setting off the global financial crisis. It was three 1-hour segments for a total of 3 1/2 hours and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it, though June 23rd.

After leaving the theater, I walked down to the Powell station and took muni’s N Judah to meet Fraser and Jae in Cole Valley. We had a drink at Finnegans and then went to a Creole restaurant for dinner. Finally, I headed back to the ferry building and caught the second to last ferry of the night back to Oakland just as it was getting dark. The end of a perfect day! Now off to another beautiful place up North.