San Francisco with Jordana

Earlier this month we went to San Francisco with our niece Jordana. She had wanted to go to Italy, so the next best thing was San Francisco, where we got to see an Italian opera.

Our first day was spent doing the "official" sights and sounds of San Francisco -- things that everyone who goes there really has to do, or they can't say that they've seen the city. From our hotel on Nob Hill we first surveyed the beautiful panorama northwards -- the Golden Gate bridge and the Bay, while, turning east we saw the Bay Bridge and beyond it the hills of Oakland.

After a leisurely breakfast and a transfer back to our original hotel (see the hotel post for that whole story), we stared on a walk down to Union Square. Wandering in that area we saw a gathering of traditional Chinese herbalists and doctors as a prelude to a community walk-a-thon of some sort. Then we wandered into a near by art gallery, where we got to see a couple of original Chagall and Picasso paintings -- pretty neat.

After that it was the obligatory (and enjoyable) cable car ride up over the hill and down to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. While we were there, the Navy Blue Angels were performing overhead (it was Fleet Week in SF, hence the press of crowds!). We got on one of the amphibious "Ducks" for a trip around town and out into the bay (Paul thought it was very cool to go into McCovey Cove and see the Giant's baseball park from the water!). We finished the day with a short walk down the water to the Ghiradeli chocolate outlet store, where Katy and Jo went crazy buying cocoa products.

The second day was more sedate. It started with a pleasant brunch at the hotel and then was occupied, almost exclusively by a trip to the San Francisco Opera to hear "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart. The music was delightful and the singing was quite fine. Jo loved it. And the superscript translations helped a lot so that you could understand what was happening. Though Katy likes opera more than Paul, we both enjoyed this adventure and the SF Opera House itself is a true classic to visit (the last time we were there, two of our friends had their wedding party in the atrium -- talk about cool!).

Day three was Monday and we took the time to go see some parts of the San Francisco beyond the downtown. We rented a Zipcar (great company!) and drove out across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausilito, where we wandered the town streets looking at art and jewelry and the view of SF back across the Bay. Then, for a good contrast, we took Jordana to Haight-Asbury so she could see how the counter-culture lives. Talk about oil/water mixes -- H-A is much as we remembered it. Filled with aging and young hippies hanging out, singing songs for money and reading progressive magazines and literature. They have a weekly protest against the war in Afghanistan at a local park, for which we saw flyers. In short -- two sides of the San Francisco coin -- progressive activists meet silicon valley zillionaires.

So, it wasn't Italy, but it was almost as good for Jo.