the trip to San Francisco

Yesterday morning we headed out. First stop was Half Price Books where we sold about 30 books. It was good to get rid of them. I bought some pretty notecards with a picture of sunflowers on them and a Nancy Drew journal--both were very inexpensive. Erik was looking for a textbook that wasn't there.

Then we went to Berkeley for lunch. We ate Indian-Pak food at House of Curries. The food was delicious, better than usual--the bangan bartha wasn't as hot as it usually is, so I didn't cry.

Then we went to San Francisco. We took the Embarcadero BART stop and went to the Ferry Building. It's full of interesting shops and restaurants. We had tea at a tea place, and my herbal infusion was the best herbal tea I had ever tasted. We looked at specialty groceries. I saw some beans I had never seen before called Pope's Beans. But my favorite thing to do at the Ferry Building is to sit out back and look at the water and the boats. So we did that. Little kids chased pigeons.

Then we headed to China Town, where we walked around hoping to find City Lights Bookstore, but we didn't have directions--oh well. We went into some shops that I found irritating and overwhelming. We walked through a park full of men playing some game with little, uh, tile things. I assume it was a gambling game.

I wanted to be early getting to Union Square so we could rest a while, which we did. Then I found S at the Cheesecake Factory. It's on the 8th floor of the Macy's building. We shared a warm hug hello. Talking with her was pretty easy. Erik and I split a pasta dish and then split a piece of cheesecake (Dulce de Leche). S had a monstrously huge salad, so big she took a picture of it--she was about to eat about a fourth of it--and ate half a piece of blueberry cheesecake. She taught us many differences between the US and Australia. She said blueberries were a very American food, for her, and so is cinnamon.

Then we were going to take her to the Ferry Building, but it was too long a walk for her, and she was only wearing flip flops, and it was getting cold. So we walked her to her hostel instead. She took a picture of us, and Erik took a picture of me and her. We shared a warm hug goodbye. So it was a good visit.

Then Erik and I went back to the Ferry Building to use the bathroom and so I could look at the water and the boats some more. We took the BART back to Berkeley.

Overall, it was an exhausting visit, and I don't plan to do it again anytime soon. We go into SF only rarely because I find it too much, but I did good, this trip, except for some mild panic in Chinatown. And some discomfort on the BART.