Travelling back in time – 28th February. Again.
Today we went back in time. We left Nagoya at 3.55pm on 28th February and arrived in San Francisco at 8am....on the 28th February. Crossing that International Date Line was a first for us. It meant that we actually had 2 February 28ths. The second one was great fun. Arrived in San Francisco airport. Got a taxi driven by a seikh man in a bright pink turban straight to our hotel. The Fairmont is gorgeous. It’s on a hill (not unusual in san Francisco) and for a few extra dollars we upgraded to a room with a panoramic postcard view over San Francisco bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Absolutely spectacular. Must make the most of it as it will be cheesy motels after this. 
We went out into the rain down the nearly vertical hills to the Union Square area of the city. Seeing the hills and cable cars was oddly familiar. They feature in every karaoke video accompanying English songs in Japan. Many films are also set in San Francisco of course, like “Vertigo”. We plan to visit some of the places featured in that movie this week – the first one was easy – the apartments across from our hotel is where the character Madeline lived. It looks exactly the same.
Chinatown was great fun. There are a million dim sum shops, chinese souvenir shops, furniture emporiums and herbalist stores. Down an alley we found a fortune cookie factory. The "factory" turned out to be two ancient chinese ladies ladeling cookie batter onto an antique rotating cookie maker. I have never had a fortune cookie before - they were good! We bought a dollar bag of them and enjoyed upbeat predictions such as "Your kindness will secure a happy future" and sound suggestions such as "Ask advice from someone older than you".
We found a fabulous bookshop called City Lights but were too tired to appreciate it properly and must go back. It’s in an area of the city called North Beach (no sign of a beach but plenty of funky murals, bookshops, strip clubs and cafes).
We also checked out the touristy, yet fun Fisherman’s Wharf area. Ate fried fish, browsed the shops, stalls and museums and had a drink in an Irish bar.
I brought this laptop with me incase anything came up from work that I had to deal with, but it is lovely being able to keep my diary this way rather than having to type up my scribbled notes weeks later. Tomorrow I am going to try and get a camera. This city is so photogenic and being here without a camera is like being here without my arm.
We went out into the rain down the nearly vertical hills to the Union Square area of the city. Seeing the hills and cable cars was oddly familiar. They feature in every karaoke video accompanying English songs in Japan. Many films are also set in San Francisco of course, like “Vertigo”. We plan to visit some of the places featured in that movie this week – the first one was easy – the apartments across from our hotel is where the character Madeline lived. It looks exactly the same.
Chinatown was great fun. There are a million dim sum shops, chinese souvenir shops, furniture emporiums and herbalist stores. Down an alley we found a fortune cookie factory. The "factory" turned out to be two ancient chinese ladies ladeling cookie batter onto an antique rotating cookie maker. I have never had a fortune cookie before - they were good! We bought a dollar bag of them and enjoyed upbeat predictions such as "Your kindness will secure a happy future" and sound suggestions such as "Ask advice from someone older than you".
We found a fabulous bookshop called City Lights but were too tired to appreciate it properly and must go back. It’s in an area of the city called North Beach (no sign of a beach but plenty of funky murals, bookshops, strip clubs and cafes).
We also checked out the touristy, yet fun Fisherman’s Wharf area. Ate fried fish, browsed the shops, stalls and museums and had a drink in an Irish bar.
I brought this laptop with me incase anything came up from work that I had to deal with, but it is lovely being able to keep my diary this way rather than having to type up my scribbled notes weeks later. Tomorrow I am going to try and get a camera. This city is so photogenic and being here without a camera is like being here without my arm.
posted by Jo at
11:36 PM
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