Today was another walking day, and another park day. We started the day late, after a bit of sleeping in. After a bit of breakfast/lunch in the wharf, we took the bus to Golden Gate park, where we walked around the japanese tea garden. It was very serene and i imagine it looks awesome in the summertime, when everything is in full bloom. It was still quite nice, and I managed to take some nice pictures, including a shrine, a buddha and the Zen garden, among others. That's one thing that struck me of San Francisco, it has an abundance of green spaces and parks. We took another bus and headed over to Alamo Park, where we saw lots of doggies and the postcard row, the most photographed Victorian houses in all of San Francisco.
It was still early, so we decided to walk a bit more, and headed off towards the wrong side of the tracks, as it were. We saw City Hall, and then did a bit of a walk on Market Street. Hooah… Run down shops, panhandlers galore, and the smell of urine in the air. It's amazing the difference a few blocks makes. After that, we headed over to the trolley terminus, and waited in line with a nice couple from Philly. The cable car ride was really fun. We did the whole Powell-Hyde line. Mg and I were right in front of the trolley, hanging out of the car. I had to give my backpack to a nice couple that had driven up from Tijuana for some holidays. You know that SF is hilly, and from walking up Hyde street yesterday, it's steep as well. Going down that hill on the cable car was something else though. Looking down the hill is something you have to see to believe. When you're on top of the hill looking straight ahead, you don't even see the down slopes. That's how steep they are.
After that, we came back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, let the blisters on our feet cool off, and get ready for dinner. We wanted to go to the Moose, so we headed up to little Italy. Reservations would have been a good idea, as our first two restaurant trials were booked solid. We ended up on the wharf again, and managed to find what turned out to be an excellent Sicilian restaurant that was superbly attentive to my allergies. I love it when I'm put at ease like I was tonight, and I usually show it through a good tip. I had a great piece of swordfish, a bleh espresso and a very good port.
I talked to Mg over dinner. We came to the following conclusion: good riddance 2003, may you burn in hell. Job worries, family worries, health worries, lack of female companionship, 2003 sucked. On the plus side, I've made many new friends, like Strychnin, Black_tulip and Hyde_grrl and met Sparrow for the first time. There were some good moments to be had, but overall, 2003 goes down as a bleh year and I'm glad it's over.
So as I'm writing this, I'm busy working on getting tipsy, listening to some tunes on my laptop, talking to a little bird, and getting ready for our evening on the Bay. We reserved seats on a boat tour of the Bay at night, and we're going to watch the fireworks by the Bay Bridge.
i agree… 2003 was not worth looking back on, on the whole.
ended on the same note most of the year was… a disappointment.
*flips 2003 the bird*
(http://livejournal.com/users/strychnyn)
Well, like I said, 2003 was the year I made your acquaintance, so that's a good thing. Then again, it was also the year you gave me the “lets be friends” talk, so that's less of a good thing :P
Still, having you as a friend means I'm ahead on the deal as a whole, so I can live with that :)
(http://livejournal.com/users/talisker)
you're going to get the “let's not be friends” talk if you keep going on about it.
(http://livejournal.com/users/strychnyn)
ok, ok, jeez. I meant it as a joke, lighten up :)
(http://livejournal.com/users/talisker)