fullThis is a cool place. I've been here once before, overnight in 1995 while driving home from an L.A. trip. I didn't see much other than from the car: I made sure to stop at Ghiradelli Chocolate, of course, and also a film-music-geek location, the record store that Intrada Records used to have. This time, I have more time. I don't have to make a high-speed pass...
My big accomplishment today, once I reached the hotel on Post St., was to walk to the Ferry Terminal and along a short bit of the Embarcadero. I zigzagged through downtown so I could walk past the TransAmerica pyramid. Window cleaners were working on two sides. I once again realized I could never do that job, and walked on. (It made me think of the film I'd heard had been planned once, with Jackie Chan as a window washer at the World Trade Center. A film cancelled by events beyond the control of Jackie Chan. (Or even Chuck Norris.))
So: so far here I've seen an anti-Bush protest, the top level of a BART station, the message "SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- THE CITY OF INDUSTRY" that's written on the side of a hill south of San Francisco (it was a detail in Daniel Handler's novel Adverbs), the bay, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the glorious sight of the roasted duck noodle soup and Thai iced coffee I was about to have for lunch.
Tonight is the reception at a gourmet pizza place. Now, I'm going to relax in my room, digest, and see if I can tune into Jayn (a former Portland DJ) on Radio Alice.
