San Francisco, Day 1

Yesterday, mostly I went to conferences and walked.  And walked.  And walked.  I saw very little that was of historic or touristy value.  I endured. 

Today, though.  Today....

Even if I have to beat people with one of my friend's storybook "long handled spoons," I am getting out of that convention center some and going to see this city. 

Because I think I like it here.

There is some indefinable energy about it I find really appealing.  I was very nervous about coming to California, to tell you the truth.  My experiences in Los Angeles were BAD.  People here, however, don't appear to be made out of silicone and attitude. They are, in fact, friendly, smiling, helpful.  And the mix of languages, cultures, ethnicities, is wonderful.  It's so nice to be in a place where I can hear other languages, many other languages, washing around me like a soft sea, none of it more, of course, than the sound of Japanese which is everywhere. The architecture is jaw-dropping in places, but not so much that it is...rude, if you follow.  The streets enclose and meander.  It is walkable (testament to that borne in the blister on the bottom of my right foot; my Chucks failed me). 

They have such a selection of things here.  There is art everywhere in that casual, everybody-should-have-it way that I think all cities should embrace, and those lovely little specialty shops that sell things that bring joy to my soul.  If they can exist here as they cannot at home, that means there are people here like me, people who also revel in them, too.  I like the thought of that.

There is also the fact that I probably, quite literally, could walk out of the front of this hotel, throw a rock in any direction, and hit a museum.  Not that I've had a moment to go in any of them, but how unusual.  How charming.  It makes me greedy for more time here. 

I am eating breakfast as I blog, Nutella on an English muffin that I bought in a wonderful market in a downstairs food court in a shopping center nearby.  I also started my day with two mikan from a big net bag from that same place.  I'll stroll out on my way to the convention center and pick up a green tea latte from the Starbucks in the lobby (since, as in every major city, they are ubiquitous here).  This is much more the way I'd like to live.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not foolish enough to think this place is some sort of utopia with no drawbacks, problems, or sacrifices.  It's just that sometimes while I'm struggling even to find fountain pen ink cartridges or a showing of a film that's won an Academy award but hasn't been deemed worthy to be shown in the august theater of Podunk, my little heart sort of yearns for living a little more like this.