......bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. The best thing I can say about this iconic American
breakfast is that the coffee made up for it. If you haven't had one, a
bagel tastes like a constipated doughnut :P the coffee on the other hand
was soothingly mellow and came with a french vanilla white chocolate
mocha creamer. It's one of those things you taste and want to buy a
whole dozen of, to go back and give everyone you know a taste experience
of it :) well, it's jus a flavoured milk shot to add some white to a
lethally black coffee, but mmmmmm does it taste good or what?
Highlight of the day (beside the $70 Calvin Klein dress I found at half price sale)? a ride to Fisherman's wharf in the cable cars. A 300 rupee tram ride where you have to pull a rope that rings a quaint bell to request a stop. They take the steep streets on a song and if you are thick skinned enough to brave the cold they have seats out in the open. Each coach has an interesting story that's told on a poster stuck inside. The one we travelled in served in Chicago for years before the Municipal railway of San fran bought it.
Tons of beggars here. I saw one attempting to play a trumpet with a notice in front of him that read "instead of ignoring me and pretending I don't exist, how about giving me a dollar for my 64th birthday" :D saw this staccato dance street performer painted in metallic colours holding a begging bowl in his hand, this tourist chick walk up to him, did a staccato number in front of him that ended with her mock kicking his cup in the air and through it all he stood in his last dance post, unmoved. This really is the land of the crazies....or everyone here is on crack. Every 10th person is jaywalking, loudly talking to themselves and punching the air or the nearest lamp post.
Watched the sun set at fisherman's wharf while two Mexican teenagers kissed in one corner and the sea lions barked in the other. I watched a sea lion clumsily clamber over the dock with a supersize cup of Ben and jerry's hot chocolate in my hand as a cruise made its way back from the Alcatraz. The Americans can put a tourist twist on anything....t shirts that say, "Alcatraz, out patient ward" and a wooly caps with "Alcatraz swim team coach" for $10. I watched a street side spray painter create a marilyn monroe in black and white, red rose in her hair, against a San fran skyline and the Golden gate bridge, all in 5 mins while grooving to Cuban music and doing some flair bartending with the spray cans. While i contemplated which wall I could put it on, he sold it for $20 to a family of 5. The father and 3 sons all had Elvis bouffants (I kid you not) and their mum looked like an ageing 80's movie star....blonde with red lipstick long black coat and black heels. Looking at them is like time travelling, and at the back if your head you can hear jailhouse rock play.
I had dinner at another cornerstone of American civilisation, a diner. Lori's diner tonight. Chequered floors, bright red seats, juke box music from the 80's and waiters in black uniform wearing bored looks...a blue dodge parked inside as a centrepiece and diet coke that came in 500 ml glasses and tasted of chlorine, that's the American diner for me now. I loved the hearty French fries that featured potatoes fried with their skins and single portions that can feed a family of 3 :) and this ain't even Texas. Walked back on the 45 degree incline and contemplated the fact that if you lived here, you'd never need Reetones.
Its Saturday night and my night shot of the skyline tells me lesser people are at home today. Unchained melody on the radio and I am awake, still running on India time.
Highlight of the day (beside the $70 Calvin Klein dress I found at half price sale)? a ride to Fisherman's wharf in the cable cars. A 300 rupee tram ride where you have to pull a rope that rings a quaint bell to request a stop. They take the steep streets on a song and if you are thick skinned enough to brave the cold they have seats out in the open. Each coach has an interesting story that's told on a poster stuck inside. The one we travelled in served in Chicago for years before the Municipal railway of San fran bought it.
Tons of beggars here. I saw one attempting to play a trumpet with a notice in front of him that read "instead of ignoring me and pretending I don't exist, how about giving me a dollar for my 64th birthday" :D saw this staccato dance street performer painted in metallic colours holding a begging bowl in his hand, this tourist chick walk up to him, did a staccato number in front of him that ended with her mock kicking his cup in the air and through it all he stood in his last dance post, unmoved. This really is the land of the crazies....or everyone here is on crack. Every 10th person is jaywalking, loudly talking to themselves and punching the air or the nearest lamp post.
Watched the sun set at fisherman's wharf while two Mexican teenagers kissed in one corner and the sea lions barked in the other. I watched a sea lion clumsily clamber over the dock with a supersize cup of Ben and jerry's hot chocolate in my hand as a cruise made its way back from the Alcatraz. The Americans can put a tourist twist on anything....t shirts that say, "Alcatraz, out patient ward" and a wooly caps with "Alcatraz swim team coach" for $10. I watched a street side spray painter create a marilyn monroe in black and white, red rose in her hair, against a San fran skyline and the Golden gate bridge, all in 5 mins while grooving to Cuban music and doing some flair bartending with the spray cans. While i contemplated which wall I could put it on, he sold it for $20 to a family of 5. The father and 3 sons all had Elvis bouffants (I kid you not) and their mum looked like an ageing 80's movie star....blonde with red lipstick long black coat and black heels. Looking at them is like time travelling, and at the back if your head you can hear jailhouse rock play.
I had dinner at another cornerstone of American civilisation, a diner. Lori's diner tonight. Chequered floors, bright red seats, juke box music from the 80's and waiters in black uniform wearing bored looks...a blue dodge parked inside as a centrepiece and diet coke that came in 500 ml glasses and tasted of chlorine, that's the American diner for me now. I loved the hearty French fries that featured potatoes fried with their skins and single portions that can feed a family of 3 :) and this ain't even Texas. Walked back on the 45 degree incline and contemplated the fact that if you lived here, you'd never need Reetones.
Its Saturday night and my night shot of the skyline tells me lesser people are at home today. Unchained melody on the radio and I am awake, still running on India time.
No comments:
Post a Comment