Observations from the other side…..

Of the United States that is.

I spent the last week in San Francisco and also a night down in Monterey. After just over a month back in the smothering existence that is life in Shopping Mall-it was great to be back where there was lots to do and exciting things to see.  California may have a lot of problems right now-but it also has a lot of things going for it that other states can never hope to match.

Especially a backwards thinking chunk of farmland and fat people called Alabama.

There are only four large cities in the United States that I dream about living in from time to time. San Francisco is one of the them. (The other three are Reno, Pittsburgh and Boston). Contrast that with the 10 or so I would move to tomorrow in Asia and / or Europe. (See the bottom of the post for the list).

I know, I know, by saying I like San Francisco I might as well be like Miles: “Yeah, right. Yup, I’m a homo. Yeah. Yeah. Just make up whatever you want and that’s what happened. Okay? Write out my gay confession and I’ll sign it. Okay? ”

Nonetheless-San Francisco is the only large city in California I like. Los Angeles? Forget it. San Diego? Shopping Mall amplified 100 times. Sacramento? Aside from its proximity to Tahoe-nothing to recommend it.  There are lots of smaller towns in California   I like though-but mostly just to visit.

No,  San Francisco is the place in California I would not mind living. The problem is, the only way I want to live there is to actually live within the city, NOT out in its suburbs. And that takes money-lots of money to live the lifestyle I would like to live.  I am not blind-California is a state where you pay and pay and pay for the privilege of living there.

But San Francisco seems to me to have a distinct character-its neighborhoods are different and the  feel of the city is unique. Since I lived in Nevada for three plus years, I am very familiar with San Francisco. However when I was there in the 90’s, the city seemed run down, a wasted shade of it’s former greatness.

Today-the city seemed to be much cleaner. Even Market Street seemed clean. And while they still need to break out the billy clubs and have a brutal crackdown on the homeless people there, it did seem as if the numbers of those poor unfortunate souls was reduced. And we covered a lot of neighborhoods while there.

We utilized the public transportation and our trusty steed from Hertz:

Interestingly enough-this Altima was a hybrid. And I was very pleasantly surprised with it. It took some getting used to how quiet it was in city traffic-but it performed better than I expected it to racing down the PCH to Monterey.

The NLCS championship series was going on this week-and the town was out in full force to support the Giants. Since I had personal business to attend to on Wednesday, I was able to dispatch the S.O. long enough to be able to sidle up to the bar in one of the cities unique watering holes and watch the game.

Of course the S.O. dragged me down to Union Square-there the home of Tiffany and Bulgari ( Seems her birthday is coming up-as if I would be allowed to forget that!).

Fortunately, I was able to escape relatively unscathed, wallet-wise, and we meandered by trolley over to the Ferry Terminal for lunch. That place has become much more gentrified than I recall it being. It did have a great Vietnamese place for lunch though-which we took advantage of:

Great Pho Ga soup here!

It was evidently also the beginning of Fleet Week-but I did not see any Navy ships down by the bay.

But the weather was great while we were in San Fran-not so great down in Monterey. A clear blue sky greeted us early in the week:

You can see the rest of our San Francisco pictures here.

Oh yes, I promised the list of cities:

Asia:

Singapore
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Osaka
Taipei
Bangkok
Seoul
Kuala Lumpur
Shanghai

Europe:

Munich
London
Dublin
Brussels
Vienna
Frankfurt
Marseilles
Berlin
Koln
Maastricht
Prague