So Long San Francisco

                                 Kyr pondering

                                        A movie in Union Square Saturday night - Roman Holiday to a huge
                                      audience - hundreds of people.

                                             Me hauling the requisite new suitcase per trip.

                                Kyr at Yerba Buena Gardens

                                 Olga, Dave and Kyr

Olga Zilberbourg reading at Portuguese Artists Colony

The last few days in San Francisco have been fun and event filled – as we tried to squeeze every last juicy morsel from the city. Forget going to Alcatraz. I think you have to book weeks, even months ahead. I'll know for next time. We shopped excessively. Kyr is going to look very hot attending college. He failed to find any decent Fluevogs so he is now a proud possessor of Campers. A lovely Spanish brand maybe even as weird as John Fluevog.

We struggled through China town – picked a bad time to walk down the produce street – completely jammed with people buying produce for supper. It was not too fun trying to work around the desperate purchasers but I tried to take consolation in how zealously they were buying vegetables – how healthy is that.The streets were horrifically littered and completely wet as the meat places were being hosed out. It had the horrible wafts of gross anatomy lab every few feet. We gratefully made our way to the parallel street with all of the marvellous knock off wares directly from China. I had to control my urge to outfit Hippoworth with tons of asian paraphernalia. Perhaps Horace needs to do a trip to the far east.

We ate again at Kyr's favorite – the Tonga room. Just gets better and better – quite the hub of the universe.

Yesterday we meandered around the Museum of Modern Art. Saw a few good exhibits and the entire collection of the Gertrude Stein family – tons of beautiful Matisse and the evolution of Picasso.

We met my friend Olga and her husband David at the tea room at Yerba Gardens. It was nice to be removed from the noise of the city and have the sounds of running water superimposed. The shrieks of the doormen whistles echo from hotel to hotel and almost shatter your nerves. Kyr thinks they are communicating to eachother like dogs do barking around the neighbourhood. No matter what, it was good to have the intense noises in abeyance for awhile.

We then accompanied Olga and Dave to the Fivepoint Arthouse for an evening of readings by writers at the Portuguese Artists Colony. Olga was one of two writers highlighted that evening. She read two of her short stories. I love her voice. Her characters communicate a wry, almost incredulous acceptance of their fates. Kyr and  I enjoyed ourselves immensely. We were also entertained by a 10 minute write off – where four writers expound on a topic - “She had his head” while the rest of us listened in awe to a singer who staggered her own background voices on this little machine she tapped with her foot and then launched into the body of the song seemlessly accompanied by many harmonious voices and sounds.

Despite the distractions the 10 minute writings were amazingly diverse and some hilarious. It was such a wonderful opportunity to witness a section of SF's writing community. Olga said that the community is very vibrant and excited about the changes the digital age is bringing - unlike some other areas of the country. Both Kyr and I were caught up in the enthusiasm and wished we had something like it back home.

It was hard to say goodbye to the lovely Fairmont. I think I might actually miss the intense workout that is imperative the second you step out the doors of the hotel.

Exploring the City

                                Rupa and the April Fishes

                                 Union Square

                                           Wild Times in the Tonga Room

It was a fun filled exhausting day - walking,walking . We happened upon a Deli in the Tenderloin area with lovely multiple salad selections. The owners were a couple that have owned it for 32 years - he appeared to be from one of the countries around the Mediterranean and she seemed to be Asian. It is a cash only affair. The real citizens of the city seemed to be the patrons. Mostly subsistence people - no money but what they do have they'll spend there in order to have food for the whole day. The owner took liberties with the rice lentil salad and insisted the only way to have it was slathered in his eponymous hot sauce and some lovely chopped cucumber/tomatoe thing on top. I appreciated his insistence. I got a kick out of the hot sauce plastic squeeze bottles by the till- the couple's happy faces smiling out from the label. If only I could have brought one home. How do people do it? Day in and day out for 32 years - only themselves working. 

Feeling quite stuffed on the salad selection - the couple couldn't believe Kyr and I could eat the whole plate - we wandered over to the Asian Art museum. It was overwhelming. I was almost squirrelly by the end of it - all the art is so completely detailed - all the sculptures, the multiple deities. How does the brain absorb it all? For the first time in my life I was relieved to see the modern art section - finally something I felt I could understand - safety pinned black letters in the silhouette of the buddha. Kyr is a better man than his mom. He enjoyed it all and wasn't overwhelmed.

We stopped in Union Square and enjoyed a concert. Kyr was taken with the band Rupa and the April Fishes because they professed to be interested in World Music and Gypsy music - reminiscent of his hero Eugene Hutz. We were mesmerized by Merdith in the middle - completely obscured by her parka and hoodie and sunglasses. She never seemed to sing much either. The lead singer Rupa - the girl with the guitar was very impressive - writes all of her songs in multiple languages, had a lot of zip and a lovely voice. She was very political and I felt envious that she was so absolute in her pronouncements. The band will be playing at a demonstration against police brutality on the Bart. The police killed someone the other day that was brandishing a knife. As Rupa said - he was one of her patients and bystanders claimed that he didn't look like he was going to hurt someone. I was glad she was so sure he was harmless.  I also wondered what type of patient he would have been to her. Brandishing a knife on public transportation doesn't sound too harmless to most Canadians - freshly remembering the Greyhound bus murder. When we got home I googled her and found out she is a internal medicine physician for 1/2 of her life, the other half a musician.  Quite a fascinating woman. Her talents are a bit intimidating.

We finished off the night with a wild tropical meal at the Tonga room that is apparently fighting for its life against Condo developers. It is a well loved restaurant by the locals - a band boats out on a lake in the middle  of the restaurant and thunder and rain storms punctuate the evening. Once again we witnessed some great dancing. It leaves you with the idea that Americans just live to dance.

Opulence in San Francisco

We left San Jose yesterday after Joop and I made our TV debut. We were interviewed on the street and quizzed about what we thought 8 pictures from the tech museum actually were. Apparently we ( Joop) did quite well - identifying the first pacemaker (gigantic thing totally unrecognizable to me), some contraption that was a compass and elevation measurer that did the initial mapping of the region. I added my two cents - when Joop claimed an old car was wireless - I chimed in horseless, contributed a lovely tidbit on the refractive index of water etc... but mostly stared into the camera looking very concerned. It was fun.
The San Jose Fairmont tried to make amends by removing all of our food charges which came to over $200. So I felt satisfied.
We arrived in San Francisco and had to wait for our room. You can see Joop and Kyr hunkered down in the lobby frantically computering. The wait seemed a bit excessive - 2 hours but in the end it was worth it because we have the Medici suite which is a lovely suite on the top floor of the old part. All the hotel staff when carrying our bags, directing us etc - exclaimed "oh that's a nice suite". Almost too nice. You don't feel like leaving the comfort of the canopied bed.
We braved the horrible hikes, though admittedly way less traumatic in the vibram 5 toed wonders, and took in fishermans wharf. There is a picture of Kyr framed beside his longed for destination -Alkatraz. We'll see. His other choice might be one of those seguay tours. I'm not sure about that one.
We went for a luxurious dinner at one of the top restaurants. It had a lovely ocean theme with interesting jelly chandeliers, anemone lights etc..I braved a lobster, though upon reflection I wondered why because it is so much work and I'm too cowardly to really go at it. Kyr had to do all of the cracking of the beast for me. Walking home up the steep hills is quite cathartic as you think of all the calories burned.
Starbucks is blocks away down a very steep hill, and even then their hot water tap was broken. Getting tea is proving to be a bit exhausting. We went in a small deli to get me a cup and an altercation between one of the patrons and another who had a small poodle was so upsetting to me that I spilt my hot water all over. So despite the opulence some of the basics like tea are a bit difficult to procure.
Joop has left us today to attend the 4oth birthday party of his son in Port Alberni.
Kyr and I are left to struggle with the elements on our own. The entertainment decisions are so exhausting that I will need a little nap before we carry on.

Going Hungry at the Fairmont

Joop wanted Yanni to see his new bike.





We had a full day yesterday. We started off at the Winchester mansion. A descent into the madness of a woman 100 years ago. It was quite fascinating. The woman was a widow of one of the Winchester rifle descendants, as such she inherited a lot of money - too much probably for her state of mind. For some reason after the death of her husband (proceeded by the death of her only infant 12 years before) she consulted a pyschic who informed her she would only achieve eternal life if she avenged the deaths of all those victims of the Winchester rifle by continuously building a house. For some reason she left Connecticut for San Jose and began to build a house that was continuously added on to for 30 plus years ( 24 hours per day). She had such an exaggerated view of her responsibility for these rifle deaths that she had a seance every night to consult with the victim's spirits and slept in a different room every night so the spirits couldn't find her. The house ended up having over 2o0 rooms. Not having a clear design in mind, doors and staircases were everywhere going nowhere. This is a woman that believed the 1906 earthquake was a personal message for her from the spirits, so she shut down 30 rooms immediately. One of the highlights was that she changed most of the staircases into easy risers - risers only an inch high, so that she could still wander about with her severe arthritis. I adored those staircases. Even though the price for the tour was quite steep, and I initially thought - how could it be worth it? I enjoyed the tour very much.

Afterwards we headed up into the hills between San Jose and Santa Cruz in order to see Big Basin Redwood state park. The drive up into the mountains was steep and windy. The vegetation became very dense quickly and often the road was only one lane wide. We paused for lunch in a small redwood grove. Very quiet and I felt devoid of mammalian life, although Kyr insisted that there were squirrels that he had read about or seen on Planet earth. A mature forest is a silent thing.

We encountered some of the big redwoods near the park headquarters. I had read that some are 1500 years old. I'm not sure how old the ones were that we were hugging. We look like minature people next to them.

After the taxing drive up into the hills and the intense commuter traffic along the connecting highways we settled in at the pool for a relaxing swim before supper. It was still in the high 80's at 6:30. We were optimistic about eating in the lounge with the duelling pianos. It was not to be. No amount of flagging down the waitress for any type of service resulted in any food orders for over 45 minutes, everyone around us was getting served though. Finally in frustration, and complete irritation with the waitress who had been rude to us our first night we left in search of room service. I complained to the reception staff while the boys went up to the room. Let us just say after 2 1/2 hours of searching for food in the fairmont it was not forthcoming. Both Kyr and Joop were umbraged and with Kyr on the phone multiple times and Joop consulting the night manager, we finally managed a partial order close to 11:30pm. Not what one expects as a platinum member. I hope that we receive some compensation for our weariness and hunger, and Joop's anguish because he is not to eat after 9pm without it causing grievous physical discomfort.

Today we move on the the illustrious Fairmont in San Francisco.

San Jose

We are staying in downtown San Jose at a rather new Fairmont. Hard to tell if it was built to be some other hotel or if they built it. Structurally it is nondescript. Early 90's architecture? Late 80's?

It has several redeeming qualities though. It is a very central location - right beside the art gallery and a french patisserie that makes wonderful croissants, a very lovely pool, and the best is that the night we arrived they had a band in the lobby and people were dancing. You could tell it is a regular feature that draws all of the passionate dancers from San Jose. They would arrive and mostly drink water and swirl around the dance floor showcasing their dancing prowess. It seemed like a pretty big night out for all of the couples involved. It made me think I should try once again to take ballroom dancing lessons.

San Jose seems like a fairly quiet city. Not that well off economically - but not horrific numbers of homeless visible. All the downtown workers that congregate to get their morning coffees at Starbucks are not too intense, the cell phone use doesn't have that frenetic deal making quality to it, and they are quite casually dressed for downtown workers. The city doesn't make you feel too nervous. You can blend in quite easily and not feel that you are missing out on some other intense mandate felt by everyone else. Food at restaurants seems surprisingly inexpensive.

Quite a relaxing city really, not that we've spent that much time here.

We drove yesterday to Santa Cruz and Monterey. Santa Cruz is touristy but not irritatingly so. The downtown core consists of used clothing stores - too numerous to count, and third world import shops. Kind of an eclectic commercial group for a tourist town. I can be seen happily clutching a bag containing a beautiful wool winter coat - hand made in Viet Nam.

The trip down the coast along the number 1 was fascinating because it passed through a large tract of agricultural land - miles and miles of strawberries and large groups of pickers shrouded in hats and scarves under hats, bent over picking. It wasn't hard to translate the miles and miles of strawberries to the ubiquitous plastic containers available in the grocery stores all year. It definitely has lost any romance that you think of as associated with farming. It is just miles and miles of things artichokes, some kind of cabbage??? (that one brought miles and miles of consternation - was there a cabbage in those leaves? was it chard? kale? Is is that important to the grocery economy that there is nothing but miles and miles of these leaves?). Kind of mesmerizing and frightening . I witnessed areas that have those fences dug in to keep out the rodents to prevent ecoli contamination. Kind of ineffectual looking with the black fabric. A determined contaminated rodent would have no problem getting through. But mostly I thought of the waste. You could see that there would be no way of harvesting that wouldn't leave so much just wasted. And the lives of the pickers. I can't imagine their backs. There were long tracts of okay looking cars parked along side groups of pickers - they looked like fairly new models. Maybe it is lucrative enough to make a living. But stooping all day in field with a tractor pulling two portable toilets doesn't seem that fun to me.

The aquarium at Monterey was wonderful. Kyr took many amazing photos. I've included some of my most feared jellies. I wasn't that satisfied on the info front though. I expected a lot more stunning ocean facts delivered in nice succinct sign posts. The posts concerning the jellies were too equivocal for me - might be climate change, might be pollution, might just be the natural order causing the plethora of jellies. Not too satisfying.

The gorgeous giant octopus was only revealed to be one of the most intelligent creatures known - no qualifying ie) outside of land mammals, within the ocean etc... so in fact that says it all - most intelligent creatures known - isn' that spectacular? I was fascinated that their suction cups can taste and that they can tell people apart with their suction cups by just touching their skin. Isn't that amazing? Is it each individuals taste? temp? quality of their skin?

Today we head off to the Redwood forests and to check out the Wincestor mansion.

Adieu Big Island

You can see the snorkeling merman emerging from the depths, and Harris trying desperately to burn on his last day(not!), Kyr is still out in the depths, I tried to get a photo of his feet in the air as he dives but I was unsuccessful - he is a consumate diver. If I wasn't taking the picture I would have been in the great depths myself communing with another turtle friend. I think my screams endear me to them. Yesterday, my scream (all of the sudden they appear - a large marine creature - you are suddenly upon each other) must have made my turtle friend so curious - she came and floated 2 inches in front of my face and stared at me. I was frantic to not touch her, but it wasn't really up to me - I just floated and didn't move and she dictated the circumstance. We floated together for 1/2 hour - I just duplicated her arm movements and kept a 3 foot distance between us. Today it happened again, and I know that she was curious and wanted to swim with me because we suddenly came upon Joop and next thing you knew she was gone. And then I had my most significant dive find ever - a gigantic purple sea urchin shell - so deep it took me 10 dives to even get close to it. Normally I wait for those with flippers to avail me, but they weren't coming. Each time the rise to the surface was so desperate - the ocean seems to stretch ahead of you with bubbles and no chance to reach precious oxygen. One of the times I was so desperate that in attempts to clear my snorkel when I finally broke the surface, I blew it completely off my face. But I was successful! My greatest and deepest find ever! The most tragic thing was that it crumpled while cossetted in my snorkel mask holder when it only dropped one foot.

The picture of the boys cleaning up after another gourmet meal last night, and Joop relaxing in the living area.

The blond pony just loves Kyr - she came galloping up when he was attempting to demonstrate his gymnastic prowess.

Today we scoured the antique shop. So many great finds for me and Harris - Kyr got a button.

We're rounding off the evening with a supper at the Mexican restaurant. This evening has been consumed with packing all of our paraphenalia. Harris's rock collection threatens to push him over and he is anguishing already about being overweight because we have no working scales in the house. I have told him if it is overweight I will hoist it violently back to him and make sure he takes the excess as carry on.

We leave tomorrow at 12:45. I've been sussing out the yard here at Morning Fire for my dogs - at least 1 -2 acres fully fenced. They would be in paradise.

The Most Active Volcano in the World

Yesterday we drove down the wet side of the island through Hilo and skirted across the southern part to see the active volcano - Kilauea - which is heralded to be the most active volcano in the world. It was spewing forth molten lava from a fissure on the eastern side of Volcano park earlier this month. Now there is no active lava but the fires are still glowing where it continues to consume the neighboring forests. The top pictures are us standing in front of the largest Caldera of Kilauea - you can see the steam billowing forth from one of the craters in the Caldera. The southern rim is closed because the levels of sulphur dioxide are too toxic to breathe in. Apparently the spewing forth of SO2 and methane is unpredictable. Isn't that marvelous? Sometimes even boulders the size of cars rush out. All in all a comforting place to be. We toured a large lava tube, just a very large cylindrical cave,and had the pleasure of water dripping on our heads and roots billowing above us as they search for moisture in the tube. I saw a fascinating diagram showing the southern migration of the Pacific plate and how with its gradual movement all the volcanos except Kilauea and the underwater one - Lo ihi, are now cut off from the big magma pool. There is still some question about the biggest volcano which is right beside Kilauea - Mauna Loa. Lets just hope no connection.

After breathing in those lovely fumes and tiny particulate lava, glass shards we moved off to explore the most south eastern tip of the island. We tried to get into a natural volcanic hot pool right beside some incredible surfing territory ( all the good surfers were women) but it was too full of locals so off we went to the tide pools. They were fun. I watched a fish harass an eel in a game that seemed to go on forever, and gazed at the amazing lilac coloured corral, all whilst wearing a quickly modified bathing suit top that was tied with the woven paper handle of a starbucks bag ( all I had at my immediate disposal).

We skirted the coast line to the farthest south tip on the east side and to the site of a historic town that was wiped out in the lava flows of 1990. Joop and the boys are in the pictures of the lava expanse that destroyed the 1000 year old fishing village where it butts up against the ocean-Kalapana. A few determined stragglers remain, giving the place a feeling of the end of the world.

There was an interesting cafe where we stopped just as the road ends and the boys indulged themselves in a gigantic banana split. Joop befriended a harp player that looked Rastafarian to me, and we were cloaked in marijuana smoke from neighboring tables. The local dogs looked like a mangey cross between Mexican and Greek dogs - ie) not well cared for, laden with critters in their fur and all delightfully intact. Joop thought it the prime place to set up a spay and neuter clinic but I countered that it has nothing to do with cost, everything to do with principle. This is the place where the egg cartons say a fertilized egg is a happy chicken. At first I didn't get it and thought are fertilized eggs more nutritious? Then it hit me. The same ideas apply to their dogs. They don't look that much happier to me. In fact there was one small coyote bitch whose mammary tissue was so blackened and saggy that all nipples were practically dragging on the ground. I've never seen the likes of it. She didn't seem to be actively nursing as everything was so deflated and I had the most horrific thought that they will probably never bounce back. - The poor thing!

Off to the beach again. I don't think we'll fit in too much else in our last two days, as it is the thing we most jealously guard and love.