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I Heart San Francisco

A chance to reflect on the journey so far having safely arrived in South lake Tahoe after a day of touring through the Napa Valley wine region north-east of San Francisco.  And when I say safely… surely being chauffeured around wine tasting while navigating from the passenger side of the wrong side of the road can’t be that hard?! Except for the strange sensation as you nervously check the rear view mirrors that you are somehow controlling the vehicle and usually too close to the oversized Chevrolets and right hand road block for my liking…
So 2 days in San Francisco and armed with childhood Fullhouse row-house memories and adolescent nostalgia from a road trip here with my dad 7 years ago….. a Drew Barrymore movie “Going the Distance” and later Sean Connery’s “The Rock” (must be on loop here on cable) added a sense of romance and mutiny to the inclusive community vibe of the Rainbow City. It is also unseasonably warm here perhaps unprecedented by my not checking the weather forecast but strolling around in a t-shirt has been a pleasant surprise!  We managed to complete the NY times 24 hour guide in double the time owing to it being so frickin’steep and a reasonably appalling sense of direction!! First stop shopping at places with 2 letter acronyms likeVS, AE, H&M and A&F..I have now managed to add to my “rainbow”collection of coloured Abercrombie & Fitch hoodies- a shop where the ability to actually see or hear anything is apparently deemed unnecessary..the uber chic  mood lighting and night club sound track making you more likely to want to ask for a cocktail than as to what exact colour you are actually trying on?!  Never has a store had more semi-clad male model billboards and homo-erotic advertising than in San Fran.. perhaps topped only by a visit to the the real thing with a trolley ride to the Castro..

Castro is the centre for the gay pride movement of the 1960s synonymous with gay activist and politician Harvey Milk and made famous by Sean Penn and James Franco in a recent movie you might remember because the latter is really good-looking.  We bypassed the choc-coated penis cookies and managed to snap a photo of a completely nude guy reading a newspaper in the middle of the square (later regretted). Probably not the best day to realise you are inadvertently dressed like Samantha Ronson in your Vans, Flannelette shirt and Rolling Stone t-shirt with female Gossip Girl characters posing suggestively…. Firstly because it seemingly renders you out of the equation affording some amusing and unwanted attention to your now seemingly more eligible male counterpart…;) and secondly because after you’ve exhausted yourself exploring on foot the birthplace of the American counter-culture and hippie movement in Haight-Ashbury followed by extensive studies in amateur botany in the enormous Golden Gate park… you will realise that what is marketed as a “leisurely”” bike ride across Golden Gate bridge is anything but..and owing to the fact that you also manage to get lost, your un-aerodynamic  flannelette cape is surely the reason you wind up completely exhausted and resemble some kind of Kick-Ass super hero.
So after much physical activity what better way to unwind than at the Sports Bar to watch “the game”for a true American experience you would think except for the fact that 2 channels are playing Adelaide’s TDU and the Melbourne Australian Open?! Not all is what it might seem here in San Fran…  careful or you may wind up at the merchandising counter at Hooters in a conversation with the bar chick about how she doesn’t like to wear clothes that are too tight?! Evidently ;) but rest assured, if you venture to the tourist hub of Pier 39 and eat at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. you are sure to be quizzed on your knowledge of the Forrest Gump movie. zero.. while a bunch of college kids chug yard glasses, your grilled wrap comes doublewrapped in fried tortilla with a side of fried potatoes and sour cream, your “small”pomegranate margarita is enough to re-fill 3 glasses and meanwhile you are sitting next to a family of anti-abortion activists. And all is right with the world again… or as you expect… or only in America!!

Wow. Free internet and hot chocolate in a gas fire lit wooden lodge with a life size porcelain grizzly bear really does put me in my writing element ;)
Big day of riding on the hill tomorrow and it looks like a blue-bird packed powder day!! Will try and check-in again sometime.
Goodnight xoxo








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