Today we woke up to a more season appropriate day. It was foggy, damp and cold. The hot weather that we had up until now was apparently freakish. San Francisco SHOULD be foggy and cold at this time of year. We are so glad we went to Alcatraz and across the bridge yesterday as it is barely visible today. From what the weather reports we are going to strike a bit of snow well before hit New York.
Thank goodness the elections are over and done with here. However the news broadcasters are now dissecting each of the candidate’s history and their campaign ups and downs. I thought this would all finish once the election was over and done with, and the 600 TV stations could go back to screening something entertaining....however....nope.
Just a quick paragraph which I forgot to put in last night. The Bear went into the laundry at the place where we are staying to do some washing. He was gone for a few minutes and when he came back he was cussing loudly and was visibly shaken. He had taken someone’s clothes out of the washing machine as its cycle was finished, and it could have been all night before the clothing owner came back. There had been no sign of the clothing owner and he carefully took them out after cleaning down the top of the dryer to place them on it. He began putting our clothes into the washing machine. He was interrupted by an almighty scream – and turned to find a lady wearing a sheet who was screaming at him! She asked him if he had removed her clothes from the dryer....and of course he said “yes”....and he began to get the clothes down off the dryer for her. She screamed at him yelling “DON’T TOUCH MY CLOTHES!” She then stated that she was “kosher” and that meant no-one could touch her clothes but her. She kept yelling at him...and suffice to say he was pretty weirded out by this. Firstly because she was screaming at him, and secondly because she turned up at the laundry in a sheet!
I would also like to make mention of the clam chowder that I had at a restaurant last night. I always thought chowder was a soup however this was more like a clam and bacon stew. Very filling but I am not quite sure whether I loved it or hated it...however I couldn’t come to San Francisco without trying it. It would be like going to New York and not trying a hot dog with mustard from a street vendor.
We went down to Pier 39 to have some breakfast....and to see the sea lions. There probably would have only been 40-50 there where as they can have anywhere up to 1000. Some of them were quite playful, and the rest just huddled together. Whilst they stunk the same as the ones in Monterey the other day, they were still beautiful and again I found myself missing by dogs.
We also stopped in at a “spy” shop. I thought this might have souvenirs that Alyx might like. I didn’t for one moment think that it might be a “real” spy shop....alas it was. It sold everything from smoke bombs to surveillance equipment to mobile phone trackers. Nearly everything in the store would have been completely illegal in Australia and I wondered how they could even sell it in America. It was so COOL! Needless to say we had to leave the store empty handed.
In order to honour one of Alyx’s requests we decided we would catch a cable car (as opposed to a street car ) and have a look down town. It was a bizarre experience as they go up and down those long, hilly streets as you see in any movie that is set in San Francisco. We didn’t exactly have the best vantage point as we were shoved aside by four extremely rude European men (who were loud and obnoxious and were clearly trying to over compensate for their lack of groin material) who unashamedly pushed past everyone to get on the cable car first. People squeezed on like sardines and I found myself a little uncomfortable with people being well within my personal space. Once the cable car started up the first hilly part my arm reached out to grab onto a pole (my other hand had the camera in it) however instead of grabbing a pole, I grabbed a man that was standing on the side of the car next to the Bear. I was so embarrassed! In order not to allow this to happen again, I wrapped my legs around a pole and hung on tight. Whilst this was not a pretty picture it freed up both hands and I was a little more successful in taking a few photos. The Bear was also able to get some good video footage whilst hanging off the car (this was completely legal) and on a warm day would have been excellent! By the time we got down town I was so terribly cold that I could no longer feel my nose or feet. I was also desperately in need of something to eat. There is a large shopping complex at the end of the tram line so we thought we would go in and thaw out there.
I decided I would have something Mexican for lunch and sat to reserve a table in the food court whilst the Bear went and purchased it. This was a particularly exclusive shopping centre with the likes of Bloomingdales in it......definitely up market. The Bear and I were dressed very poorly compared to the other patrons – I was in bike pants and joggers, with hair unkempt....and the Bear was in shorts and joggers etc. I sat at the table and was trying to sort of blend in....you know....trying NOT to act self conscious about what I was wearing. I was pretending to just be sitting there chillin'...and tried to look totally cool. I tried to make it look as though my bright purple and pink striped ankle socks which poked out from my white and blue striped shoes, and the large hole in my bike pants were deliberate fashion statements. I am not really convinced that I successfully pulled this off. I saw a very tall blonde woman come striding towards me. She had ordered some food at the place across from where I was sitting (hamburgers if you must know) and they had called her number. She tossed her curly blonde hair back and strode to the counter. I was admiring her hair and her suit that she was wearing (silver with a very slim black stripe through it) and was thinking how lovely she looked given that she was so tall and made even more so by the heels she was wearing. I watched as she spoke to the person behind the counter (hoping she wouldn’t fall down and break a nail due to those heels) and was wondering if her hair was permed or natural; whether her blonde was dyed or natural; and wondered if her finger nails were fake or natural. She turned around from the counter to face in my direction and I noticed her perfect, arched eye brows and her absolutely flawless makeup; and her large and very noticeable “Adams Apple”. Say what?? WTF??? She/him/it raised one of those perfect eyebrows at me, and then sauntered off. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Bear came back to the table with lunch and I told him about the cross dresser I had just seen. He had not seen her. I didn’t go into too much description because I didn’t want anyone to hear me talking about it out loud, when he asked if it was the “lady-boy” that was sitting “over there”. He gestured towards a group of people that were standing a couple of feet away.
I looked over and saw a group of three people – the first being a pretty Hispanic woman, the second being a very flamboyant and obviously gay (not there is anything wrong with that) male, and a very large breasted Asian who also had a prominent Adam's apple. Unlike the tall blonde I had just seen, the Asian looked as though he/she/it had been smacked in the face with a shovel. The look of surprise on my face was something that I could not disguise and I started to look at every other patron in a new light. I watched the flamboyant male gesture wildly with his hands, and tap his mile long Italian shoes whilst talking like Elmer Fudd to the lady-boy who giggled madly (and sounded like Daffy Duck) at him. The pretty Latino watched the animated pair and I could not tell if she was male, female or extra-terrestrial. It occurred to me that I may as well stop trying to hide my pink and purple socks as I knew that I had no hope of fitting into the scenery when there were men there that totally out did me in the beauty department and who had perkier breasts than me. This new found freedom allowed me to let my hair down in ‘Frisco because it was apparent that “everything goes”. Woot!
