I miss San Francisco...badly! Most of time I don't get homesick while working and living in these far away place, where people speak a stange language, eat strange foods and have strange customs. I ususally just go with the flow and end up enjoying my experience.
My friend from Kansas City came to visit me in Finland this summer and really enjoyed herself. One night the talk got around to what she had been doing and where she had gone in her travels. This was a woman that, until 3 years ago, had never passed the borders of the State of Kansas and her first airplane ride had been to visit me when I was working in DC. That trip infected her with the "travel bug". I'd told her on numerous occassions that she should visit San Francisco and that it might be a town where she could move that would suit her better then Kansas City...she's smart, independent and quite saavy.
I was quite surprise during our conversation when I asked how she liked San Francisco:
KC: Oh, it was ok.
Me: Just ok?
KC: Uh huh. It was pretty but nothing special.
I stared at her a moment, perplexed.
Me: And where did you go and what did you see?
KC: Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Towers, Union Square and Chinatown and some shopping at Pier 39. I also went to Sausulito on the ferry. Didn't get to Alcatraz. Too much fog. Stayed a couple of days over the weekend.
Me: Ah ha! Thats NOT San Francisco!
KC: Well it said Frisco on all those trolley cars with the Rice-A-Roni signs. The San Francisco Treat!
Ok, ok,...first of all there are three rules to understanding San Francisco. #1 There are NO, I repeat NO trolley cars in San Francisco..they are called CABLE CARS. #2 Never call San Francisco...Frisco! Philadelphia people might not mind their city being called Philly, but San Franciscans will have your liver for lunch if you don't call it SAN FRANCISCO. Thats its name people...use it! And #3 Nobody in San Francisco eats Rice-A-Roni..with over 2500 resturants and some of them much cheaper then a box of rice-a roni why would they!??
Me: Well two days is not enough and you really didn't SEE the city. There is so much more there then what tourist see and do.
KC: Like what?
And I explained that she had not seen the actual neighborhoods like The Mission, Castro, Potero Hill, The Marina or even parts of North Beach (Lombard Street excepted). She hadn't visited all the little great resturants on the Avenues, eaten at the Opera House Cafe where the desert menu is to die for, or afterwards visited A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books (where I love to while away the hours). She hadn't seen Fort Mason or eaten at Greens, Fort Funston, nor had she seen the San Francisco Ballet perform or attended any of the hundreds of musical events that go on almost every day, watch a Bay to Breakers run, ridden BART to Berkeley, watch Barry slug one out in Pacbell Park, lazed around in one of the cafe's in SoMa, or eaten at Olive Oils. She hadn't eaten a meal in one of the cities resturants, enjoyed Sushi in Japantown, eaten any food from the over 200 or so odd cultural resturants that abound around the city, watched a protest march (there is one on any given day) or attended the Polk Street Fair. She hadn't really tasted crab (except for that over-priced stuff they sell the tourist) or had a meal served with fresh-baked sour-dough bread or hung out afterward with the young crowd guzzling their favorite brew in one of the Chestnut Street watering holes. She hadn't experienced the un-nerving, window-shaking events of Fleet Week as the Blue Angels tear across the sky! And especially she hadn't watched one of those glorius sunsets from the beaches at the end of Geary Blvd!
KC: But that would take weeks???
Me: Exactly!
So why am I suddenly so home sick for my loft space in the City by the Bay? I just received an email from KC in which she states: "I decided to give the city another look and have been here for a month living with a girl I met in Potero Hill. You are right, its amazing and I'm getting fat eating out every night. Got a cute tatoo on my butt and met a really smart guy thats geeky but cute and fun too. I dread going home to KC so my only recourse is to move here. Hope you are well."
Damn, I've created a monster and turned it loose on My City!
Ah, you mention many many great places and landmarks but fail to mention the Sky Sign (my favorite landmark) on 3rd? not too far from the MoMA and Orphan Andy's in the castro??
Of course, I haven't been to "the city" (that's what the people on the peninsula call it) in years, so maybe it closed... but oooooh the burgers there....the prices there....the 24-hours of it.... Yum :)
Posted by: Erin | September 13, 2004 at 10:21 AM