San Francisco Part 1

Sometimes life just gives you something for free. I had 2 big meetings set up in San Fran, one for Tuesday, and one for Wednesday. As I was leaving work Monday, I learned my Tuesday meeting needed to move to Wednesday, so I'd be in San Fran without any responsibilities for an afternoon and evening... Whoo HOO!

The flight out was on time and efficient, but painful as I was in a non-exit window seat for the 4 hour flight. I almost needed the wheelchair assistance to get out. I didn't even nap because I'd been up to step aerobics first thing in the AM, so my blood was good and pumping. So I did a few sudokus and caught up on my reading. I didn't even have room to unpack the laptop actually - somehow it was just the worst seat possible.

I got in, rented my car, and found my hotel without a fuss, and decided to grab lunch. My friend Paul in Seattle recommended Yank Sing - a Dim Sum extravaganza. Big, clean place, with a huge staff of people wheeling around carts with food, offering it all to you. I went completely nuts and had I think 8 dishes (Grilled Sea Bass, Fried Scallop and Mushroom balls, Pork Dumplings, Shanghai Dumplings, BBQ Pork Bao, Steamed Scallop dumpling (the only thing I didn't really like) and custard pies). I almost rolled out of there... and went for a walk in town.

I marched up Sacramento Street toward the Fairmont and the Top of the Mark... detoured into Chinatown, where I snapped a picture of the "American Institute of Nose Disease", but managed to not buy any horrible tacky merch at the "Old Shanghai" type places... At the top of the hill I saw that Tonga is still open, as is the Top of the Mark, though both open much later in the day, so I'll have to go back.

I was pleased to discover that my favorite eurosnob store Karikter is still around, and picked up some Tintin merch... but didn't go overboard. I stopped almost by habit into the Virgin Megastore, but found nothing interesting to me. Sigh, I'm getting old or something.

On my way back to the hotel, I spied a shop tucked away: Beard Papa!!! This is a creampuff bakery chain from Japan that caused me much giggling when we saw their store and sign in Shibuya back when we visited. To actually see them here was sort of crazy: A trip to their website shows that they have huge expansion plans in the USA.... www.beardpapa.com is worth the visit for their "about us" movie, which pretty much sums up the whole Japanese/Anglophilia thing better than several books could.

So of course I had to try one: And it was... a tad disappointing. Let me say that it's sort of like everything western in Japan: It's good in a Japanese Way, but not in a "comparing it to the real deal" way. It is like eating the essence of a cream puff - all of the proper components are there, but it lacks something. It wasn't too sweet (which is good), but ultimately not THAT satisfying. AH WELL.

So it's after 5 now here, so I'm off to the city to find more interesting things to do. I'll update later if there are more adventures... It'll be an early night due to the timezone and my need to be fresh for two good meetings tomorrow!!!