Leaving my heart in San Francisco

I know why it is easy to leave your heart in San Francisco it is Ahhhahahmazing! America is actually lot like the sitcoms that I spend so much of my time watching. All it has done since we got here is rain which is fine, it almost adds to our idea of what a cold American December should be. We arrived in LAX and I was pumped. Mildly worried about US passport control and customs as we had been told by that they could be kinda tough. But the guy we had was very cool! He asked us who Paul Kelly is because of Girly’s shirt and chatted up a storm! It was almost fun. After getting our luggage and re checking it for domestic flights we went through for domestic connection to San Francisco. I left my pump on which isn’t even picked up by the Australian machines. Here it was and I had to have what they call a full body pat down. I am already down to my t-shirt and jeans I am taken to a particular area and a woman officer asks me if I have done this before. “kinda “ I say “I have been frisked before” She laughed “ Honey this is a lot more personal then that” They touch you up and down and all over. I felt safe but it was very odd. They have a new machine too, it pretty much removes your clothes and examines you. It is Threat level orange one below the top that is red. We get through, I realise how very tired I am.

When we get there we catch a shuttle to our hotel called the Good Hotel (which was very good, the cutest thing was that on the ceiling when you switched of the light to go to sleep it said ‘goodnight!’) The next day we were determined to see as much of san fran as possible we walked down the street to the town hall. It has the biggest dome in the country and has lots of gold it was very pretty. We were mildly accosted by crazy people which are everywhere in the neighbourhood we were staying in. A particularly vibrant person came up to us and told us “they are going to take our eyes and our teeth.” Yesh..... It was raining so heavily we had to run back home to get warmer clothes! After putting on lots of clothes and rain coats we headed back into to the town we walked to union square we went to urban outfitters a really cool store and I brought some cool boots really cheap then we went to Macey’s, a huge department store here. Over six stories high with a huge chandelier then we got on our tourist bus of the city it was raining so heavily the top story of the bus was leaking water. WE headed into china town and brought lots of trinkets. Everything is very cheap in the states and we also got amazing dim sum after that we got back on our bus and went to pier 39. A huge shopping district right on the bay as we were going to get a ferry across the bay. We saw lots of beautiful sites and ate a yummy crepe after that it was on to the ferry we saw Alcatraz and the golden gate bridge it was freezing and misty! My favourite bit was the seals that live on the docks. After that we wandered the dock area but it was dark and felt quite late. We caught a bus to little Italy were we had amazing pasta and then walked home via huge malls....I was weakened into buying some makeup we brought some books from borders and it was off home for us. Very tired we clambered into bed. Goodnight said the ceiling.

The next day we headed down to the Castro for our gay rights tour. We saw our tour guide got coffee from some lovely camp guys and headed down to the Harvey Milk Plaza there we heard some of his history again. We wondered the streets seeing all the sites and it did really make you feel proud and safe. After grabbing some Singapore noodles for lunch we hopped on a trolley to the Californian Academy of science it is in golden gate park. we met an Australian girl there and walked and talked for a bit she had just broken up with her boyfriend and was staying in the height-Ashbury part of San Francisco for 6 weeks. We walked for a long time and we were very tired and cold then we finally arrived we ate our lunch with the reindeer and saw a wonderful planetarium show. then we wondered around the aquarium and the natural history museum. We were so tired but we did make to the amoeba record store which was great. Huge! We brought a few cds but we were dazed with tiredness.

I loved the atmosphere of San Francisco and fell in love with the city right away! But we didn’t have much time. We brought huge bowls of pho for dinner which we ate in our room watching cartoon network. Then we packed our bags organised to post some things home, wrote some postcards and slept. The next day it was off to San Francisco airport for our flight to Washington DC to stay with Girly’s Uncle and Aunty and her cousins a 6 year old youngin, a 16 year old, and a college student (who we sadly missed as he was at said college) all boys who are lovely. The flight was long I watched American tv I watched, 16 and pregnant, a quality reality tv show( bahaha) and the scariest show I have ever seen called BridalPlasty where these woman compete for plastic surgery and dream weddings. It was horrid and so so addictive me and girly were hooked!

When we arrived the mother of girly’s uncle very kindly picked us up and took us to Thai food it was lovely to be with family. Then we met their nanny from El Salvador she was very friendly and talkative we spoke for a long time about the school systems here and in Australia. The lovely uncle and aunt came home, we met briefly and headed to bed around 12am so tired. The next day we met the littlest of the boys, who is very cute and middle boy quite the polite and quiet teenager, who has a lot going on, he went off to tutor underprivileged kids in math so we didn’t see a lot of him the house is a lot bigger then Australian houses and in a very affluent neighbourhood (to give you an idea the Kennedys have a house here). The property is surrounded by parkland and is stunning.

We decorated the Christmas tree and listened to carols it all felt very right and cold and Christmassy. Then we went for a walk with aunty through the woods to a frozen pond with Dixie their very lovely and old black lab. It was wonderful and the walk was so picturesque although there was a lot of brambles and thorns to watch out for. We saw lots of white tailed deer and then an arrow shaft were someone had shot one. It was nasty with barbs on the end and all bloody it was horrible. You are not allowed to hunt on the county land and lots of people walk there so it’s not good. There is a deer overpopulation problem and as many of their predators which are key stone species are dead they are causing heaps of road accidents and killing lots of people. So something has to be done and hunting should occur but it’s not very safe there to do so.

That night we went to a wonderful Korean place for dinner with a grill in the table top and then off to the botanical garden which has wonderful light displays. It was 2 above freezing and we were rugged up to the nines, but it was much fun. I skyped home and didn’t get to sleep until 12am. A bad idea considering the fact we had a church service early the next morning the church choir and orchestra was beautiful and the Cantata written for Christmas was very joyful. I couldn’t help but think of Tim Minchin’s Christmas song, the experience was none the less lovely and moving. Girly almost fell asleep twice though. We got bagels (me egg bacon and cheese) and coffees after picking up middle child from a party, who looked a little worse for wear. Then headed home. I played banjo kazoie with littlest on 64 which was a lot of fun and watch some kids tv. Tonight we are off to a huge mansion for a carolling party. This place is owned by the people who control the pastry section of star bucks up the east coast. Very surreal for me I feel like a little fish in a huge sea. Family is very welcoming though and I am so lucky.

Tomorrow girly and I are off to down town Washington to see the Smithsonian institute and Washington monument. The day after we have a Whitehouse tour. No cameras or bags allowed so I’ll remember what I can for you all. The next day we are off to Boston to see another branch of the family. America is kind of like the movies, big, full, rich with life in your face and addictive. I love it here it is romantically cold. What I love the most is when I close my eyes on a cold winter night my eyelids are cold upon my eyes and the air is crisp in my lungs. Wintertime in America is an experience I won’t forget.

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