I did some more San Francisco exploring, and the highlight was when I gave in to extreme temptation and allowed myself to be a nerdy tourist and ride the cable car, taking photos and filming all the way! On the plus side, I certainly wasn't the only one, so I was greeted with we're-also-excited smiles and not annoying eye rolls from locals. (Phew!)
I'm not normally one for looking like such a tourist, but...
Allow me to introduce you to my one-legged pigeon friend. We met outside the Cathedral Hill Hotel. I complimented him on what an excellent "hopper" he was and he put on a little dancing show for me in return.
Walking around in Palo Alto, I came across the sad remains of a very, very red palm tree. I'm not quite sure what happened here, or why no one seems to want these scattered bits gone, so I stopped for a bit and memorialized the death of a palm.
Right now I'm reading (well, almost finished) Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman. No, not the Scarlett Johansson film. Really. I discovered this book in December in New York; a woman I met at the Tenement Museum recommended it to me. It is Eva's account of her family's emigration from Poland to Canada when she was 13, her high school years in Vancouver, her college "Americanization" in Texas, and her adult life in (mostly) New York. The book is so beautifully written, with Hoffman pondering life, love, philosophy, culture, and identity. I admit I had mixed feelings when the first quarter of the book ended, and the family began their journey, but only because I loved reading about her life growing up in Krakow so much. It's been over four years since I visited Poland and I've been dreaming about returning ever since then. Someday, someday...
For what is life without dreams?
