City Pics

I didn't take my camera with me on our recent trip to San Francisco. I wanted to experience my own perspective rather than that of the one behind the lens. I've discovered that photo ops often rule how I "download" my time when I travel and that the trip becomes more about the camera than about me. So I'll share a few word pics to let you know about this amazing trip.
Picture us in a narrow alley in China Town. We're in a line to see a fortune cookie factory. Ahead of us is the doorway through which you see a dark, narrow little room where three Chinese women sit one behind the other rolling discs of cookie dough into fortune shapes after they've slipped in the paper fortunes. Notice the "boss" moving back and forth between them keeping them on task and reminding us to pay 50 cents per picture.
Envision an intimate, darkened theater. There are seats for about two hundred people with small tables in the first two rows. We are sitting in the first row laughing at the spectacle of male dancers dressed in poodle dog costumes standing beside a hugely coiffed Sarah Palin figure singing about how Snow White can find a husband. There are several full and empty beer steins in front of us. We're watching "Beach Blanket Babylon."
Study the group as we make our way around Angel Island on Segways. We are neatly in line as directed except for Pat who is seen out of line and zigzagged to our left where his stunt riding has led him straight smack dab into the hillside. Again, notice the hard laughter.
See the seven of us sitting on the steps facing Macy's in Union Square. It is a beautiful night and we are eating cheesecake in celebration of my 64th birthday. There are a few homeless people scattered around us and the sidewalk in front of us is full of walkers even though it is past 9:00. The sparkly lights of the tall buildings all around us illuminate the area in a magic sort of way.
And just imagine the cityscape as seen from an Edwardian balcony in the Buena Vista area of San Francisco. The Bay Bridge is in the horizon, Union Sqare and the rest of the city is in the middle distance and just below us two floors is the tiny manicured knot garden of our hosts. The sky is an outrageous blue and the sun dominates all.
Finally, a shot of us on the ferry sitting with our faces in the cool breeze yet warmed by the big sun to the west of us. The Coit Tower can be seen to our right and Alcatraz is close by to the left. We are sharing our outside deck seats with all manner of young people returning to the city from their adventures in the nearby locations where they have been bike riding, walking, picnicking and otherwise spending leisure time in the rare Bay Area sun just as we were.
It was unbelievable. It is like that every time we visit The City.