We're planning on doing the Golden Gate walk. And you aren't the only one that hasn't done it before. I've lived in this area for 20 years and i've never none the tourist thing before. like walk the golden gate, take a cable car etc. We're planning on trying to squeeze all of that stuff in.

-rich

 

well it's 11:30 am and i'm getting away from this damn computer. i've got my 2004 Mt Hamilton t-shirt on and i'm finishing up around here so we can get back out into the real world. Puni Puni Poemy is recording in the bedroom and i'm hoping to find "Eiken" today. Either to buy or rent. man i love anime with large bouncing *****

-rich

 

rich, check your pm.

 

Did you make reservations for Alcatraz? I've got friends coming to town next weekend, so I stood in line at Pier 41 for a half hour Saturday to get tickets, the best we could do was the 6:30 PM trip Sunday night.

Say are you guys doing anything tonight or Wednesday evening? I might be able to run across the bridge and join you for dinner or something, give me a jingle.

And if you ask me- it's too damn cold, and windy, and long to walk across the GGB- I much prefer riding a bike across.

 

Pete, you know you can buy those Alcatraz tickets online, right? Pay with credit card & leave at will call... beats standing in line with gaggles of tourists

 

when I looked online all I could find were the stupid all day $40-50 packages for tourists.
So I drove over dealt with the parking hassle and waited in line with the throngs, only took about an hour of my life away from me.

 

Day 3: Monday continued

Aaaaahhhhhh, I'm back at the house. Man do i love going to Japantown. Christina and I walked down to the corner of Union and Steiner and hoped on the 22 Muni that took us up over the hill and down to the Japantown area. We hoped off next to the Kabuki theaters on the corner of Filmore & Post. Once off the bus we had our destination made up. The Japanese Sushi house "Takara". But sadly they changed their hours and are no longer open on Mondays. This makes two times in a row that i had run up to their doors just to be let down. So not to be too sad we headed for another place i like alot. "Iroha" where we had a great lunch. I had the ramen with unagi (lunch special) and Christina had the ramen with a Californian roll, with hot sake and green tea.

Then it was back to the mall were i was on the hunt for Eikan (anime), but after spending far to long searching every possible area for it i asked thguy behind the counter. Just to go with the rest of the day he had never heard of it. And they were also out of Initial D (stage 2) on DVD. Man could it get any worse. They did however have some things i whould have like to buy but nothing I'd kill for, so we were out of there.

Then it was out front to the General Store "Nijiya Market" man now those guys have everything. There we got plenty more stuff to hold us over for the night, like Mu Sake, Kirin 903 sports drinks, Sashimi, good rice, fresh unagi, wasabi, S&B ichimi togarashi and a few other things.

Then it was back on the Bus and up over the hill again. We got off at the corner of Filmore & Broadway and started talking about going across the golden Gate today. The weather had finally cleared up and you could see all the way across the bay. But a little more than half way home going up those big hills we decided it best just to catch up on some reading around the house. Maybe even rent a few more DVD's because we called Blockbuster and they said the films that the neighbor kid had out had come back. So FREE rentals for us. Woo Hoo!!

-rich

 

Pete, i'll call you. Christina and i would love to have dinner with you on Wednesday. But were you thinking of an in dinner or going out. We're hoping for out if you could afford to do so.

-rich

 

Rich, I think you and Christina will really enjoy walking across the Bridge. It isn't necessary to go all the way to the Marin side to appreciate the Bridge.

I've ridden a bicycle across it many times as a kid and walked down the roadway during the 50th Anniversary celebration when they closed it to traffic (I only made it halfway across because of the mass of people). It's truly a marvel of engineering and an enduring tribute to the late Charles Ellis who made the calculations for the entire bridge structure with a slide rule, a mechanical adding machine, and pencil and paper. Sadly, Ellis is uncredited on the Bridge dedication plaque due to his boss Charles Strauss' insecurity with having a hired engineer design the Bridge for him.

When you walk across the Bridge you may be almost overwhelmed by its immensity. I used to walk right up to one of the towers and look straight up. It's a perspective that is lost when one simply drives across the Bridge.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

Hey thanks for the tip. I'm really looking forward to doing the walk. and no i don't plan on walking all the way across. I have a friend that works on the bridge up top. and he's told me stories that have blown me away. We may even still do the walk today

-rich

 

Day 3: Monday final

After such a beautiful day in the city and reading all the post about the Golden Gate we decided to just go for it. We hopped into the Ford Focus that at this point is being ignored and is covered with sap and crap from the tree it's parked under. In other words i can feel really proud to be driving something that looks so dirty.

We get to the parking place right near the bridge and the weather couldn't be better. Sunny, clear and not windy. It was a good time too, around 6:20 pm (peak dinner hours)

Well now here starts the embarrassing part of the story is that heights completely freak me out. I mean real heights, not just 25-50ft in the air. But a few hundred feet in the air is really freaky for me. Plus i also have a wierd thing about traffic coming up from behind me (only after being hit from behind by a bus while riding my bike) So with the two fears being played at the same time i was in a panic. Hands sweating, head getting dizzy, not to mention walking with a slight lean with the top half of my body going towards the traffic while the bottom half was trying to walk a straight line.

Christina of course has no fear of heights and is running over to the sides telling me how many seals see can see all the way down. I could only take her word for it because i was terrified. Once we reached the first tower i was still a little nervous but i started trying to relax and get into it. So i pressed myself to the tower and looked straight up. WOW!!!! How amazing. Christina was beginning to feel sorry for me and said she was just happy i made it out that far. "come on honey, we can go back now" she said to me. But something inside me said "no" so i said in return "well for years i said if i was going to walk the bridge i would at least do half" So with a smile on her face and a look of concern she took my hand and we continued on.

A few times along the way i crept out to the edge and held on the a most study looking thing i could find for dear life, white knuckles and all. Once we reached the midway point where the huge cables are at the closest point to the bridge we stopped. There i closed my eyes and embraced my wife and kissed her softly trying not to be the pu$$y i felt like. After all it was a wonderfully romantic thing for Christina and she was having the time of her life.

But i'll tell ya. Once i opened my eyes and i could see the traffic coming towards me i began to feel (somewhat) normal. My head stopped spinning and my hands weren't sweating either. So on the way back with the traffic coming towards me i felt like a new person. I really began to enjoy to true beauty of the bridge and just how massive it is. As well as stopping again and again to look over the side and hunt for seals swinning about. I know it's a total tourist thing to do, but i think each of us bay area folks should take the time to do it. It'll be something i never forget.

After the bridge we drove down to "Fort Point" and spent a little more time looking around just to get a different view. Then we took the time and walked out on the pier were the locals were fishing and sat looking back at the city while holding hands.

All and all today was a great day and i hope the rest of the week goes as well.

Now i'm getting drunk on that "really good" bottle of sake and getting ready to have a japanese dinner and watch a movie.

talk to you tomorrow

-rich

 

hehe,

Try that in L.A., if you ever go...

 

I'm glad it worked out for you two, Rich. I forgot about the height issue because I don't feel comfortable around heights, either. The traffic is the other weird distracting thing because you don't notice how the Bridge rumbles and shakes from the vehicles until you are on foot.

Fort Point is one of the most widely known landmarks in film history, as it is where actress Kim Novak jumped into the Bay only to be rescued by Jimmy Stewart in Hitchcock's "Vertigo". It was also used in a scene in Robin Williams' android alter ego "Bicentennial Man". Robin Williams lives in the City so he got to go home after each days' shooting for that outdoor scene while filming on location.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

ya when we were up on top we started talking about the film Vertigo/ kim novak & jimmy and decided to go on down. thanks for that extra push to get me out there.

-rich

 

Day 4: Tuesday

Oh my, i think i just found my dream japanese restaurant and it's only 6 blocks away from where we are. It's called Yoshida-ya and it's right off Union. For months now i have been looking for a japanese / sushi place that has "tatami seating" (that's when you sit apon the floor on a cushion without your shows) Over the past years the only place i ever frequently go to has been Yoshi's, which i still love. So i'm very much loving forward to going there either tonight or tomorrow. Depending on where psoper wants to eat. If he says he'ld rather have Italian then i'll be there tonight.

But i think today we ay end up going to Kid Robot if Huck is down there working today.

-rich