Sated from the banh mi, we kept walking, and at the Civic Center we came across the best outdoor sculpture ever – a piece recalling the fallen Buddhas in Afghanistan. Photos from many angles later, we walked on (past another cool sculpture) to Hayes Valley, a hip and trendy neighborhood (new to me), to a Moroccan furniture store Rose had found on the internet. She had the idea of getting a door and having it made into a dining table. We had seen great doors in a store in Rabat… it might have been cheaper to ship one from there than to pay the San Francisco prices! But it was fun to see what they had and to use a little darija with a guy who worked there. We then walked (lots of walking!) to Union Square, where there was a Frank Lloyd Wright building (once we got there, I realized I’d seen it before) that housed an expensive folk art gallery (I don’t think I went inside last time – and if I did, now I have been to some of the places from whence the art comes, and I was with Rose). Somewhere during the day, we also had a Vietnamese iced coffee – yum, yum, yum – thank you, Vincent, for telling me about that! Back to the train, and then a little of Palo Alto, walking down the main shopping street, going to a Tibetan crafts store, wining and dining.
And after another leisurely breakfast and some more rummy, we found ourselves back at Saigon Sandwich for more Banh mi. Just as good the next day! But we were just as hungry. And back to the big sculpture, too. But this time we didn’t walk – we took the Muni (another new experience – and I’m glad I could show Rose how easy it is; not sure she’d have done this without me). The Muni goes both under and above ground, depending on where it is – we got back on and went right to Golden Gate Park. When I’ve been there in the past it seemed far away and hard to get to – now that I know it isn’t, that opens up possibilities. I like knowing my way around San Francisco – and I know there’s a lot more to it. It’s on the A list of places I’d relocate to…. but I digress.
Rose had one VIP ticket to an exhibit at the DeYoung – Birth of Impressionism treasures from the Musee D’Orsay – and we both knew that if she didn’t use it this day, she probably wouldn’t get back into town to use it. We couldn’t get a second ticket, so I flipped through the catalog for that and Post-Impressionism, which is coming to the DeYoung this fall. I’ve used that strategy for sold-out shows in the past; you do what you have to do. And then I saw the rest of the museum; I might have had more fun than Rose did! There was a special exhibit called To Dye For – batiks, ikat and other ethnic fabrics. And there’s a lot in the permanent collection - Hudson School and other American paintings, art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas, some modern – I saw it all! It was nice to see some West Coast art and other things I don’t normally see. The East Coast museums (through the Art Institute of Chicago) really do have most of the masterpieces. What a fun San Francisco day! Back at her place, Rose cooked an Indian dish and I made brownies.
The next morning, Mercedes, a fellow PCRV from the Philippines, came to the Palo Alto train station for coffee. She lives just a couple of towns over by Caltrain. I thought it would be good for her to meet Rose, and of course it was delightful for me to see her! She accompanied me on the Caltrain to the Millbrae BART station, and from there I took BART to SFO. During the flight home, I read a fluff book that I had picked up for 50 cents in Seattle. It had surprising insights – the protagonist was debating life in New York City vs. San Francisco, getting a job to support herself vs. finding a calling, marketing and positioning oneself, relationships, writing. Of course, everything got resolved by the end of the book – real life might work out that way too, but I can’t skip ahead to the end….
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