Trip Number 10 is underway. I arose this morning to 54 degree temperature. Yesterday the high was 67. Today the high will be 63. But this time I am prepared for this -- no open toe shoes, no sleeveless tops, no cotton. It's all hitech fabric, wo0l, or completely artificial fibers for me -- including the excellent black nylon topcoat. I plan to hit the Kenneth Cole shop downtown
to get a jump on fashion footwear for the fall. You can do your fall shopping all year round here.
The trip out yesterday was fascinatin'. First, our People Mover at Dulles broke down in mid-field, and we had to be rescued by an Interim People Mover. The Interim People Mover was much nicer than our original, broken People Mover. They must only use it for special occasions. This happened about 8:30 in the morning -- and there were people on the think with 9 a.m. flights.... Who gets to the airport with that little time to spare these days?
These people were asked to read their flight numbers out over the intercom so that the control tower could hold their flights. I would be pretty ticked if I was on one of the held up flights due to some inconsiderate person's tardiness. After the mid-air connection of the Interim People Mover and the Broken People Mover -- in which we passengers crossed a crevasse high off the tarmac with our wheelies in tow -- I got to the gate with plenty time to spare.
I had an Economy Plus seat (extra leg room) and the flight was not full. Because of storms in the midwest we took the southerly route over Kansas instead of Colorado/Utah, which meant we flew right over Yosemite. The pilot announced it and dipped the plane's wings so that we could see El Capiton/Half Dome smack in the center of our little windows and the whole Valley stretching out. It was very cool.
I arrived in SF to have the worst possible cab driver ever. First, he asked me if I wanted to listen to music, and I said I didn't care, and he turned on this really loud house music. What do you suppose it was about my khakis and briefcase that made him think I wanted to listen to booming house music in the middle of the morning? Also, he took the wrong route to the office -- ending up on Market Street and then saying, "Oh, I can't turn left onto Front Street..." Duh. Everyone knows you can't turn left on Market Street. It's like Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda... I think this means I've been here too many times. He should have taken Howard Street off of I-280 to Fremont Street, which would have allowed him to cross Market Street and end up smack in front of my building. Grr. Might as well drive myself....
I'm staying at the Mark Hopkins this time, on top of Nob Hill. I needed to get out of the Financial District. I have a room with a double exposure and a view of Grace Cathedral (the only Episcopalian Cathedral in the country with a real boxwood maze) and of the Pacific Ocean beyond Golden Gate park. This hotel is not the Asian chic of the Mandarin; it's the old world Victorianism of old San Francisco. The fog is more suitable for this architecture -- I'm finding it less depressing. Right outside my window, in the forecourt of the Grace Cathedral, is the giant brownstown Pacific Union Club ("the PU"), which used to one of the old railroad baron's home. I think, anyway -- the guy's name was Mr. Flood. Mark Hopkins was a railroad baron too, and along with four other blokes invested in and built the western part of the
transcontinental railroad. The PU is across California Street from a pink Victorian house which was where Mr. Flood housed his mistress. A cab driver once told me that there is a tunnel under
the streets from the Flood Mansion to their mistress's house. Very convenient. By the way, the Mark Hopkins is the home of the bar called Top of the Mark, which is where Tony Bennett conceived of the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." Now I realize that it's not because SF is so pretty (how can you tell in this fog?), but it's because Nob Hill is so high and steep, that you practically have a heart attack getting up here.
I'm going to take the streetcar to the office today.
posted by Anonymous @ 10:09 AM
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