More San Francisco, then back to Vancouver

Dinner at Zuni on Wednesday evening was fabulous, as usual....

Peter and I always (almost always) have the roast chicken (prep time - 1 hour) and the caesar salad (which has actually seen anchovies in living memory!), and it was fabulous, as always (the restaurant has been here forever, and from the looks of it, will be here another while yet...)

Thursday was - again - Hank's day, and a glorious day it was too.  As you can see, the city was wearing its spring finery...

...and Hank had found something new for us to explore, the Octagon House, one of the San Francisco originals, complete with colonial era furniture and fixings (who knew that anything had been in San Francisco that long....)

...no pictures allowed indoors, but it was an interesting piece of San Francisco history, right up Hank's alley, of course.

Our next mission was to get in to State Bird Provisions, a still-trendy restaurant that opened about 3 years ago in the Fillmore.  We (that is, Hank and I) have been trying to get in ever since, but no luck with reservations.  This time, we tried a different tactic - standing in line for the limited number of tables they reserve for walk-ins.  Hank, I-Pad in hand, volunteered to stand in line while I took my obligatory nap.  And we made it!

Here's us, in line....

....and here we are in the restaurant.  It is an interesting business model, really, dim sum for white people.  Their signature dish is quail (California's state bird, don't ya know, hence the name of the restaurant); that, and a limited number of other dishes can be ordered from the menu.  The rest comes around on carts.

For all the chaos, the service was excellent.  The quail and one or two of the other dishes were brilliant.  The rest was a bit too exotic for me, although I am certainly glad to have gone.  So yes, especially for those of you who are adventurous eaters, I would recommend it, but if you go, be sure you are willing to mortgage your first born.  All those exotic flavours don't come cheap!!

After dinner, we were off to the theater, where we finally managed to score tickets for The Book of Mormon (we had tried twice in New York and once before in San Francisco).

No wonder it won so many Tony's!!!  Choreography, music, dancers, singers, all great, and very funny!  We had a wonderful time!!

Friday, Peter and I went for a long walk in Mission Bay, a newly developed area of San Francisco where industrial blight once was.

 

It was fascinating, really.  It takes forever to get things done in San Francisco, between permits and NIMBY, but once they do it, they do a really good job.

We planned for a late - and large - lunch (the opera tonight is clocked at 5 hours and 10 minutes and starts at 6 P.M., so no dinner for us).  We stopped at Towns End (fittingly enough, at the end of Townsend Street) on the waterfront, for another nice meal (sorry, I was too busy eating to take pictures).  We both headed home for a nap, to prepare us for the opera.

And here we are in our finery....

The opera was Berlioz' Les Troyen, last performed in San Francisco some 40 years ago.  And no wonder!  It requires a cast of thousands, the chorus is on stage and singing for most of the performance, there are ballets (it is a French opera, after all), and not to mention the infamous Trojan horse.  I have to say, it was fabulous, all of the above.  Susan Graham outdid herself as Dido, but the other voices were all great too.  If were staying any longer, I would have gotten a ticket for the next performance (even though the opera ticket cost more than my plane ticket!)  However, I am leaving tomorrow, so once it will have to be!   Really,  for all that it was 5+ hours long, I didn't want it to be over.

Saturday, Peter and I met for brunch at Ella's, another San Francisco institution, at California and the ,Presidio.  Our last "event" of the trip was the meeting of the Wagner Society, fittingly enough, on the relationship between Wagner and Berlioz (which can be summed up:  they loved each other and then they loathed each other).  The speaker was very knowledgeable, and it was a great talk, very well attended too.

And then I was off to the airport and the (short) trip home, which was - again as we like it - uneventful.  I was home in bed by 10 P,M,, having dubbed the trip a great success!

However,one pays for one's sins, or, more to the point, for one's expensive opera tickets.  I was in the office working all day Sunday (okay, I confess, I took a little time to read the New York Times), and, of course, all day today.  Not much going on for the next little while - except for some emotional upheaval, which I will tell you about another time....

San Francisco it is........

......but before I'm off to San Francisco, there is lots of work to be done, so I was in the office much of the weekend.  It occurs to me I've never showed you my office....

It looks very much like - an office, except for the sofa, which has been with me since the beginning, almost 20 years now.

I did take off a few hours on Saturday, picked friend Dierdre from the ferry, had lunch (Shanghai River, again, even better than before), and off to Ladner for a memorial service for colleague Janis, dead at 61 from liver failure,  The event took place at the house of friends...

...which was lovely, as you can see, and was well attended.  We had a reasonable contingent from the office,and there wre folks from her running group, as well as other friends (some from as far back as law school) and family.  We did what you are supposed to do at these things, ate and drank, laughed and cried, and shared the bit of Janis that we each knew.

Back to the office later, and again on Sunday, but with the long days of spring, there was plenty of time for a lovely walk in the sunshine...

And then is was time to pack, for the Monday morning flight to San Francisco.

The flight was, as to be hoped, not exciting.  What was exciting was my first Uber call.  The genius who thought this concept up deserves his millions.  You push a button on your phone, and moments later, there is a picture of a car heading your way, with an eta, a picture of the driver, and a description of the car.  Then, the driver calls, and minutes later, you are headed out of the airport - for half the cost of a taxi.  It was way cool!  So, between boarding passes on the phone and Uber,, I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21rst century!!!

I was no sooner settled in at the B & B (the Grove Inn, newly renovated, convenient and charming, unconditionally two thumbs up already), when friends Hank and Pat picked me up for a movie date.  We saw Love & Mercy, the new biopic about Brian Adams and the Beach Boys.  It was a very different movie - I didn't know that, for all that early, sunny music, he had had such a dark life,  But it all came right in the end.  Hank and I had seen Brian Adams and the remains of the Beach Boys here at the Greek Theater a number of years ago.  The music, of course, was great, but Brian was a little -skittish is the best way I can describe it - on stage.  Hank has seen him since in concert, and says he seems himself, albeit 35 years older!!!

We went to Dinner at a place call Tommy's Joynt - yes, I know, you should never eat at a place with mis-spellings in its name, but it is a particular favourite of Pat's .....

Not a particular favourite of mine, however, buffalo stew or no.  Never again....

Tuesday morning, it was friend Peter's turn,  We met downtown, and went for a long walk to explore the construction zone that is the booming San Francisco - they call it Crane Spotting!

Then off to one of the reasons for the visit, a "do" at the German Embassy, co-hosted by the Wagner Society of Northern California, of which Peter and I are members

It a lovely home.....

and the music some original, written by the composer (above left), some Wagner, all in aide of raising money for young singers.  So, champers in hand, I felt like he sophisticated thing I like to think of myself as.

It had been billed as serving appetizers and desserts.  The food was a litle skimpy, though.  Luckily, Peter had taken the precaution of making a reservation (Open Table, on his phone - more 21st century) for Amber India, a mutual favourite, by way of Uber (that's when it really shines, from one out-of-the way place to the other.  And, after dinner,which was wonderful as always, thank you very much, we went home on public transportation!  Ah, to live in a city!!!!!

Wednesday again belonged to Peter.  We met, as agreed, at the Asian Museum, where he's a member.  After a bite in the cafe, we toured the new exhibit of 28 modern Asian painters......

 

(that's Peter walking through a sculpture made of 8,000 sheets of calligraphy paper, string and bamboo)

but barely scratched the surface of the permanent collection when we - both, I think - had had enough museum.  So,, back to our respective lairs, for a nap, and, for me, a chat with my faithful readers.  And now, off to dinner with Peter at The Zuni Cafe, another old favourite.  I will report again anon.

Back into the Vancouver groove.....

Return to Vancouver would not be complete without dim sum, with the usual cast of characters...

....that would be Sheila, Joyce, and, of course, yours truly....

We really do have a good time, and love Fisherman's Terrace, but have decided to try a new place next time.

On Tuesday, friend Ray came to visit from Boston,  We worked it out - it was 2004 when he was here last, although we talk on the phone every other week, and I did make it to Boston once in that 11 years.  It was great to see him in any event, and I was happy to indulge him in his request to eat Chinese food all four nights of his visit.  Friend Joyce (see above) recommended a new (to me)) restaurant called Shanghai River.  Well, my friends, we liked it so well after we tried it on Tuesday night that we vowed to return again.  It is a huge restaurant, but when we got there (8:30 - late for me) it was packed.  They found us a table anyway, even though we were the only round-eyes in the place, and seemed reasonably able to accommodate us in English (not a given in Chinese restaurants in Richmond) and gave us exquisite service as well as exquisite food (be sure to try the spare ribs in vinegar - they are addictive!).  We will definitely come back.

As usual when friends visit from out of town, you get to do things you might not otherwise do.  For example, they have built a fancy schmanzy gondola in Squamish which I would never have gone to on my own.....

.....look at that view of Howe Sound....

.....and even a bar at the top.....

Less important but also nice, a suspension bridge.....

.....not to mention the glorious drive, on a glorious spring day.  Topped, of course, by another dinner at Shanghai River (did I mention they have parking?  That's also not a given in Richmond, or in Vancouver for that matter).  A perfect day.

So what does one do to top that?  Well, on Thursday, we walked around Stanley Park, joined by friend John who lives in the West End and loves the walk as well...

.....there are my two handsome friends, John and Ray...

Ray says it is the most beautiful urban walk in the world.  I don't know about that, but it certainly is beautiful, although at 10k, it is not one to be undertaken lightly (we ultimately had to take a short cut out of Stanley Park - it was my fault and I accept full responsibility)..

John wasn't adverse to Chinese food for dinner but didn't want to come all the way to Richmond, so we "settled" for the Pink Pearl, a restaurant that has been here forever, but I've only ever been for dim sum.  Their dinners are good too, but seemed a little bland after the Shanghai River fare.  Still, three thumbs up.

For our last hike on Friday, we stayed closer to home, walking around Garry point and up the dike a ways.  Ray loved it all, and you do see it with new eyes when hiking with someone new.

We were going to go back to Shanghai River for dinner, but in spite of having taken the precaution of making a reservation, we got there to find it was going to be a 40 minute wait.  Neither Ray nor I will wait that long for a meal, so we went off to nearby Kirin.  You might recognize the name - I have been to the Kirin downtown on numerous occasions, although, again, always for dim sum, which was great.  Their dinner was excellent as well.

Ray took off on Saturday morning (9:30 - early for him!) and I was on my own again.  Usually, I am happy to see the back of a guest, no mater how much I love him, but Ray was an easy guest, and we never seem to run out of things to talk about.  I hope it is not another 11 years til I see him back here again.  (I would be 80 years old - what a concept!)

Anyway, I wasn't alone for long.  Friend Deb came over later on Saturday for a walk and some Japanese (for a change!) at my local favourite, Yokahama....

uto

.....and then, back to work, with a break only for bridge and lunch with the girls....

(from left to right, Deb, your narrator, Shelley and Karen).

And, of course, the usual pho with colleagues.  Couldn't resist taking a picture - how often am I seen with four such handsome men.....

So, I am well and truly here.  For a bit.  I am off to San Francisco for - you guessed it - the opera next week, and will hopefully write from there.