Talk Of The Town

It has been an odd week. My one-week trip to San Francisco suddenly became two, with a week-long preamble before the actual engagement. So I have spent the week in a hotel lobby working during the day, and then sometimes braving BART in the evening for a quick trip into the city.

Of course, I’m not quite in San Francisco itself, but Newark, which I didn’t know existed before Sunday evening (natives of the Bay Area point out that is a good thing, and really, I should have remained in that blissful state of ignorance). Exploration of the city itself was therefore put mostly on hold until the weekend.

But what a weekend! Saturday was split into two - firstly, the traditional ‘Ian walks for miles and miles and is then surprised that his foot hurts’ approach. This involved a quick breakfast of macarons, a voyage to Dandelion Chocolate (they have a brownie flight, which seems the most SF-thing ever), a disastrous attempt to visit Costco (on a Saturday afternoon no less - what was I thinking?), a pilgrimage to DNA Lounge, and then the long, long walk to the where I was staying. Turns out that they weren’t joking about the hills. Not one bit.

Having had something of a rest, it was time for the second part of the day. I have a new friend! Winebratsf of LushiousLushes had spent part of the week taunting me with the abundance of dark chocolate digestives in San Francisco, but also suggested that she could show me some edited highlights of the city. Which mainly included gin (Whitechapel), whiskey (Whiskey Thieves), with a brief stop for food and stocking up on spirits that aren’t on the NC ABC list.

Eventually, after a merry night (and learning lots about American whiskey!), I staggered back home . Or rather, continued my week-long foray into the world of ride-sharing. I can see why it’s popular. They gave me $50 of free credit for signing up, and it was pretty easy to get places using it. That didn’t stop me from feeling guilty about it, mind you. I wonder if the geospatial / communications tech could be commoditized and passed around to local taxi companies.

Sunday! Brunch! More walking! And then back to the hotel. With ibuprofen to help my poor foot. Sadly, I had to skip Oakland this time, but hopefully, I’ll be back!