In the morning I attempted my first bus ride into the city, which commenced with disaster! I got kicked off the first bus (it was going the wrong direction) and didn't wait in the right spot on the other side of the street so even though I chased down the next bus, the driver wouldn't let me on. I wanted to cry, as I had now been waiting for buses for like forty minutes, alas in my infinite wisdom I decided to walk to the Consulate. This plan quickly dissolved as I encountered the next bus stop and waited there for the next bus. From then on, the Muni Bus System and I got along great, and it proved to be an efficient and cheap way of seeing the city. However, I never did find a little pocket map to call me own (the bus stops and busses were always out, though every other passenger on the bus seemed to have managed to get their hands on one). Anyhow this created a little game where I sit at the bus stop shelter inspecting the map on that wall, trying to see how fast I could figure out where I am, where I want to go and which bus(ses) I need to get on to get there... all before the next bus comes. I got pretty good at it and I met Tessa down town for a pleasant lunch date of sandwiches in the park and a tour of Chronicle Books' headquarters.
After lunch I somehow got a sweet deal of a three-dollar ticket in the Museum of Modern Art. Now, I'm no artist by any means but Modern Art is WAY over my head. Most of it was pretty (I think that even I could paint big blue squares though, and the three panels painted soild white was a bit confusing, I thought the piece was just missing for a while), so even with the audio explanations I was still lost on the "great artistic value" of many of the pieces. I did, however, appreciate a giant and vivid Pollock and some nifty Picasso's, O'Keeffe's and Matisse's, oh yeah and some famous toilet that some French Guy said was art too and everybody was real upset about that for a while.
Feeling cultured, I headed up to the Golden Gate Park for a fabulous walk in the old Japanese Tea Gardens and a pot of tea in the teahouse with my book.
Tuesday Morning I sampled chocolate at Ghirardelli Square and treated myself to an overpriced breakfast overlooking the bay at Pier 39. I spent the next couple hours at the consulate, where the Chinese door guard interrogated me harder than the Frenchwoman inside, who was actually quite nice and helpful. And I, in fact, received a very official VISA pasted into my passport in less than an hour! TRIAMPH! Feeling pretty darn pleased with my success at the French Consulate, I head up to check out Ashbury-Haight, including the house (the purple one) where the Grateful Dead were busted for Drugs in the seventies.
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