On the way into San Francisco back from the Napa Valley, we drove through a suburb called Brisbane. A town of this name shall be our destination when we arrive in Australia to visit Colin's mum.
San Francisco is funny, such a beautiful city, with people so friendly and laid back, yet everyone is living on unstable ground. The last big earthquake in San Francisco was back in 1989 (the Loma Prieta). It was a 6.9 on the Richter scale (Melissa has been in a 6.0 and lived to tell the tale).
People around here, with their laid back life style, must some how have accepted the fact that they are living on top of a geological time bomb. No where is it quite as laid back and easy going as the streets around San Francisco's most famous intersection: Haight and Ashbury. Although we are now living in the 21st century, many people are still living as if they were back in the 60's. The souvenir stores, cafes and restaurants in the area are all reveling in flower power, incense burning, peace, love and understanding of an era now long gone - well long gone for some. Indeed walk around the streets and you will have no trouble finding people who look as if they haven't strayed far from the area in the past forty years.
The 60's brought a revolution to music and much of this, along with a ginormous selection of modern artists, is available at Amoeba music (which also has outlets in Berkley, Hollywood and Los Angeles). We were overwhelmed by the plethora of titles and we struggled very hard to leave the store without buying too many CD's.
With the day almost over, we decided to try out a local Indian restaurant called 'Lahore Karahi'. We took with us a bottle of wine from Darioush to savour our Indian cuisine with (very nice wine too!). Upon finishing our meal, we had a fair bit of fod left over and our server (who we believe owned the restaurant) seemed quite disappointed that we had not managed to eat the banquet he had prepared, which was indeed very tasty. So he insisted that we should take the leftovers in a doggy bag and give it to the first homeless person we saw on the streets. This we did, after wandering around for some time looking for someone that was homeless and that looked friendly enough to approach. Our recipient of the Indian food was very grateful and as we left, we felt our cosmic total of Karma points had increased slightly.
Speaking of the homeless and pan handlers in particular, we were sitting having breakfast on a patio, when we heard a booming voice from what looked like a cardboard box - A cardboard box with a face on it - A face that moved when it (he?) spoke. Unfortunately, although this 'cardboard box monster' was attracting attention, it did not seem to be making too much money from the passers by and for the most part, seemed to scare the children terribly.
Up next: The San Francisco night life as experienced by a couple of eager tourists.
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