Thursday evening - after having purposefully looked up and walked the steepest streets I could discover/find, I posted on fb for people to guess how many flights/floors I had walked that day
( I didn't know at the time, as my tracker doesn't register until I'm home again )
the winner was good friend Sir William, with a guess of 137 - the actual total (as noted below) was 107 for the day... the bleedin' Eiffel Tower is only 106 floors! *Oi!*
ANYways...
(Not Quite) A Week In Vegas, by the mile and floor/flight ::
Tues 16th : 14 miles + 64 floors/flights
Weds 17th : 12 miles + 58 floors/flights
Thur 18th : 16 miles + 107 floors/flights
Total :: 42 miles + 229 floors/flights *whew*
And so, moving on...
Part II: What I Learned Of San Francisco :
The Marina sun is not the same as in the rest of the bay - not kidding! Tues & Thurs when I walked around the Marina was the only time during the trip that I burned - Thurs being burn-on-top-of-the-burn.
San Francisco women are gorgeous - someone told me before I left that the women there were ugly. don't know where in SF he was, but every part of town had bleedin' eye-candy to rev up a eunuch - friendly? I don't think they understand the word very well, but gorgeous? good gods, yes! Particularly the Russian lovelies - they breed 'em well! ;)
The only friendly locals are over 50... or hate other locals - unless they're working/on-duty, and even that's not a gaurantee, the locals are unlikely to be friendly or attempt to smile. Had great convos with locals over 50 or ones who, via conversation, hate other locals and agree they're mostly unfriendly. Very, very weird, but at least I seem to attract the friendly ones... mostly.
"I'm a local, too" - I'm beginning to think I must blend in well wherever I visit, as I was mistaken for a (friendly!) local every few hours - even moreso than when I was mistaken for a local in Vegas! There must be something in how I approach things or act/walk/etc. - or maybe I'm just approachable? Even the (friendly) locals, like locals in Vegas, assumed I lived there.
Locals never bear their arms - unless they're jogging/exercising, a local will be in long sleeves or a jacket... every. single. one. And even the joggers/exercisers will have a long-sleeve wrapped around their waist. Of course, there's a demn good reason...
A "Calm" day means just a light, cold breeze - nigh everywhere in the city, you can feel the wind off the Bay... one fellow was telling me how nice and calm the wind was one morning - and it was a solid, steady breeze. The weather was unusually warm during my visit, so you get used to sweating yet being chilled at the same time - weirdly enjoyable!
Locals refer to the city by its neighbourhoods - every little part of the city has a name, and each has its own style, blending only for a block, if that. North Beach/Chinatown was the only exception, where there was a good blending for several blocks. Neighbourhood names are always how a local will reference where to go/how to get somewhere, along with a single street name (never an intersection or reference point otherwise).
Chinatown is made of spit - I'm only assuming this because every chinese man within the Chinatown limits is hawking and spitting constantly, right onto the sidewalk. I'm assuming this is how they get the intricate designwork to stay on their architecture there.
For a "Walking City," even locals think you're nuts if you walk farther than 15mins - I walked most of my trip, taking advantage of the Muni only when visiting Cindy and her husband on Tues and in order t'get to some farther-out points on Thurs. Otherwise I walked - and even a few locals I'd seen at different points of a day were shocked and thought I was crazy for not using the Muni!
Only women wear leather - aye, this is a base assumption on the fact that the only males I'd seen wearing leather the entire trip was a biker at a burger bar and a former Alcatraz prisoner. :) Various women, however, were wearing all styles of leather.
Grow a 2nd stomach - the food variety is unbelievably insane, nearly every neighbourhood having its own style and varation of food sources. You don't have to try it all, but even I, yes I, experimented a little. Not that I was a fan of the asian and seafood that I tried, but I found Russian, Polish, Italian, and other places where there was something I could eat - and I bloody needed the food-energy for all of my walking!
San Francisco loves their teams - Tuesday night the local team won the NBA finals... and the noise didn't die down until 4a (probably after the bars booted 'em out). And the yesterday I luckily left before the parades, one out of Oakland, had started... and they were closing most of the streets "due to security reasons" as N0bama was landing in town - not for the parade, but for some Mayor's Conference, pissin' off a LOT of people heading off to see the parades. They weren't pissed 'bout N0bama, though - even the homeless people there are so far to the left it's insane...
Avoid political conversation like the plague - Seriously. If someone brings it up, change the subject. Weirdly, they're extremely left, self-important, and mainstream religious, which makes it all the more dangerous. You may dislike organized religion or dislike N0bama (as I do on both counts), but just nod and smile and stir the topic elsewhere. The extreme-left self-important topic is the primary initial conversation starter for unfriendly locals - it's almost as if it's a test to see if you're "the enemy." Tip the balance by asking about food or bringing up the weather that morning or recent sport event and you'll get a chance to finish the convo and be on your way.
Homeless are everywhere - you hear conversations about how the homeless have left to Oakland, but they're there - every neighbourhood has them, though the Tenderloin is the homeless epicenter. Yet they are as extremely left and self-important as the unfriendly locals and they will seldom approach you - unless they see you're going into a coffee shop... they all want a cup of coffee or an espresso - which probably explains something about these particular homeless?
It was a great vacation - loved every minute, though I'm now having to get used to flat ground again, I keep expecting to have to climb up or down the street *grins*
There's history nigh everywhere in the city, it's such a mix of new-and-old that you never know when you're going to notice some old peeking out 'tween the glint of chrome and plastic.
If I visit again, I think it'd be entertaining to travel with someone for a change - though I doubt they could keep up with me? *laughs*
Aye, 'twas well worth it and enjoyed it immensely - hardly noticed until I returned that I'd maybe only slept 4hrs each night (until the last, when my body had enough).
...now, where in the 7 hells should I travel next year?? :)
-thom Wolfox sR Rhose