The Black Sword, Friends, and the Waterfront

Day 2 in the City of Saint Francis

E.F. was great to see again but we didn't have much time to talk in the morning at his place. We had been invited to brunch with our friends Karen, Dena, and Amy down in the Northeast Waterfront area so we had to get ready and hustle. The brief trip required a run on the #5 line down McAllister to Market then taking the F Line to the Embarcadero and finally to Karen's place on Lombard. E.F. was kinda stoked to take this line because they were all old trolley cars from decades past and he had never taken it as far as we were going. Appropriately enough, we ended up on and old wooden paneled Italian trolley that the city had purchased and it was a blast. It had this somewhat jerky way of moving as it rolled down the tracks and the signs were in Italian and English so that was cool.

We get off at Sansone and Embarcadero and walk a block to Karen's. She lives in a great condo in a gated complex whose other taller building has a roof-top garden and incredible views of The City... I took a slew of pictures which I'll post soon as I get how to transfer them from the SIM card to my laptop. Karen had some great croissants and latte's for E.F. and me and when the girls came out it was like being back in high school again ( sans a crap-load of the pimples, drama, and insecurities of that time). Finally walked on over to the waterfront and went to a great restaurant named Butterflies. The view was great with big glass windows looking out onto the bay. Karen informed me that that was. The place to be when the America's Cup races come to San Francisco in 2012. Let me put it plainly, I am SO THERE.

A wonderful brunch done, we get to Karen's place, the girls change into walking shoes and attire and we're off to explore Telegraph Hill. Karen and E.F. take us on this great trip up these series of stairs, up Grant street and round to Coit Tower. This may seem crazy but in all the years I have been coming to San Francisco, I've never gone up to Coit Tower. The views are hard to describe but let's just put it that they are breathtaking. I'll be posting plenty of those pics as well. The tourists were thick so it seemed like a bad time to try to get to the top of the tower but I'll do that again before I leave if I can swing it.

We ended up going down a series of other stairs with wonderful gardens and quaint homes as we made our way back to Karen's again. The rest of the day was walking down the Waterfront and then back to Karen's again where we settled down after miles of walking. I'll end here only because I really want to write mostly about my time exploring on my own. But, man, what a great day.