We put some flowers in our hair, and headed into San Fran. We parked up in Pacifica, right on the ocean. Hopped on a bus, transferred to the BART and disembarked at Embarcadero Station. There was a red bull sponsored, free-style bicycle competition going on in the plaza. We walked through the Ferry Plaza and hopped on the streetcar to ride up and down Fisherman's Wharf. Wandered through Chinatown and had lunch. Went to the streetcar museum to see the actual pulleys and cables that are still running those cars around the city. Felt the burn from walking up and down the hills. Stopped into Grace Cathedral to see the bronze doors that were poured into the same molds Ghilberti used for the famous baptistry at Il Duomo in Florence. The trumpets announced our arrival as we walked up the stairs to the Cathedral and it took us a moment to realize they weren't for us, but for the bride that was exiting the limo behind us. Mary Lou got yelled at for talking pictures of the bride walking down the aisle. Then, off to the Japanese Center to meet with a friend of Nicole's from India.
Rucha Patak was in the city for the U.S. premier of Aamir Bashir's "Harud (Autumn)". Rucha had produced the the movie. Nicole had just missed the Canadian premier before leaving for this trip, but was excited when she realized she would be in San Fran at just the right time for the SF Film Festival showing. We had drinks at the Kabuki Theatre Bar before the 9.30pm show. It was a good thing we met before the movie, because we certainly did not want a drink when we came out. It's an intense movie about the effects of the continuing conflict in Kashmir. India and Pakistan have been been battling it out there, high up in the beautiful Himalayan mountains, for decades. There seems to be no end in sight, and, as always, the ones who are suffering are the people who live there.
Nicole had read a lot about the conflict, and had started some work on the subject, but she had never been there. You can read all you want about anything, but you don't really know it, until you feel it. In Harud, you could feel it. The tension hanging in the air. Guns always at the ready from watchtowers. Checkpoints. Random rollcall line-ups. The anguish of a whole family just trying to keep it together day to day. It was heart-wrenching. We were speechless when we came out from the theater. It's a story that needs to be told, and Rucha and Aamir didn't hold anything back when telling it. Rucha and her friend dropped us back to the BART and we rode to our RV park in silence.
The next morning, we met up with Linda Stone Weiss. Linda was Mary's freshman roommate at Buffalo State. They had not seen each other since 1971. Linda had contacted Mary Lou on Facebook about a year previously and said she was living in Cupertino. We had lunch at Denny's because it was the only place we could park the RV. Mary Lou had a great time visiting with Linda, learning about her career, great husband and two fantastic children. They promised each other not wait another forty years to do it again.
Off to the Golden Gate Bridge. We had to see it while we were here, even if we were running late for our next 'meeting'. We drove round and round in circles trying to get the RV close enough to it, but, it was totally worth it. It is an awesome bridge. Visually, all of San Fran is pretty impressive. From afar, the rectangular neutral colored houses layered up and down the hills create a really trippy sense of perspective, and, walking through the streets, you feel that either the buildings are crooked, or you are. Watching the streetcars ride up and crest over the tops of hills, or disappear around the corner blocks below you, is rather whimsical.
Our scheduled afternoon 'meeting' was with Laurie (Carr), her husband Derek Mims and their two little troubles, Dylan and Evan. At Bobby Carr's birthday party last year, we had warned them that we would drop in when we reached the West Coast. We're not sure they believed it would really happen, but, there we were! It's a good thing we chose a good bottle of wine from our Paso Robles tour (instead of the bargain brands we keep stocked) to gift them, since Derek is a wine consultant and blogger! They opened a bottle of white for us, and we caught up over the rolling, cutting, moulding and squishing of play-doh with the kids. (We had forgotten how good play-doh smells. . . ) During dinner, we were amazed and entertained by the outspoken, slightly naughty, older brother Dylan (who was very proud to share his recent conquering of the potty), and the bashful, but flirtatious Evan. What a treat to share some time with such a beautiful family.
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