Tuesday, April 6th.
Flight to San Francisco at 10am. Got a friend of mine to take me to the airport but she could only do it first thing in the morning, 6.30. This meant little or no sleep. Exhaustion kicked in quite early. Got to the airport at a little after 7 am. Standing around the airport with about 2 hours to kill. A little nervous but excited. Kept saying to myself, "Here we go. This is 2 months in the making." I didn't eat. Big mistake. The plane trip took forever, the air hostesses were rude and pissy and there was no food. I was utterly famished by the time we got there. I was just so relieved that we got there before Noon, California time.
Got there and stood at the airport waiting for the taxi to take me to the hotel. I kept thinking as I stood there, "Okay, so I made it." The weather was nice and cool. I felt the tingle of the sun on my stiff jet-lagged joints. It was an indescribable good feeling. The taxi ride to the hotel took awhile. Other passengers were dropped off at much nicer hotels in parts of town I only wished I could afford to vacation in someday. I asked the sole male passenger in there if he was there on business. He replied, "Yes, in town for lunch from Las Vegas. Fly back this evening." Hmm. I muttered in reply, "That's a nice lunch." I want that job!
We finally got to Hotel Majestic which unbeknownst to me until now is haunted. For all I know I may have even stayed in the same haunted room, come to think of it. I got there at a little after 1pm. No early check-ins here. I asked to leave my luggage and explore as much as I could around it. Luckily for me it was close to Japantown (which was underwhelming) and the Fillmore District shops. I grabbed lunch at the closest decent restaurant I could find. It was an Indian food $9.99 all you can eat lunch buffet. I thought to myself, just what I need, I could eat a horse. Food was subpar at best. No wonder it was empty. Not a good way to start. Knowing what I know now and where I was headed, Fillmore Street, I should have waited to eat at some of the better restaurants that were about to present themselves to me.
Filled up and with extra time to spare, I did some window shopping at the Fillmore Street District. Don't you just love neighborhoods like this - streets lined with unique boutiques and one-of-a kind shops. Weaved in and out of the interesting array of shops. Marc Jacobs, weird. Browser books, intense, too bad not enough time. Paolo shoes, tacky. Couple more nameless stores. Clothes seem a little too upscale and high fashion for me. Stopped by Clary Sage Organics and picked up some herbal supplements samples and a free copy of Daniel Kalish's Book, Healthy Guide to Hormones. Yay me! Love this!! Nice stroll on a seemingly normal Tuesday afternoon and I score some swag. Nice. Bought a pack of Leffe Blond (I think that's what it's called) very good European beer and went back to check into the hotel.
The hotel was not so bad. It looked like a quaint European bedroom with the pine furniture, old-fashioned TV set and a claw foot bathtub. I didn't mind it at all, expected worse. Plus, the staff was just the nicest. Everything I asked for they provided in a short amount of time which I thought was so sweet for such a dated place. I sat back, unpacked and finally had a chance to rest from waking up early, the long flight, the time change, hustling at the airport, the immediate window shopping I was thrust in. I was exhausted. So I just sat back, relaxed and unknowingly downed two beers.
Two hours later, I decided not to waste what I had left of the daylight and the day and headed over to Union Square to do some more window shopping. It was just like I remembered it from 3 years ago.
There was still the big ole' Macy's store in the middle of Union Square. The casual people who sit there and just take in the day in the middle of the square. Only this time there were more people than I remember. And the rest of the San Franciscans who just walk by totally unaffected by how pretty and serene everything seems to be. I did some more window shopping at Macy's, H&M (which had a very disappointing collection I must say), took some pictures of the square and began the long walk back to the hotel.
Some things never change. San Francisco still has a staggering number of homeless people, some of them harmless, some of them totally wasted and some of them really creepy. What was I thinking that there'd be fewer of them with the recession? I lost my directions back to the hotel so it got a bit scary with the homeless, scary people as I walked back.
This is the scary part of vacationing alone - when you have to walk the long, dark, unknown streets on your own. The trick to tackling this, one, stay aware of your surroundings, if people start walking behind you let them walk past you and if they refuse to walk past you, pick up the phone and make a phone call to anyone (preferably your mother) so at least there's someone on the other line that can call for help in case anything were to happen to you. Then, most importantly before you begin your walk pick a busy street, walk on the most well-lit street you can find. Find a family friendly looking couple or group of people and walk behind them. Stay close to them and if they change direction from your destination, find anouther well-lit street and walk on it.
I followed all these tricks of the trade and thankfully made it back to my hotel safe and sound.
Day One. Accomplished.
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