This one is my attempt at an artistic composition from Little Italy looking towards downtown.
I took this while enjoying a latte from Cafe Trieste, which was started by Italian immigrant Giovanni Giotta 50 years ago, was the first place on the west coast to serve espresso, and is now a famous landmark in San Francisco. The people hanging out in there were very much authentic from the old country.
That afternoon I decided to walk out to the Golden Gate Bridge. I took the bus as far as I could into the Marina District, and walked the rest of the way. Here I am not too far into the walk...
...and here I am much closer, from Torpedo Wharf, which now is not much more than a pier jutting into the bay near the bridge.
This is a view back towards the city. I started near that orange domed building.
On Friday, I had the whole day to explore, so I took a guided walking tour of Chinatown. This building is the only freestanding building in Chinatown, since it doesn't share any walls with its neighbors. More interesting, this was at one time the only Chinese-speaking telephone exchange in the country. You would be able to call up and speak in Chinese to an operator, ask for "Mr. Lee on Grant Ave.", and she would plug the call into the right jack. The switchboard operators were required to memorize every name, address and phone number for all of Chinatown!
Just a street scene in Chinatown...
From Friday night through the weekend I went out to Pleasanton, which is on the East Bay side, over the mountains, to visit my friends Matt and Caroline. We went to the Pleasanton Farmer's Market...
We also went over to Livermore for mini golf, go karts, pizza and a drive-by tour of Livermore Nat'l Lab, where they both work. At some point during the weekend we were walking near their apartment when I saw this funny scene, so I will leave you with this...
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