An unexpected journey. From the start, this is what it was. Coming out of a meeting with a fellow blogger, Byron said to me, "And I still want to go to San Francisco!" Ah, one of the things I love about my partner in Simone Rey... her passion for ideas that just take off like a rocket. When I normally say, "How could we?", Byron says, "We HAVE TO!", and there we go.
The first time I ever went to San Francisco it was with my mom. I totally forgot that it was with her. The moment I saw the city, I had the strangest feeling I had come home. I would live there for a couple of years eventually, and then I would really leave my heart there, as many of us do. I still dream about it regularly... always searching, searching for my home when I no longer live there. How does a city do that? Magic? Here, I look like I am searching again.
homemade scarf, homemade skirt, vintage Spanish boots, Moda International sweater
We woke up the first morning to a couple of IPad heads taking our pictures. Photo shoot! So fun. No wonder it takes us forever to leave the hotel. Hotel Monaco is SO San Francisco. Just look at the colors and patterns! When a girl says, "We have to get the bigger room! The art, Laura, the art!" you know you're in the right place with the right people.
After hot chocolates and coffee in the beautiful fireplace-warmed sitting room, we were ready - I guess - to run across the street and barely make a bus that was headed to our destination. Out came the sketchbooks... and out came the more challenging aspects of urban transport. We had to use our jedi mind tricks to avoid some shady characters on the bus. But we wanted to do this the REAL way, and we were doing it. After much confusion at our transfer corner, one chocolate croissant purchase, and a girl who said she needed a place to sit and eat her chocolate croissant, we decided to heed the advice of a nice San Franciscan resident and walk the rest of the way to our destination.
We had a beautiful, beautiful stroll up a hill in a lovely park. It was truly magical. My favorite trees surrounded us. The wide open space. Pretty old houses here and there. Gentleman played golf.
We took to photographing everything. The light was golden. The air was so... northern. Sigh. While it was idyllic, the lack of real breakfast, the lack of memory on one six year old's camera, the hill... it was all starting to wear on us. We needed to get there. It was beautiful, but we needed to get there, and we needed museum cafe food.
Ah, museum food. Not just regular museum food, but nice San Francisco museum food. San Francisco that appreciates taking your time in that nice European way. San Francisco that has two Legion of Honor locations. One has a David Hockney show that you have timed tickets for and one does not. San Francisco that has Uber ("It's fancy, Laura." "What's fancy about efficiency, Byron?!" I was starting to get low blood sugar and had art show-missing anxiety setting in). San Francisco that has happy Uber drivers that save you. San Francisco that let's you go to the cafe first when when you finally get to the right museum, and doesn't care when you come into the timed, extremely popular art show because they see how hungry you are. And San Francisco that has the fanciest coffee cart I have ever seen that has paper wrapped fresh baguette sandwiches, heavenly salads, and apple tarts.
An unexpected journey. A beautiful thing.
by Laura E. Alvarez
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