San Francisco: Chinatown, Godzilla, and Girlfriends

2010 June 3, 5:16 pm
Filed under: There and Back Again

Several years ago I fell in-love with San Francisco. Those of you who read my blog back in those days probably vaguely recall that every other weekend I was hopping on a plane to visit my San Francisco-based boyfriend. Things with Dr.Mac (known then as “Berkley”) didn’t pan out quite like they do in the movies–we’re still friends and he’s even my dentist, but we never made it as a couple. And really? That is just fine. I like that we’re friends, and I think his wife is absolutely fantastic, and I love that if I am even mixed up in some kind of tooth emergency, Dr. Mac would fix me up in no time. But more than all of that, I love that I am still in-love with the city he introduced me to, and imagine I will always be a little in-love with San Francisco.

What I had anticipated would be a total girly weekend in San Francisco with Steph and Uzi took a delightful turn into an Asian weekend in San Francisco. (Except for the always-amazing, enormous burritos from La Taqueria.)

Saturday morning a group of old friends (Steph, Uzi, Silvia and Erica) met up in Chinatown to go on a city-sponsored walking tour.

(Erica, myself, Silvia, Uzi and Steph — Photo Credit: Uzi)

Having an equal love of history, nerdiness, China and San Francisco; this was about the most perfect thing I could have chosen to do. I loved all the historical tidbits from our guide, I loved that we were probably the youngest people on the tour (and definitely the most giggly), I loved that the weather was absolutely perfect and I loved being able to get to know this particular neighborhood a little better.

These few blocks have a completely different feel than the rest of the city, and while I am positive they do not really feel like a big, bustling, Chinese city–I loved wandering around, seeing all the shops and people and signs. One day that will be me in real China, wandering around, probably getting lost, and loving every minute of it.

Later that afternoon we spent several hours at the new museum in Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences. People, it was totally worth the seemingly high price of admission. There is an enormous aquarium, a 3-story glass and steel sphere full of birds and butterflies, exhibits of both live and stuffed animals depicting various geographic regions of the world; South Africa, Africa, etc. I wish I had taken more pictures here, but sadly I was busy gaping at how enormous a blue whale really is (there is a skeleton hanging from the ceiling in the lobby of the museum), I was fascinated by the epic sea-battle between a crab and a sea anemone and a different crab and a sea-horse taking place in real-time; I was delighted with the albino alligator who, for all it’s lizard-ness and vicious teeth reminds me so much of myself, preferring to stay glow-in-the-dark white and sit in the shade.

Later that evening, Steph, Uzi and I made our way down to Japantown for a showing of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. People, this was one of the all-time highlights of any vacation I have ever been on. Man-sized puppet Godzilla vs. Robotic Godzilla, rainbow lasers and spurty ketchup-blood, the most horrible sound-track of all time and some incredibly bizarre green-gorrilla-aliens in space-men disguise. Among other 1974-Japanese-Godzilla-themed gems.

(Photo Credit: Uzi)

Words just cannot do this Japanese import justice, I highly suggest you add it to your NetFlix que. Seriously, and make sure you have popcorn to throw at the screen, it makes the movie so much more enjoyable. (Yes, we took photos of the movie while we were watching it. Illegal? Probably. But I would think that the legal department for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla would be proud that their film has been recommended with such verve to a new audience. And if it goes to court, damnit, that will be my defense.)

The only way to top off an already fantastic weekend was to meet up with my long-time blog-crush, Abby of Bright Yellow World. We had breakfast at the Ferry Building and wandered around eyeing the organic vendors, ceramics and cupcakes. I’m all about the cupcakes. I love meeting bloggy friends in real life only to discover they are even more delightful than their blogs lead a person to believe. Abby is like that; if I didn’t need to catch a plane I would have loved to hang out with her for days instead of a paltry two or three hours. Next time, m’dear, you and I shall have our own SF adventure!

(Photo surreptitiously stolen from Abby)

How, you may ask, does one neatly tie up a weekend that includes girlfriends, the best Mexican food in the city, Chinatown and it’s wonders, a fantastic nerdy-heaven museum, Godzilla (need I say more) and a lovely morning with a bloggy friend? There is no other explanation needed than: I was in San Francisco. And it was Awesome.