Please also visit my Miami blog, ¿Qué Pasa, Miami?. Gracias.

Friday, December 18, 2009

When You Go to San Francisco ...

- Pretend to be imprisoned in Alcatraz.



- Pretend to be visiting an Alcatraz prisoner.



- Pretend Alcatraz is Azkaban.



- Pick fruits and flowers illegally at the Alcatraz (Azkaban) gardens.



- Subsequently get arrested.



- Play prison guard.



- Crane your neck and gasp in awe at the badass fighter planes swooshing around the SF skyline.



- Escape Azkaban – I mean Alcatraz – once and for all and rejoin civilization.



- Photograph phallus-inspired architecture. (Actually, do this in all your travels.)



- Choose a building to obsess over and consider it your future dwelling place complete with private library.



- Wonder at the ironic address of the cathedral.



- Pretend you're in China.



- Be patriotic.







- Seduce a soldier.



- Pretend to be a wine connoisseur in Sonoma.



- Have fun with murals.



- Sing the theme to Full House in front of Danny Tanner's home.



- Be introspective at the Golden Gate Bridge.



- Experience a California wildfire, sort of.



- Prance around the roof of a Frank Lloyd Wright building after reading a sign expressly forbidding it.



- Get drunk at a Mexican restaurant, and take pictures of bizarre actions you won’t remember later.



- Kick ass.



- Oh, and be sure to wear flowers in your hair.



At long last I have ventured to the West Coast. I had longed to visit San Francisco for years and am happy to report that it did not disappoint. Thank you to Priscilla, my fellow traveler, and Andrew, our gracious host.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

And Now ... The French Mr. Bean



Following my trip to Ireland, I enjoyed an overnight layover in Paris. It was a warm but breezy June evening, and Parisians were dancing gracefully along the banks of the Seine, as Parisians are wont to do.



I was treated to a lovely "bateau mouche" ride on the river complete with buffet and DJ. Thanks again to my former students, Vincent and Elise, for their hospitality. Merci mille fois!



Nothing like an Eiffel Tower on one's head, I always say.