I flew Virgin America, and I must say, that airline is the most fun to travel in. They have a distinctive approach that makes you feel like a rock star from the moment you get your boarding pass to the moment you leave the plane. You can even play Doom while you fly!
I arrived at SFO and was picked up by my friend Ginny whom, along with her boyfriend Sufian, invited me to stay at their place while I was up there. We all had lunch in Palo Alto at Pluto's and then Ginny and I wandered around Stanford University. This school's architecture alone would make me study more. It truly feels like an university. Also, I was very surprised to find a church on campus that very much resembles medieval churches you can find in Europe.
The church had gorgeous stained glass windows, painfully detailed mosaic murals, and a very impressive organ which was being played while we were there. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the windows but here are the other two.
After that, we got together with Sufian and headed to the city. We had dinner at the Castro and then drove part of the course of the half marathon. I described how this went in this post which recaps my whole running experience.
On Friday, Ginny and I went for a short run, and then she showed me a few basic yoga moves. This turned out to be harder than I thought. Holding those poses really takes a toll on many different muscles that are not hit by running. Needless to say, I felt like a pansy haha. However, it was really fun and your muscles feel very relaxed after. I think I might start going to classes. We'll see.
At around 10am we headed back to the city to hang out with her friends and get a tour of the real San Francisco, none of this tourist stuff for me this time. We first stopped at Bi-Rite's creamery. I don't really toss the "Best" adjective very often, but this little place has the BEST vanilla ice cream I have ever eaten. Try it. Seriously. Ginny guaranteed me that a line forms around the corner for this place but since we were there at 11am there was no line and I was skeptical to her claims. We hang out in Dolores Park for a little bit and entertained ourselves people-watching. Some dude was playing guitar AND a didgeridoo at the same time. Too funny.
After, we meet with Ginny's posse. Since she is getting her Master's in Graphic Design they are all artsy people which made it very interesting and fun. We spent the afternoon getting drinks, changing venues, meeting more people, having more drinks, and just enjoying our day.
A few anecdotes of that day: One of Ginny's friends referred to Bear worship, a custom used to be done in her native Finland, as "The God of Bear" I don't know why I found this so funny, but she made me take a picture of her necklace:
Its ok if it doesn't make sense. I don't think it makes sense to me either haha.
At the Elbo Room we met a couple who was from Houston. I was shocked when I saw the dude cause he looked exactly like Jason Segel from How I Met Your Mother. Much to our entertainment, his name was also Marshall and he is a lawyer who used to work for non-profits but now works for an evil corporation. If you watch the show you're already smiling :-)
Ginny at one point of the night said "God doesn't taste like gummy bears" HAHA
Saturday we woke up early and went to the deYoung Museum to see their exhibit Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. I have too much to say about this exhibit so I'll just leave it at that. Afterward we headed to the Expo for the race and I got my bib number and goody bag.
For lunch we stopped at Brenda's. This was, by far, the smallest restaurant I have ever been to, but don't let the size and location fool you (its in the Tenderloin), they serve great beignets, an outstanding bowl of jumbo, and a delicious shrimp po-boy. Another Must when you visit.
We took the rest of the day pretty easy by heading back home. One of my favorite things about my friends is that we can talk about anything for hours and we never run out of topics. They continue to baffle me on how intelligent they are. Great times.
On Sunday after the race, and after a hearty breakfast, we stopped at Bi-Rite again. This time I got TWO scoops of vanilla. I'm not kidding, it's that good. Then we went to Dolores Park where we found a giant stage being built. We were in for a great surprise, the San Francisco Symphony was going to play a free show later that afternoon. Seriously, how much better can this weekend have been? Since we arrived so early we were able to pick one of the best spots to hear the show and just had a great time. The performance was in celebration of the bicentennial of Mexico's independence and was conducted by Alondra de la Parra, Mexico's leading conductor.
The first set featured a variety of pieces by prominent Mexican composers. The second set included Antonín Dvořák's 9th Symphony. This was the first time I've heard a symphony played in its entirety and its really hard to describe how great that was. The last piece that was played was chosen by the listeners. We did this by texting during the performance and we could pick either Mozart or Bernstein. Mozart won and we were treated to The Marriage of Figaro's Overture. I really don't have anything more to say about this part. I simply can't get my head around how awesome this was.
For dinner we went to Chinatown and had authentic Chinese food. Ginny taught me how to eat dumplings correctly. I can add that along with my correct use of chopsticks to my Chinese Food Knowledge database. haha
Monday morning we all had breakfast at home. Ginny cooked dumplings just for me :-) They were delicious. Then I had to pack up and head back to reality. Back at the airport I met a couple of people that ran the 2nd half of the marathon and one that did the whole thing. It was really cool to talk to strangers about something that we both shared. Also, on the way into the plane, the pilot and I started talking about the race. He said that he would have ran it if he wasn't doing an Ironman this following weekend. I mentioned to him that I'm interested in training for a sprint tri and he suggested the Vineman Showdown as a good beginner's tri. Very cool.
To say I had a great time this trip is a ridiculous understatement. I can't recall having a more fun weekend in years and it was all thanks to Ginny and Sufian. I truly love being their friend. They are genuinely great people.
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