I’m such a tourist!

My second day in SF turned out to become a real “touristy” day. I did the typical things! Cable car, was a standee on the outside, check. Fisherman’s Wharf, saw the sea lions, check. China town, walked through it and took a lot of useless pictures, check. Transamerica Pyramid, stood at the foot of it with silly look on my face, check. North Beach, sat down at Jack Kerouac and the Beatnik’s fave, Vesuvio, and had a beer, check. Italian food, read a tip in my Lonely Planet guide book and went there, check.

So, I saw the sights… I probably looked like one myself, walking around with my big camera and my head bouncing in all directions. To tell you the truth, I kind of liked it. Some of the sights were a bit bland and tasteless of course, though not worse than expected. But North Beach, just BRILLIANT! I love the creative vibe (did I just use the word “vibe”? Gee, that’s not good).

“Bland and tasteless?”, you say. Well that leads us to Fisherman’s Wharf. Now, that was a place streamlined for rifling the tourists. I thought to myself when I got there at first, that I might just turn around and go back, the cable car ride getting there seemed to be the only good thing about my little venture out there. But I’m actually glad I got to see the sea lions.

I’m a little embarrassed to say this, but they kept me smiling for perhaps as much as 30 minutes. Humorous creatures with amusing moves, sounds and smell!

As I was walking back through China Town towards North Beach, I started getting the feeling that the sights I was seeing was not as much décor for the tourists, as it was the works of and for the people living here. I might be completely out of tune on this, but there is some kind of genuinity (yes, it’s a word... you should google it if you don’t trust me) to it. The same goes for North Beach, it’s a bit kitschy and sometimes downright tacky, but at the same time it just feels right somehow.

I think I mentioned earlier that I sat down at Vesuvio for a quick breather, and a beer of course. And I must say, Vesuvio might just become my “regular” place here. It’s a hodgepodge of kitschy, artsy pieces on the walls, a rather brown atmosphere and I believe it was Coltrane on the stereo. And they serve Urquell! Could it be any better? The only not so great thing about it was the guys at the table next to me. They were about 5 guys with not so cool hairdo’s and Hawaiian shirts, talking about programming, encrypting, boot-times and other not so hip computer-stuff. I thought to myself, well this is probably what writing has become nowadays. What would Jack and the Beat's have said? Nonetheless, it’s definitely an epic hangout.
After Vesuvio I finished my stroll through North Beach, up the Vallejo stairs with the beautiful view of the Bay Bridge, and I finished the evening at a fabulous a small Italian restaurant. Lonely Planet tipped me off, and boy were they right, I guess even native Italians would be impressed. And what a price? Yes, I know that the Norwegian Krone is strong at the moment, but about 200 NOK for dinner, wine, dessert, coffee and avec for the best Italian I’ve ever had… I rest my case.

So, as I said, a really touristy day. I walked back home with a full stomach and a saturated brain, what more can you ask for?

-p