The Painted Ladies... |
We were walking
to the Ferry Building. It was déjà-vu. The food stalls were out. The chocolate
store was there. The bay breeze was blowing. But something was different. Someone was different.
Just over a
year and a half ago I visited California for the first time. Little did I know
a family wedding would drag me back to San Francisco for round 2.
I usually don’t visit the same places often, at least not so quickly. I haven’t
been to England since 2009, and before that not since 2006. Italy in 2013 was
the first time since 2011. Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and the Czech Republic haven’t
had repeats yet. Germany has had me three times, but with mostly different
cities and different beers each time.
There’s a
lot to see in this world, and who wants to spend too much time visiting the
same places?
Going back
to San Francisco, everything was still fresh. After a trek along the pier, back
in the Mission, everything was just as I left it.
I remembered sitting at
Pancho Villa chowing down on Mexican food with an assortment of salsa,
inevitably picking one that was too spicy for me. Arizmendi Bakery was still
there with its line and case of self-serve pastries. Bi-Rite still had the
honey and lavender ice cream I remember tasting back in January 2013.