San Francisco

San Francisco has been so much fun. I think a large part of that is because our hosts are so great! We are staying with Matthew, a yoga practitioner who studied in Mysore for 2 months. We contacted him hoping that he wouldn't mind some acquaintances visiting for a few days which has turned into a whole week... yet he and Kira seem perfectly happy to have us lurking around for the time being and they have given us some really great advice and suggestions for our time here.

We came into San Francisco on Monday morning. Our first stop was Matthew and Kira's apartment even though they were both at work. We parked the car and walked a ways. There are lots of shops and restaurants just a few blocks away from here. We then went to the park (which is just 1 block from here) and read for a while. It was very nice.

The temperature so far has been shocking. I hadn't planned on San Francisco having fall weather... I should have researched a little more. Because it is on the water, it's pretty chilly this time of year (60s at the peak of the day). Though this is not the California summer that I was expecting, I've seen people decked out in full winter jackets and hats. It's kind of like being in India in their winter (which is still very very warm) and seeing them in winter gear. I guess it's just what they're used to. Anyway, I didn't really bring fall clothes. I have my summer stuff and my winter stuff but it means that the one fleece I brought will have to stay with me all week.

Yesterday, Pramod and I decided to try to figure out the bus system. I'm used to the T in Boston which is very similar to the metro in DC but buses are a whole different thing. So, a trip that should have taken us 45 minutes to an hour took us 30 minutes more than that. We just kept getting on the correct bus going in the wrong direction--oh well. We did finally make it to our destination though, which was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was amazing up there: very windy and cold, but so beautiful! It is beautiful to see the bridge from a distance, beautiful to see the city from the bridge, and beautiful to see the water which had seals of some sort swimming way down below us!

Last night we went to yoga with Matthew and Kira. This was not either of their regular yoga classes but it was special because it incorporated chanting before and after class as well as a man chanting and playing the harmonium during class in addition to the fact that it was held in a huge and beautiful cathedral! It was inspiring. Every time we did a pose that required us to look at the ceiling, it wasn't just some boring ceiling, it was arches and blah blah blah--it was great.

We then went out to dinner with Matthew and Kira as well as their other house guest and a friend of Matthews that he met while in Mysore and happened to keep running into during his world tour and they just happened to be from the same city. It was great to see Hutch as well. Everyone is so friendly here!

Today Pramod and I drove out to Oakland where we went to an art museum that had a temporary exhibit on Pixar. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures, but there were some great sketches of character development as well as plot development throughout the creation of all of their greatest movies: Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc., Cars, The Incredibles, Toy Story... I think that's it. We were glad that we had seen all of them besides cars because I think that made it fuller. They also had a section where we could see some of their short videos that have been created throughout history (pretty much since 1984).

So anyway, we're having a really great time in San Francisco and once again, we are so lucky to have such great hosts!