San Francisco Treats

Within the first hour after arriving in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, I encountered this scene as I came up the stairs out of the train station near Union Square.  Here was this little girl - I'm guessing maybe 3 years old - having the time of her life dancing for the crowds that had gathered.  She had hijacked this dance floor (a 3 x 4 foot piece of plywood) from a bona fide street performer, who was enjoying her act as much as the spectators.

 She concentrated so hard on staying on that piece of plywood.

I spotted her young father on the sidelines and joked that she would probably be the next star of "So You Think You Can Dance" and he gestured that he didn't speak any English!  Were they tourists or locals?  If they were tourists, they would have quite a story to tell when they returned to their home.

Here's the "real" street dancer cheering her on and

then dancing with her.  I wonder how much money she made for him?!  She was still dancing when I made my way onwards 15 minutes later. 

On I marched UP Powell Street (whew, you'd be in good condition if you did that everyday!)  and stopped at Lori's Diner for some good ol' American food.

Listening to the jukebox and having a gooey tuna melt was nostalgic 

even though I'm a bit too young to remember these wheels.

As I was waiting for my food to arrive, I started chatting to the two young women sitting next to me.  I detected English accents and they told me they were heading to the airport to return to their home in Bristol, England!  They gave me their unused tickets for the trolley that we used the next day.

The following day, Rex and I went to the San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art, where there was a special exhibit of the Stein Collection.

Here's the detailed description from the museum's website:  American expatriates in bohemian Paris when the 20th century was young, the Steins — writer Gertrude, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife, Sarah — were among the first to recognize the talents of avant-garde painters like Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Through their friendship and patronage, they helped spark an artistic revolution. This landmark exhibition draws on collections around the world to reunite the Steins' unparalleled holdings of modern art, bringing together, for the first time in a generation, dozens of works by Matisse, Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and many others. Artworks on view include Matisse's Blue Nude (Baltimore Museum of Art) and Self-Portrait (Statens Museum, Copenhagen), and Picasso's famous portrait Gertrude Stein (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

It was a wonderful exhibition and here's the weird coincidence that goes with this:  After the exhibition, we went back to our hotel room and decided to watch a movie called Midnight in Paris, starring Owen Wilson.  We didn't have any idea what the movie was about and the character played by Owen Wilson goes back in time and visits none other than....Gertrude Stein (played by Kathy Bates) in her home.  There in the movie were many of the paintings we had just seen!  He also meets some of the artists and famed authors of that time period but I don't want to give it all away.  It was really a cute movie.  Click here to see a movie trailer. 

I love it when things happen like that.  Oh, and did you know that I want to time travel?!

But, before time traveling, Tomales Bay was the sight for an oyster bake and picnic.  It's located about an hour's drive outside of San Francisco.  

We said goodbye to the fog and hello to blue skies.

You have to get there early in order to get a good table.

When we got there at 11, they were almost full.

There were Tomales Bay and Washington State oysters and clams.  

We got some of each.  Served with a little hot sauce and lime juice, they are delicious.

Shucking them without cutting your hand open takes some practice. 

Eating them raw is good.

but grilled oysters are really yummy, too.  When you cook them on the grill, they just pop open when they are done.  I've had my fill of oysters for awhile but I'll always get them again when I return to San Francisco!