Travel Possibility

After arriving here at the San Francisco airport, we collected our bags and found the train the heads into the city. The ticket machine was pretty complicated, which we found unusual, because usually how most of the ticket machines around the world are where you put in your money first and then start reducing the value until you get down to how much the fare is. Fortunately, the ticket machine always has a staff person on hand to aid with people like us, foreigners.

We got on the train that goes to the Union Square area, which is in the northern part of the city. We walked to the cheap hotel in San Francisco, where we had made reservations on-line. We really liked our accommodations and the location. After checking in we, headed right back out and walked around the Union Square area, then we went back to the area around our hotel and had dinner at this great little cafe that was next door. The food was pretty good.

Then we headed out to see what San Francisco’s night-life is like. We found a very funky and trendy bar not for from our hotel, The Owl Tree. The bar’s not big, but it’s very nice. After having a few drinks, we went to another bar that seemed liked it belonged in England, a pub, but it was too quiet for our tastes. We walked a bit more and came upon Lefty O’Doul’s Irish bar. There were tons of baseball pictures and we ended up spending the rest of the night there. We chatted with a couple of women from Australia and a ton of New Yorkers. The one man band, on keyboard, was rather funny and very entertaining, we really appreciated his non-PC sense of humor. When we left the bar, we were really glad not to be driving, we were pretty sloshed. We did make it back to our hotel without incident. Not bad for our first half day in San Francisco.

Las Vegas might be a city of sin and decadence, but there is law and order there. There is also the CSI show there too, and though Jay-Z might consider New York the city of sin, others think that Las Vegas made the patent. But there are people there trying to fight that perception, and not just the cops and lawyers fighting the problems with drugs, murder, stealing the kind of crimes you turn on the TV for to watch on the news for the true experience of reality TV or on those crime shows that range from the docile, Murder She Wrote and Blues Clues, to the intense, Southland and The Wire and not just on those TV shows you might see time to time when you are tired and watching the TV, waiting out the hours until the alarm rings or the radio turns on and wakes you up.

I know a guy who fighting in a Las Vegas, Nevada law firm. He has had to work hard to get into the position he is, especially saddled with his name, Saint-Exupery. He works with primarily soon to be divorcees and prenuptial agreements, which might seem like a disparate connection but not really. Besides, it helps him to do the kind of work he really likes to do. He likes to volunteer his services to those that cannot afford them normally. He takes to heart the saying that America wants you to give her your poor and needy, in the good times, and in sickness and health.

He also has a soft spot for libraries. He likes to volunteer as a reader to children. These children love to hear the stories he picks out for them. He read The Little Prince the other day and then asked the kids to draw their own versions of animals outside and inside. He chose to an elephant that the children all instantly recognized but that the adults just thought was the top part of a hat, a fedora to be precise because that is the kind of hat that my friend likes to wear, whether he is lawyer garb or not. The children are smart enough to know the difference between a hat and elephant but a lot of adults do not. That is why they liked the little Prince so much. That is why he likes them so much.

Our bus took us through New Jersey and what really surprised me was the farming land. I guess that’s why they call New Jersey the Garden State. We passed horse farms, produce farms, some very lovely trees and exquisitely kept yards. I do hope though, that New York is vastly different. We past Trenton, through the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan and onto the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which was perfect, because we had reservations with a boutique hotel in New York City and that was only a few blocks away.

After we cleaned up a bit in our hotel room, we headed out to Times Square, which wasn’t too far from our hotel either and purchased tickets to go on another bus! A tour bus that took us around New York City. Our driver, Mike, seemed really thrilled to be doing his job and Mark, our tour guide was an absolute joy and great guy. He was born in the Bronx, so we really enjoyed listening to him talk, his accent and attitude really made us feel like we were getting a genuine experience of New York. We were on the special bus lanes, right in the middle or rush hour, and Mark, our tour guide pointed out that most of the vehicles had one occupant. We just looked at each other, knowing that back home, we are the only ones in our cars too.

Later, we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, and hopped back on the tour bus, let me explain, the tour bus is like a ‘hop-on and hop off’ bus, we can catch it almost anywhere in New York City. We took it to Ground Zero, which is still under construction, and we could feel the new energy surrounding this important project. We then walked to Battery Park, and to South Port docks. We ‘hopped-on’ a tour bus from there and went to the Empire State Building. ‘Hopped-on’ the bus again, but this time the traffic was horrendous and it took us almost an hour to get back to our hotel. What a terrific first day in New York City. We highly recommend purchasing the tour bus tickets to see New York, it’s really worth the cost.

When you are spending some time in the city of San Antonio, and you are looking for some night time entertainment, you will no doubt be overwhelmed with choices.  For the hottest and trendiest of dance clubs, to a wide selection of live music venues, to comedy clubs, this is one Texas city that really does spring to life when the sun goes down.  Recently, many “enotecas” or classy wine bars have opened, as well as places to get an ice cold beer or to find a vast collection of every kind of tequila there is on the market.

From the quick and fast paced party, to the laid back glass of wine with friends in the lounge of an historic and incredible hotel in downtown San Antonio, you will have plethora of options when it comes to that perfect night out.  On my first visit to the city, my friends took me to a pub called, “Around the Bend”.  This was my kind of pub, as there was no loud techno beat in the background, it was just a neighborhood joint filled with people who had known each other for many, many years.

The next evening, desiring a bit of local food and fare, we had a meal and mojito at the Neuvo Latino bar, Azuca.  There are two buildings separated by a beautiful patio, and the colors and the contemporary designs were enhanced by replicas of the glass works of Chihuly.  It was an incredible atmosphere, and the fine food of Rene Fernandez was a bit of the traditional combined with, as the name implies, nuevo cuisine.  On the weekends, live salsa bands perform while people strut their stuff on the dance floor.

One of my favorite places was called the Blue Star Brewing Company.  While I loved the bar, I loved the area more, as it is set back in an area filled with the artists and the galleries of the Blue Star Arts Complex.  The feel was a bit industrial, but the company, the spirits and the food created a warm atmosphere that is most inherent in the restaurants and the pubs situated in artistic communities.  Nights out on the town in San Antonio have haunted my memory a bit, and I am looking forward to my next visit, with anticipation and with delight.

One of my best friends moved from Minneapolis to Brooklyn at the end of the 1990s, and it was good news for me.  We’d always liked each other’s company, growing up on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, and talking about our own world views.  At the time, we thought that Saint Paul and Minneapolis were so radically different from each other, and our experiences made us rugged individuals.  We’d get together and fight it out in conversations about who was more correct about politics, girls, good food, and good films.  As the years went by, I began to see that there were many more points of view in the world than we’d ever imagined, and that we were both pretty similar in almost every way.  I missed the arguments, though, because we always had something to agree on at the end of the day.

So it was a welcome change of fortune, when we both were living in the same city.  For a few years, we made it a regular practice to meet at one of the excellent www.newyorkrestaurants.com and talk about film.  We could argue about the other things, but when it came to politics and girls, we thought the same, so it was never very deep.  Two men talking about things they agree on can sometimes begin to resemble drunk gorillas happy that the sun was rising another day.  But movies.  Movies were a whole different matter.

I won’t get specific here, because he can’t defend himself, but his tastes have always been a lot stupider than mine.  I like the refined things, and in film, I like the stuff that comes from Italy and France.  Occasionally something good comes from this side of the ocean, like I’m Not There, but most of the time, the things I see in theaters make me depressed.  He, on the other hand, is very easily amused.  Films where people get shot for holding the wrong bag at the wrong time appeal to his very limited imagination.  I’m starting to sense, however, that it’s becoming apparent that he won our last disagreement, and I’m harboring bitterness against him.  It’s been 6 years since Genhawk lived here, and I have to confess that I miss the dinners, and I miss the arguments.  I miss them so much in fact that I hope he reads this and it makes him angry enough to track me down so we can do it all over again.

Had a lovely breakfast by the pool of one of the best Key West, Florida hotels. Afterwards, I headed up to the harbor to try and find if there was some room left on a boat for me to go fishing, but, no such luck. All the fishing boats were booked for several days out. I’d be in New York by the time a slot opened up. I was hoping that someone didn’t show up, so I could slip in and do some fantastic deep sea fishing, but everyone showed up!

So, I decided to walk down to Fort Zachary, it didn’t look that far on the map, but I was so wrong! The walk took me a blistering 45 minutes in the heat. Later, I was told it was the hottest day so far in Key West. I have to admit though that the walk was very scenic and an interesting route, because I came across the Bahamian Village. This is where many Cubans and Bahamians settled and have turned the area into a beautiful lushly patchwork of vegetation and faded wooded homes. Many of the locals sit out on their porches and waved to me, wishing me a great day as I passed.

We I finally reached Fort Zachary, I found out that I had to pay a $5 fee to gain entry to the beach. The beach itself was a narrow strip, bordered by pine trees, shade! The water was crystal clear and calm. I actually saw a few colorful fish swimming about that snorkeling would’ve been good here. But, for some reason, I wasn’t interested in snorkeling at the moment. Maybe because I’m snorkel out.

I spent several hours on the beach, it was so relaxing and worth the unexpected hike. I returned back through the Bahamian Village and stopped off at an old fashion hair salon where all the women hang-out to catch up on any news. I got a trim and really enjoyed listening to the ladies talk about who was doing what in the village. Before I returned to my hotel, I visited the southern most point of Key West. Kind of an anticlimax, but at least I can say I was there.  Tomorrow, I head back to Miami to catch my flight back home, New York.

The dream is always the same; there’s some kind of envelope in the room, although it’s never in the same place.  There’s a song, and there’s always a woman, and there’s always a man looking at the lines on his palm.  Somewhere there’s someone singing, but it’s never loud enough to hear clearly, exactly, and the song might be different.  But the dream doesn’t leave, and it’s been recurring for so long now that it’s become a little bit like breathing.  Although, to be sure, it’s breathing underwater, because the most interesting things don’t come to the surface.  When I’m caught up in trying to recreate these scenes in my head, I don’t have enough time nor sense to remember that the most vivid details on exist in my head.

It’s sometimes a good thing to get away from the heaviest parts, to spend time looking for the world’s best hotels.  Manhattan has always been my favorite place to go looking because the younger versions of ourselves are still there somewhere.  There are so many places that you can go looking for the things you used to be.  I try to not listen to the Chelsea Hotel #2, and am very successful on most mornings, but this one was not one of them.

The dream came back before I even began to make the first Moka of the day.  I don’t know if it was the recurring dream recurring again, or the feel of the coffee beans in my hands, but either one will always remind me of that morning in the room.  One of us was staring at their hands, and one of us was not.  One of us was feeling heavier than the other one, but we both had a sense of something lost, but something found.  Loss is usually heavier, unless you find something you don’t really need, then it’s a different story altogether.  This was not a different story.  It was not raining.