when the lights go down in the city....

Last night was a great San Francisco night. The weather was fantastic at Ocean Beach, instead of the typical cloudy/foggy weather as of late. For my non-SFers, the weather here is insane. Different parts of the city have completely different climates. Where I work, by the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge, it is typically pretty warm and doesn't get foggy. Then there is where I live, clear to the opposite side by the Pacific Ocean....a mix of nice weather and sometimes foggy/cloudy skies. Sometimes the fog rolls in and you can't see much at all driving down Geary Street.

But anyway, weather was warm and sunny and it instantly put me in a fantastic mood instead of an "I'm tired don't wanna do anything" mood like I have been as of late. I ran across the street to Safeway and bought what I needed for dinner. I asked Howie for his garlic chicken receipe and decided to make it along with roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. Of course no corn on the cob could compare to what I grew up with in Connecticut... but at least these were grown by local farmers and they were pretty tasty. Alex came over to eat and we enjoyed great conversation like always. I was blaring some INXS that reminds me of my walk to and from school in Rome and it felt nice to be enjoying a nice meal with atmosphere in my apt. (Sometimes its just so lonely in there.... I don't spend a lot of time at home though).

After dinner Alex brought me down to Fort Mason and we walked along this abandoned pier that was used during WWII. From there, you get a great view of the SF skyline downtown where I work, Alcatraz, the Marina, part of the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate bridge is right there to your left and then straight ahead you can see the North bay (Marin county and really pretty mountains), and then the lights in the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, etc). It was a beautiful night, not too breezy and warmer than usual at night. Very romantic.

We left there and went to the exploratorium to walk around outside it. It has huge columns and a big dome structure outside it. I enjoyed looking at it and walking around it and comparing it to architecture/monuments in DC and Rome. It is much more ornate than you typically see in either of those places... extremely large and ornate Corinthian columns, lots of half columns on the walls and lots of large vase-like statues up high with figures carved all around them, multiple reliefs with elaborate carvings on the side of the large dome. The whole structure is very dominating and oversized. Here and here are some pictures of it to get a feel. The view from the lake there looking away from the structure is very peaceful. There was no wind blowing (very unusual) and it felt very serene looking out at the opposite side of the lake. In the darkness the buildings across the way reminded me Italy. Very mediterranean feel. I then decided to go on an entire rampage about how this piece architecture is different and then explain arches and victory monuments and the colosseum in great detail. Alex was impressed with my intellect. As he should be! I guess he thought I was just witty in my humor but he was not aware of my academic intelligence. ;)

It truly was a nice San Francisco night, I hope to continue to explore areas like this and just absorb the wonders of the city. I want to go hiking this weekend up in Marin or maybe go check out the redwood forest.

And just for fun.... check out this website.