Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

an evening in san francisco

After the convention wrapped up, I headed out for dinner. Shawn had recommended Zuni, a cafe just a few blocks from Herbst Theatre, on Market Street. It’s a charming little cafe in the corner of an odd-shaped building. It’s specialty is oysters and clams. Since I’m not really keen on either, I ordered the grilled sea bass and a glass of white wine. It was a fairly pricey dinner, but it was good.

Walking down Market Street toward my hotel, I noticed two men riding a tandem bike, the one on the back holding a banjo. As they passed, I heard them sing “War! What is it good for?”

The duo turned out to be a sign of what was to come. About half an hour later, during the rush hour, a huge crowd of protester-bicyclists converged and blocked traffic across Market Street for a good fifteen minutes. I videotaped part of the protest. The bikes just kept coming … and coming … and coming. And the more the blocked motorists honked, the more the protesters cheered.

Now I’m in my hotel room watching San Francisco tourist propaganda on “SFTV.” I’m learning all kinds of trivia tidbits. Did you know:

“Alcatraz is the Spanish word for elegant.”

And apparently the San Francisco visitor’s office at Market and Powell wants to be thought of as “the concierge of San Francisco.”

I’m still debating about what to do tomorrow. I want to see the Golden Gate Bridge and revisit Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, North Beach, the Cannery, the Ghirardelli factory, SFMOMA and the Museum of Cartoon Art. On Wednesday night, I saw a place at Fisherman’s Wharf that rents bicycles, which might be a fun thing to do. I’m also really tempted to rent a car and drive up to Napa.