The skies are still blue, but the warm weather has passed. We got up this morning to walk Giselle and all of us were shivering in the wind. Giselle is learning city-dog ways, although I am still not exactly sure what “curbing” your dog means – does it mean she actually does her business in the street gutter? Or just near the sidewalk? We’re just getting her to do her thing in the little patch of dirt allotted to the sidewalk trees.
We let the girls sleep in while Chad and I chilled downstairs at Caffe Sapore, just your typical neighborhood cozy cafe, with spicy mint tea and warm breakfast croissant sandwiches. They’ve just come in to join us.
Yesterday we all did our first official college tour; it was of Cal, known to the rest of the world as UC Berkeley. I see more of these in our future… although it was not the most interesting thing we’ve done, it was not the least interesting thing either. Campus is actually quite beautiful and was designed to resemble a European garden with winding pathways and lots of blooming magnolias tipping pink blossoms onto the roads. Many of the buildings were designed in a Greek style – and the library, the third largest in the States – not including the Library of Congress – was very imposing and stately. I don’t know how much information the girls absorbed, but they did get an overall good impression of the UC system and how competitive it is to get in (average unweighted grade of entering freshman: 3.8, average SAT 600 in all three areas).
We gave the girls money for lunch and let them loose on Telegraph Avenue; when we regrouped, we wandered over to the Berkeley Public Library, which used to be a favorite haunt of Chad’s.
Then we all split for the rest of the day: Chad took the girls back to San Fran via the BART and dropped them off at Union Square before he went off to explore the Presidio on foot. I got picked up by a dear friend, who now lives in Oakland with her husband and two adorable children. She and I spent the rest of the day gabbing nonstop over tea, cheese, fruit, the contented nursing sounds of the baby, and the louder happy sounds of her 2-year old toddler. Six or so hours passed like nothing! By the time her husband drove me to the Bart, we were trying to make plans to see eachother again before the end of the weekend. Sigh. Friends like her are to be treasured
I am actually considering slipping off to go back to Berkeley, but to see another old friend with a new baby – she’s somebody I’ve known since third grade and I am anxious to catch up. This is the typical end-of-the-trip panic I get into – trying to fit in a snowballing number of things to do.
SFMoMA today. Perhaps a few galleries in the area.