when we have house guests we usually manage to take a little time off and enjoy our beautiful city. this is what last week looked like.
mathew’s godfather sebastian and his wife eva were visiting from scotland. we showed them our neighborhood and lots of our local murals.
we braved a windy evening (crazy weather, we’d had a heat wave the day before!) and walked to cafe gratitude for dinner.
the following day we saw more murals and spent some time in shops downtown. the guys bought suits (sebastian needed one for a wedding and mathew took advantage of the “buy 2” discount.) we had lunch and drinks at blue bottle coffee.
we took the bus to the new and very popular california academy of sciences in golden gate park. (a building that mathew’s company, arup engineered.) sebastian is an architect and was an influence in mathew’s decision to major in architecture/engineering, so of course there were lots of conversations about architecture and engineering.
there was so much to see and we got there 90 minutes before closing. i’m looking forward to returning and seeing everything we missed. after the academy of sciences we took a walk through the botanical garden then enjoyed dinner at a really excellent chinese restaurant, san tung (and i don’t normally like chinese food!)
we’re so glad sebastian and eva took the time to come and visit us and our city. it was so unusual to see them relaxed, on vacation and somewhere other than scotland. we had a great time with them and hope they can visit again in the future.
on wednesday morning my “little sister” elissa arrived just as sebastian and eva were leaving. catching up was first on the agenda, we talked for 6 or 7 hours straight! i used to babysit elissa and her sisters in palo alto. even though the family moved to washington state, her family and i have stayed close after all these years.
our neighborhood is full of murals, they cover walls, fences, buildings, alleys and interiors, even ceilings…
later in the week i introduced elissa to philz coffee (a very local addiction) and my favorite sandwich shop, jay’s cheesesteak.
after dinner we explored the local shops and found a block party in progress on balmy alley (just parallel to our street.) the murals looked amazing in this light and live music played till 11pm.
(left) having fun in elissa’s new favorite “no-name, no-mirrors” clothing store. (right) enjoying a vegan dinner at golden era.
elissa is a painter and hopes to attend the san francisco art institute in january. i really hope she gets in. she wants to live in our neighborhood and i can’t wait to spend more time with her!