Day 71: San Francisco

Everyone who might be reading this by now knows that these last few entries - long-delayed by slackarseness as they are - are just being composed now, since I didn't actually finish the journal, right? Ok, just checking.
Meanwhile, I went to San Francisco, and it was very cool.
The whole San Francisco Bay Area is remarkable, and it's beyond a metropolis - it's a megalopolis. It's probably the only metropolis in the world in which the city from which it takes its name isn't actually the biggest. As in, San Francisco isn't the biggest city in the SFBA.
Today was a faux-death march around the city, getting a taste of its neighbourhoods and sights. It was a faux-death march because Chris was kind enough to drive me everywhere. Walking from Chinatown to Haight-Ashbury to the Cliff House really isn't an option, unfortunately. We started out with Chinatown, Coit Tower, and a walk around some of the notoriously steep streets, with their lovely (albeit foggy) views and nifty terraced gardens. Next, we went to Pier 39 to see the sealions. The rest of the Fisherman's Wharf area is pretty tourist-trappy, but it's worth going to see the wonderful sight of such a mass of stinky, barking mammal lounging around on pontoons. I also love the idea of a group of wild animals just deciding to take over a man-made space, like, "nice wharf - we'll take it."
Leaving the wharf, we had a long drive across town, parked at the edge of Golden Gate Park, and wandered to Haight-Ashbury. Sadly, it was not 1968, and George Harrison was not present. It's still very groovy and funky and "alternative"-y and all that. We went to an awesome place for lunch that serves only a variety of kebabs - various meats, various marinades. Next, we popped into an enormous record store, where I somehow managed to not buy anything.
Back to Golden Gate Park, we looked around the outside of a rather monstrous art museum, with lots of fun sculpture outside. From there, we drove around the park - which is massive, 1017 acres, and according to LP, "the largest developed city park in the world" - looking for the elusive herd of resident bison. The bison, it turned out, were stabled away whilst their paddock was being replanted or something, but we got to see a lot of the park in the process.
We emerged from the park onto the ocean side of San Francisco, drove past the Cliff House, and began another elusive hunt, this time for views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Those views were not to be found, thanks to the ever-present fog. Nevertheless, we stopped on a beach where a couple of boys were spending their afternoon drawing a giant penis in the sand, captioned "PENIS" in case it was a little too abstract. This amused Chris and I much more than it really should have.
Finally, we drove into downtown San Francisco, walked around the city streets for a bit, and had a good pizza dinner. Walked through a sketchy neighbourhood I kept remembering as The T-Bone, but it turns out its name is actually The Tenderloin to get back to the car and drive ourselves home to Walnut Creek.
SF is a fascinating, super-cool city. There's nothing else like it.

Day 70: New York City - San Francisco

Today was a transit day. I subwayed from Queens to JFK, and found (once again) that while the New York subway is a wonderful thing, lugging all my stuff around it still isn't exactly ideal.
When I got to the airport, my flight to San Francisco had been delayed by about two hours. Turned out to be a good thing, 'cause it gave me plenty of time to make further travel arrangements. My original itinerary had 10 days in New Zealand, with a day-long stopover in Chile on the way. Now, due to a lack of funds and generally not feeling like another two weeks on the road by myself, I've cut out that leg of the trip, and am flying straight home from San Francisco. I always thought that buying tickets at the airport was just something they did on The Amazing Race, so it was neat to do it myself.
The flight from NYC to SF was generally terrible. It was six hours, so I figured they'd feed us. Nope - but there was "food for purchase," which was good enough for me. Unfortunately I was sitting in the very back row of the plane, and by the time the food cart reached me, there was nothing left. Can you imagine having a flight without enough food to go around? Crazy. Also the baggage carousel in SF Airport broke. Luckily Chris is an absolute darling and had a packed dinner/lunch ready for me on the ride home.
Didn't get to get any impression of San Francisco and surrounds yet - landed after 10pm, after all - but it is an absolutely gigantic metropolitan region. San Francisco's only a tiny part of it. Walnut Creek seems alright, much like the suburban satellite towns in Australia.

Day 69: New York City

Today I completed the triumvirate of the best museums in the world (according to me). For art, you have the Louvre; for human history, you have the British Museum; and for natural history, you have the aptly named American Museum of Natural History. The wonders held here are simply astonishing, as is their presentation. The many dioramas of the animals of the world are beautifully done, and it's great to see some extinct and nearly-extinct animals, like the Passenger Pigeon and the California Condor (not great that they're extinct, but great to be able to see them, of course). Then there's the dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, and our 8 year-old dinosaur-fan selves burst out of our chests like implanted aliens and go a little silly with excitement. The halls at this museum are a total who's-who of Notable Extinct Things - archaeopteryx, deinocheirus, anatotitan (which totally means "giant duck," thus making it the Best Dinosaur Name Ever), mammoths, giant ground sloths, the Great Irish Elk, those ugly armour-plated giant fish I can't remember... it's just too awesome, really.
The only downside to the museum is the wing of human cultures. These are a bunch of dated displays on non-European cultures, which is problematic for a couple of reasons: a) what kind of message does it put across when non-European cultures are placed with the animals in the natural history museum, and the European cultures are represented in the art museum? and b) why is such a distinction made in New York City of all places, probably the most diverse city in the world?
The whole trip, however, was spoiled by the words heard from a particular tour guide, who I sincerely hope is not employed by the museum. To quote: "Asia is a misogynist country, and misogynist means woman-hating." Wow. It's like, how many idiocies can you fit into a sentence? First of all, Asia is not a country. Secondly, 'misogynist' does not mean woman-hating. Finally, way to rudely dismiss an entire continent, moron. That woman needs to be kept away from other people, so as to not taint them with her idiocy. Blegh.
Wandered through Central Park again, and I reckon that, whilst it's not especially garden-pretty, it is great to see a park being so well-used, what with all the baseballers, kite-fliers, runners, roller-bladers, and everyone else. I suppose when you've got one park to share among two million people, it'll certainly be well-used.

Day 68: New York City

Today was another pretty quiet one in the gorgeous monstrosity that is NYC. Met Donnie's boyfriend Matt, and had a wander around his neighbourhood in Queens, which is a pretty decent place. I like neighbourhoods.
Went into the city with Steph and Edward. Crazy people on 5th Avenue condemning us all to Hell. Fun for everyone! Or not. Met Edward's parents and had a nice lunch in a nicer hotel. Farewelled Steph and Edward and went for a wander around the shops. Had planned to go to the Natural History Museum, but we lingered so long over lunch, I'll save it for tomorrow.
Not much more to say about NYC, not because there isn't a lot to say, but because it's all been said before, and we all know how great it is by now, right?

Day 67: NYC

Had a pretty quiet day around NYC. Started with breakfast in a neighbourhood diner (one of several surprisingly different and important culinary experiences in America - see also hot dog stands, bagels, and pumpkin pie). Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition of Rembrandt and his contemporaries. The Met is amazing and everything, but since Steph and I saw it last time, we just checked out the African gallery (missed last time), and moved on. Walked through Central Park. Saw a cute couple having wedding photos by a pond despite the freezing weather - it was adorable to see the bride's take-the-damn-photo-already-because-I-want-to-put-my-coat-on smile. Went to FAO Schwartz, the best toy shop in the world, and spent ages and ages in there since, well, it's the best toy shop in the world. Walked down 6th Avenue and around Times Square, then back to Queens for a tasty Thai dinner.

Day 66: New York City

Donnie was working and Steph was in Philly so I spent the day by myself on a Death March around NYC. Started at the United Nations; I realise it's not a particularly inspiring building, but I wanted to see the flags and the couple of sculptures outside the main building. It's funny; the original concept would have been to have the member nation's flags in front of the building, but now that there's so many nations - 192, to be exact - the flags are spread up and down the street, crammed into little corners and amongst trees. Something about that makes me laugh.
Went down to Greenwich, walked around lots of nice little tree-lined streets, with a much more neighbourhood-y feeling than most of NYC. Then went to Union Square, where there was a cool little market going on, and lots of folks just hanging about. It always makes me think of the line in a song by The Velvet Underground: "gonna take a walk 'round Union Square, never know what you're gonna find there."
Next stop was Chinatown, which was a lot of fun. The main thoroughfare is pretty tacky and touristy, but the side streets are a delight. Satisfied a craving for Japanese sweets with a little multi-pack of goma, anko, and others. Found the World's Grossest Butcher, which really had every organ from every animal. Goat uterus, anyone? Seriously, what does one do with a goat's uterus? Blegh. Chinatown merged into Little Italy, and that was enough wandering for the day.
Went back to Donnie's, had some dinner, then headed out again to meet Steph, Edward and Dimple (Round 2 of the Japan Friends / Internet Friends Collision of Universes!) for karaoke. Went to a Korean place, had a blast. Dimple carried on the tradition of sneaking in her own grog, and it was grand. Ended the evening in a cosy pub, with me pumping coins into the jukebox and the girls getting their groove on.

Day 65: New York City

Spent most of today at the awesome Bronx Zoo. It's a huge zoo, with lots of woodland and parkland amongst the enclosures, but we managed to see most of it. New animals: duikers, okapi, congo peafowl, tinamous, hyraxes, mousebirds, quetzals, skunks, cane rats, jerboas, lorises, alligator snapping turtles. Really cool, modern exhibits - definitely recommended.
Went back into Manhattan - Steph hopped on a train back to Philly and I walked around Koreatown (a couple of blocks of 32nd St, really), looking for a karaoke place for tomorrow night.
Everything worth saying about New York City has already been said, so I'll just restate the obvious - it's enormous, busy, and doesn't slow down for anyone or anything. It's the dictionary definition of a metropolis.