San Francisco — August 1-11

AUGUST 2

So much to write about. Saturday - Strilek in good hands, what a relief.... moving out - the last stage.... I don't know how Leszek's spine endured this heavy lifting and carrying.......hollow space of our home.... echo..... champaigne from Mary and Spiro...... bye to our landlord...... Leszek taking our van to Antek.... meeting at Aviv's.......feast with her brothers, Marek and other guests including an angel /really - a woman with hair, heart and a name of an angel/..... swimming in the pool......finally getting to Zosia for the sleep after midnight . Sunday - Magda is taking us to the airport........ taking our place in a long line...... somebody familiar is sitting behind one of theAir Canada computers..... Steve - Kamila's school friend's father........ we wave to him...... he signals to come directly.... takes care of us........ we are at the gate for boarding...... the attendant calls Kamila's and my name....... writes something on our passes....... on the plane we find out we are seated in business class!.......Thank you so much Steve!..... What a treat we had! Flying to San Francisco ...... Leszek staying behind to wait for his flight two hours later /first to LA then SF/...... landing after five hours....Maria is waiting for us........ my dear friend whom I've known since grade 1.......... together we are waiting for two hours for Ewa's arrival ......... another dearest friend and Kamila's godmother.......she is coming all the way from Poland so that the three of us could meet before we get to our fifties /as planned for long/...... driving to Marysia's house in Richmond - San Francisco Bay Area.........Marian......... emotions and great joy........... dinner.........waiting for Leszek to call from Bart - SF subway......... everybody falls asleep except Maria who about midnight directs through the phone a cab driver who is bringing Leszek and cannot find the address.

Long sleep at least for us the visitors - M&M are going to work in the morning...... talking on the phone to Nina and Jan - Mary's parents who are like second parents to me - Jan is coming over - I don't even try to describe the joy in such a brief........ going for a walk in the neighbourhood .... lots of pictures.................. may be tomorrow I will manage to put them in the gallery............ renting a car for tomorrow's trip to Yosemite National Park - a white Toyota Corrola........ dinner...... and line up for internet use on Maria's computer.

AUGUST 4

Morning. We are getting ready for a drive through Golden Gate Bridge . I have my little ritual on the bridge - walk to the middle of it - spit down to the water - this is suppose to assure my return to this place again. It worked before /at least 4 times/ so - I will not endanger my future this time by not doing it, although some are laughing at me.

Yosemite was awesome! I will not even try to give a fair account of all those mountains, sequoias and many beautiful views. A day in the city.

We drove through downtown SF, found Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world as they say, and drove down on it twice. Then to the Fishermen's Warf and the famous Old Buena Vista Irish Pub -Irish coffee tasted as good as always.

Then to the Fishermen's Warf and the famous Old Buena Vista Irish Pub - Irish coffee tasted as good as always.

Then Golden Gate - ritual fulfilled, Ewa, Kamila and Leszek joined me in.  Sausalito - a picturesque town where the clouds finally went away and we had a marvelous view of San Francisco .

Evening - visiting Ula&Leszek in Lafayett.

AUGUST 5

Napa & Sonoma region - I'll write later - everybody is waiting for me at the door - coordinating plans is hard.

Marian's /the male part of our hosts/ birthday evening.

AUGUST 6

Shopping for shoes and swimsuit for Kamila. Berkeley walking about - the three of us - Ewa, Maria and I. Eluna what's up there in Lodz ? Stef, how is Strilek? Magda, you never came to visit. Zosia how are things? Liza how was North Channel ? Iwona, wyobraz sobie ze mi sie rozwalil caly krem w plecaku. Kamila instead of writing her journal is talking constantly with her friends on MSN.Tomorrow is the last day for Leszek here. The plan is to spend the whole day in the city.

AUGUST 7

was spent according to the plan. We took Bart, the local subway, to Mongomery St, walked through Chinatown to Coit Tower from where there was a magnificent view of the whole Bay and the major city landmarks, then we got to Pier 39 and Fishermen's Wharf. 

One of the best things to see there were seals /about hundred of them/ busking in the sun on wooden platforms which were formerly /more than ten years ago before the seals moved to the harbour/ used as docking stations for yachts. The final attraction was the famous cable car / together with a crowd of other keen tourists we had to wait more than an hour!/ which took us all the way along Hyde Street to Powell Station - from there - home on Bart.

I realize that my notes will be often limited to geographical places or landmarks plus a few adjectives - synonyms of 'amazing', 'wonderful'.

Well I'm not a fast writer, and the time I have for internet use is very limited and will be even more soon. Lori who is already in Rarotonga writes that it is not easy and quite expensive to get connected. I will have to turn to my traditional paper notebook then.

AUGUST 8

Leszek flew to LA early in the morning, had a long stopover so went out to see a bit of the city - Hollywood Blvd and flew again to Rarotonga on Cook Islands with a short stopover on Papetee, Tahiti . Kamila and I will do the same route on Wednesday. /Leszek bought a different package of tickets and much later than I - the reason why we don't fly together for now/ The day we spent in Elcerrito - shopping for a few essentials, then browsing and reading in Barnes&Nobles - an equivallent of our Indigo. Walked to Marian's workplace - his own workshop where he handmakes bamboo fly fishing rods which he sells all over the world. Marian gave us a tour of his place explaining the whole process of building those expensive beauties.

Evening - at Joanna and Witek' s house / a palace rather!/ located on a hill with a magnificent view in Orinda - about 30 min drive from where we stay at M&M's. Joasia is Maria's younger sister who lives here with her husband Witek - a very succesfull engineer, two children - Monika and Michal and

her parents - Nina and Jan. Unfortunately Nina didn't feel well and couldn't join us for the yammy rib dinner we had outside.

Hi Agnieszka. Hi Magda. I co z tym Anki bagazem? Znalazl sie?

AUGUST 9

Dipped our feet in the Pacific - cold - hope it will be warmer where we go on Wednesday. Saw sea otters and pelicans diving for their prey. Ate clam chowder in Bodega Bay .

AUGUST 10

Here I am in the heart of University of California in Berkeley - in the reading room of a spacious Doe Library. Students around us / or visitors like us/ are reading magazines, some just having naps, maybe between classes. There are summer classes everywhere. We enter one lecture hall; try to figure out the topic: monopoly, margin cost - must be economy - not my domain, but I enjoy the air of lecture dynamic nevertheless. I guess part of me always regrets not being smart and focused enough to spend my life in this kind of scholary realm. I feel such reverence towards places like this - I could stay here for hours.

This is where Czeslaw Milosz - Nobel Prize Laureat - has his house and where he was a professor. It feels right to quote his poem - my favourite

Gift

A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was nothing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails. 

Wish I could achieve this kind of state of mind regardless what view spreads in front of my eyes.

At home a gourmet dinner as usual - M&M are masters in the kitchen - Ewa is writing down recipes of all meals we are having here.

Long evening talk with Ewa and Maria, memories plus their serious concerns about my travel plans. My confidence / or rather I should call it complacency/ is undermined, but all the words are well grounded and I will certainly heed their advice. Said good bye to Jan on the phone - thank you for all the kind words. Tomorrow's flight at 17:15 to Los Angeles , and 20:05 towards the islands.

AUGUST 11

We are all packed, waiting for Marian to take us to Bart station. Marynia dropped in from work to give us a final hug.

Nina called with encouraging news about her ailments - feels better. But first of all she gave me her motherly blessings - feel empowered and teary again.

Bye San Francisco.