The Fourth of July in San Francisco

Today I went to the Asian Art Museum again, because I was antsy to get up to the third floor and see the Tibetan and Southeast Asian exhibits, which I did. This time I took my camera and found out that you can take pictures without a flash. Eventually I even figured out how to not use the flash, and judging from what I could see in the little window of the camera, the pictures turn out really well without it—one of the advantages of a digital rather than disposable camera. And my I saw some wonderful Buddhist and Hindu artwork, as my sketchbook and camera prove.

(Note: I will later post the notes I took at the Asian Art Museum. Yes, I'm a nerd.)

This time at the cafeteria-style museum cafe I ordered “vegetable curry” for lunch rather than ordering it by its (perhaps Hindi) name, and I got the right dish—it was really scrumptious. I also got a lemon custard desert with fresh blueberries on top (though the curry was filling by itself), and chamomile tea. Last time, I had ordered the curry by its real name and ended up with a salad that contained green tea sobo noodles. It was a tasty meal—it had a variety of vegetables and tofu and a dark sauce, but it was a cold salad, not a hot curry dish. I had first given the dish a weird look, and the woman behind the counter brusquely insisted it was the curry dish.

I just have to mention that I saw, in the Tibet/Himalayas gallery, a Buddhist monk in red robes. At least I’m pretty sure this was a monk rather than a nun. I wasn’t staring, just doing the corner of the eye thing. I saw him again in the museum shop, of all places, while I was looking at books. He looked through a book too. Previously, Washington, D. C., when I went to see the Dalai Lama last year, was the only time I'd seen Buddhist monks in person.

I bought books on Siamese history, books on Tibetan history, a postcard book of thangkas, and a Tricycle magazine. Fun. As I was walking down the sidewalk next to the museum, I carried my shopping bag full of books with both arms, sort of hugging the bag, and I was smiling as I thought about the museum exhibit. Or maybe I wasn’t smiling till I saw a shuttle with these big purple words on the side: Purple Lotus Buddhist School. I wondered if that explained the presence of the Buddhist monk, at the same time that a group of kids in red t-shirts had appeared in the Tibetan gallery.

Shortly after I passed the shuttle, a red-haired woman came up the sidewalk from the opposite direction, and she said, “Easy come, easy go.” If she was trying to rain on my parade, it didn’t work. I was in a calm, equanimous mood after all that Buddhist artwork and relatively calm museum atmosphere (it’s free on Tuesdays, so there was a big crowd, but compared to the crowds on the sidewalks it was calm). I don’t know why mean people see someone who’s in a good mood and try to make them unhappy. Jealousy perhaps. Even if I had been smiling only because I had my shopping bag full of books, which was not the case, I’d rather have some good books than hoard money.

A minute after she walked away, I took a picture of the prayer flags and mani stones set up on a balcony of the Asian Art Museum, even though the prayer flags are very frayed and look like they should be replaced. Faded and tattered.

I got back to the room, used the foot massage, took a bath, and lay down to take a nap, setting the alarm so that I’d go to Pier 39 to see the fireworks. It struck me as kind of silly to celebrate Independence Day, considering the current political situation (like, considering what a stinking imperialist government we have and how we desperately need a real revolution now), and yet it also seemed kind of silly to hang out in my hotel room while I’m in San Francisco and it’s a holiday, so I went to Pier 39 that evening.

I got in line for the trolley at the bottom of Powell St, and I actually gave a tourist directions. I had to stand on the trolley, which was kind of scary on all those hills. When we got off, I moved through the crowd toward Pier 39, and the crowd on Fisherman’s Wharf was enormous and lively. There were dancers and other people with flashy glow-in-the-dark glasses (green or blue) and some people had a glow-in-the-dark all on a stick, and eventually I passed a woman who was selling them. I just kept moving through the crowd toward Pier 39, and when I got there, I kept moving till the crowd was so thick there was no path, so I turned around and backtracked till I reached a place where only one layer of people stood along the railing. The crowd was more interesting than the fireworks. At one point in the evening, while the fireworks were going off overhead, I heard “Ar, ar, ar, ar, ar!” even though I expected the sea lions to be afraid of fireworks, three of them were on a couple of barges. There I was in a crowd in the dark, fireworks overhead, boats and sea lions straight ahead.

As the crowd was walking along Pier 39 to leave, I passed a group of rowdy people dressed as a bunch of Santa Clauses and giving out candy. After I had walked far enough to be almost off that pier, I saw some minor fireworks shoot off the pier at approximately where the Santa Clauses were.

I walked and walked through the crowd and finally got to the cable car station on Hyde Street, where a smaller crowd than usual stood waiting in line to board the trolley, and one trolley was full of people but not moving. Yellow police tape was strung in front of the trolley. I got in line, and someone ahead of me mentioned a thirty-minute wait. I was willing to wait, as long as I got a ride. The wait was longer than thirty minutes, due to the pedestrians on the streets, and there were only three trolley rides. I got to ride the last trolley on July 4! And it was free. People who stood clinging to the side during this ride ecstatically yelled and cheered when the trolley started moving and also whenever it went around a corner or a steep hill. It was a very crowded trolley, but I was seated this time.

I saw some cute little dogs tonight, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate to take dogs out in such mayhem, with the crowd and fireworks. From what I’ve seen, most of the dogs in San Francisco are small and cute, and of course if you’re living in a city it makes sense to have a smaller dog, particularly if you live in an apartment.