The Tacky Tourists

Woke up early this morning to check on news from Mumbai. It looks like things will calm down over the next few days, but shit... 150+ dead and 300 injured. That's pretty nuts. I've got emails in to our Indian travel agent to see what the airport status is, and I'm hopeful that we won't have to change our plans much. I figure that in a week, Mumbai will be the most secure place on the planet.

We were in for quite a shock (as opposed to shiok) last night. Turns out that Americans are damned fond of their turkey. A little too fond, if you ask me. Thanksgiving is a really serious holiday around here. So much so, that when we went out in search of food last night, we were greeted with block after block of closed eateries and businesses. We walked with the kids for a couple of miles until we finally found a mediocre Chinese place to have an overpriced snack and a beer. Mind you, after walking the hills for a couple of miles and searching for an open establishment for over an hour, it was the BEST place in the world to eat. I'm not exaggerating. The sign on the door said just that. 75 bucks lighter, we took a cab back to the hotel and crashed pretty early.

This morning, we transformed from the worldly hipsters that we fancy ourselves to be into tacky tourists. I even wore my camera around my neck. The only thing missing was bermuda shorts, socks with sandals, and his and hers hawaiian shirts. We went down towards the Fisherman's Wharf area, despite every cell in my body screaming at me to run in the opposite direction, and bought some 3 day Muni transit passes, which let us ride the cable cars, busses, and trams all we wanted. Pretty cool actually. Cabs all add up, and dammit, there's a wee bit of Scottish blood flowing through these hardened arteries. The cable cars, while being the quintessential tacky tourist trap, are actually a great way to see the city. Much faster than walking, and slow enough to appreciate the suberb architectural details of so many of the buildings here. Laurel and I would love to have a pied a terre here, if we could ever afford it.

Breakfast was at a crappy diner, but we travelled using our new passes to the Castro District for lunch at a Mexican eatery that Laurel and I knew from a previous visit. What a great area! Beautiful old row houses with citrus trees. Funky shops. One had a Christmas display in the window that featured several extremely buff Santa's Elves with power tools in various stages of undress. Its great to see a place where people of all persuasions feel free and comfortable enough to be themselves. Or be elves... Walking through the Castro area, its hard to imagine how Proposition 8 shamefully passed, effectively banning gay marriage in the State of California. I thought this was the most liberal state in the union!

Tonight, we have reservations at Zuni Cafe, which aside from Tuscany Restaurant on Bowen, which is sort of a second home to our family, will be the boys introduction to fine dining. This is a really cool place on the edge of the tenderloin district. We may look a little rough around the edges when we arrive, so I hope we are not denied entry for having the appearance of Gypsy ancestors. More on that dinner tomorrow...