Drunken Owls and Other Delights

So today we'll be heading across town and checking out downtown (primarily the Ferry Building) and perhaps walking up towards our old neighborhood in North Beach. I haven't been in that neck of the woods in at least two and a half years, when we were moving out in October of 2009. I believe we went there one last time at one point, I've forgotten when, and ate at Tiernan's, our old haunt, and I remember feeling sad and somewhat depressed that one of our favorite places in the past had gone downhill. It was nice seeing the old neighborhood, but at the same time it felt like it always does when one returns to their old living space--interesting to see again, but at the same time kind of melancholy that things have changed since we've left, or that it doesn't hold the same excitement as it once did. I sometimes still feel the same way when heading back east to New England. Memories are funny that way.

On the other hand, I haven't set foot in the North Beach area in so long that I think it'll feel more like one of our weekend trips again. I never really had any reason to head back there, and the closest I've been to it is the writer's convention at the hotel on Nob Hill, or on one of our infrequent roadtrips to the East Bay where I've been getting off the Bay Bridge and cutting through downtown to get home.

It'll be interesting to see again. Living in the foggy and cool Outside Lands as we do, it'll be strange to be in a part of town at the same time of day where it's at least five to ten degrees warmer and nary a cloud or fog bank in the sky. emmalyon went over there with a friend the other weekend, and she reported that, at least up in the Washington Square Park area, things have changed around a bit but a lot of it's still the same. I don't have any requests for specific places to stop, though I wouldn't mind stopping at City Lights if we happen to be in the area.

I will, of course, be taking pictures, and will post them later.