The Swiss Miss called me at work and
convinced me to take the day off! I can't
recall cutting out of the job early for
a long, long time - not since the mid-80's,
before I moved to LA. We'd planned on doing
something previously, over the weekend;
but she'd developed conflicts and the weather
prediction was less than favorable, in contrast to
today which was glorious. So off we went.
First & major stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. We
parked at the south (city) side and walked out past
the middle, to a point a little beyond that of my one
previous non-auto experience here, when U and I ventured
out on bicycles one foggy day of July 1976. Walking back,
we retrieved the car and drove across, to have a
splendid high-class fish dinner at Scoma's
in Sausalito, sitting at a table by the window with
a view of the bay. Then back to the bridge, hanging
around up in the Marin Headlands before crossing,
taking in that grand view at sunset as the lights came on.
Crossing back over the bridge we approached the Little
Italy district, to execute my idea of deriving travel
information at the Green Tortoise Hostel. Theirs turned
out to be a funky establishment in an older building, as
was perhaps to be expected - I was glad for the opportunity
to make this scene. The Green
Tortoise is an alternative bus line established in
1974 - someday I'd like to take one of their trips. She got
some useful info about the San Diego hostel, although no leads
yet on a ride to Arizona, where she'd really like to be for
the month remaining before her return.
Then back to Mountain View, were I took her into work
so she could check her email - seems that the browsers
available at the library only show the first half-screen
of each message - wotta rip! So I'm writing this now
while she catches up using Netscape 4 my Sun workstation.
Her ex-boyfriend back in die Schweiz has an invention of
a "swing-couch" - she describes it as a rig with unusual
mountings for the cables that somehow energize the user?
I don't pretend to understand <1>;
but it's much fun for me just spending time with and sharing
the occaisional bit of dialogue auf Deutsch with this
attractively exotic European girl.
She baked me a little loaf of special bread, and when we
departed I gave her a Temari ball. I fully intend to visit her,
to get the personal tour of her small town, when I return to
Europe in the Fall.
It's odd how certain minor themes arise in this narrative. The
night before, I'd updated the current tape, and one of the tunes
I'd included was "Waterloo Sunset" (mentioned last
Sunday). Of all the various songs
playing in the background while we drove around, this was the
one which caught her attention - she turned it up & was singing
along. (Perhaps the Kinks are big in Switzerland?) Plus, while
we paused in a tourist shop in Sausalito where
she purchased postcards and a souvenir mug, "Waterloo" (by
Abba <2>)
came out of the overhead speakers - quite loud & distinct,
strangely, unlike the other selections of background music there.