Monday, November 10, 2008

Why I am here, now

I have been fortunate to travel to many places. But still, there are many places I haven't been.

Friday night, Chris and I feasted on Middle Eastern food from Jerusalem Cafe. I've never been to the Middle East before.

Saturday I explored new territory south of San Francisco as we biked from Palo Alto, up across the Santa Cruz mountains, down into San Gregorio for lunch where we saw both a Nobama sign as well as a woman sporting her own homemade tie-dyed Obama t-shirt; we stopped by the recently created Bike Hut on our way back up to the mountains and ascended for another 30-45 minutes until taking cautious (due to the rain) descent back into Palo Alto. I'd never biked there before.

On Sunday, we spent a lot of time at Philz Coffee where I had my usual Peruvian roast. I've never been to Peru before.

After a day of working on personal projects at the cafe, we walked over to La Taqueria where we got veggie burritos. Quite possibly my favorite spot for (San Franciscanized) Mexican food in the city. I've never even been to Mexico.

After dinner we had a couple hours to kill before going to a show, so we parked ourselves at Mission Pie whose pie ingredients are grown at the Pie Ranch just south of San Francisco in Pescadero. I have actually been to the Pie Ranch before; the walnut pie is excellent.

Then we headed over to Revolution Cafe where we first heard a local girl play a Chopin piece (Chopin is from Poland; I've never been to Poland). We then heard a Russian girl play the harp - have you ever seen someone play the harp, live, one foot away from you? I hadn't. There there was a sextet of strings playing Brahams - from Germany. I have been there before, but he spent most of his life in Austria - where I have not been. We did all this while drinking beers new to the both of us: Affligem and Erdinger (Belgian and German). Never been to Belgium.

So, why am I here, now? Because being here I can be all these other places, too. The world is here in my world, and that's a big part of what makes me love this place. For the number of places represented within its many spaces.

2 comments:

MELI. said...

Hey Terra :D
I like your traveling blog, esp this travelling within SF. esp. the coffee aspect!
very cool, bookmarking this -
take care and happy riding ;)

xo.meli

travelling terra said...

thanks! i've been following your blog for a few months now and really enjoy the pictures and events you write about. keep riding!