Unforgettable cruise

Chapter 9 - (actual chapter 5) san franciskee

The Sapphire Prince eased into Pier 27 in San Francisco right on time, the morning of Leigh Down’s 4th. cruise day. A roughly day-and-a-half port stop from 0800 (once again on Pacific Daylight Time) Sunday 8 March to 1800 Monday 9 March gave passengers plenty of time to explore the city, possibly even other parts of the greater Bay Area which might be of interest to specific individuals.

Per, Leigh, and Rebecca were amongst the many who disembarked from the ship at varying times in the morning hours.


* *
First off (amongst these 3, not of everyone leaving the ship) Per was a man on a mission: enhancing online business connections via face-to-face meet-ups, all the way down the San Francisco peninsula. For him it was a rare and necessary opportunity: his entire focus for this extended port stop. In some senses it would be more difficult starting on a non-business day. Yet countering this, several of his connections showed greater interest in meeting up on one of their days off without their immediate work pressure, even if business-related.


* *
Leigh had visited S.F. and the Bay Area years ago, but never spent much time there, much less lived there. She was off the ship a little over an hour after it docked, on a mission to the quirky Mission District, about whose eclectic food culture she’d read so much over the years.

Her mission to the Mission District encountered plentiful delays and side-tours, most notably Chinatown, whose aromas hypnotized her! {Mmmm, I’ll be walking enough, I can have a light brunch here, then lunch or lunner in the Mission} she convinced herself.

What wound up happening was Leigh having her first dim sum experience in over a decade. Far and away the best one of the few she’d ever had, all too many dishes whose names she did not know and the majority of whose servers failed to communicate to her in a way she understood tantalized her enough to compel her inner foodie to get them on her table, then into her mouth.


* *
In the late morning during Leigh’s unexpected (and unexpectedly in-depth) dim sum brunch, Rebecca was off the ship, touring nearby in the Embarcadero and North Beach districts. San Francisco had long been on her bucket list, and now it was happening!


{I belong here} she thought, feeling a strong inner sense of connection to the people and the place as she made her way around.


Not in the best of shape, the walk up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower proved arduous, compelling her to take a long rest break to catch her breath.

Downhill heading inland wasn’t much better, making the leveling-off near Columbus Ave. a great relief. Even better was encountering the Powell-Mason cable car line at Filbert St. and climbing aboard.

She couldn’t help grinning, living this classic, stereotypical San Francisco experience. {*This* is the life!}


* *
{Get walking, girl} Leigh chided herself, struggling to put the excessive snugness of her waistband out of her mind as she left the dim sum restaurant.

All the homeless people along Market St. proved more depressing than the sights proved uplifting. She figuratively fell onto Fell St., finding the environs more to her liking.

The uphill walk to Alamo Square to view the picturesque Painted Ladies row houses from up high proved worthwhile, and made her feel good about getting in some solid exercise, to hopefully bring her consistency a little more back towards solid. Buried deep within her mind on her way up the hill, the same naughty part that urged her on at the dim sum restaurant made her subconsciously enjoy the jiggle of her hips and rear, even if not the bit on her belly.

Back down Steiner back onto Fell, her destination (having looked at Maps on her iPhone) was the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park, with her eventual goal being the park itself.


* *
Less geographically adventurous Rebecca enjoyed a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant on Columbus Ave. which caught her fancy. What they could possibly do to make basic spaghetti with meat sauce and the house red wine taste so magical she did not know. The only moment of displeasure was needing to retrieve some wayward noodles and sauce from her cleavage, thinking during the after-cleaning about how all her eating was only going to make her boobs bigger, thus an even greater target for such mishaps. Thankfully she had full privacy: no one was in sight lines of her.


* *
Clark remained on the Sapphire Prince, having spent more than enough time all over the Bay Area in his years living there—at least the major parts of it for which he would have had time to reach.

Lunch in the Sip And A Wink Pub suited him well, especially taking a whiskey flight therein.


An hour after lunch and changed into his swimming trunks, he couldn’t help hearing a decades-old Boz Skaggs song in his head as he made his way to the big open-air swimming pool on the Lido deck.


* *
Hhhh, hhhh {Doing great} Leigh panted and thought, proud of how she’d been walking all over Golden Gate Park hither and yon, all the way to her current location near a historic windmill, in view of the Pacific Ocean. {Thank goodness I’m wearing my walking shoes!}


She was in for more up and downhill walking than she’d anticipated, on her mission to the Mission. Stanyan to 17th. had her feeling like a true athlete, even with the actual athletic locals jogging or running by her now and then, at her leisurely walking pace.

Once in the Mission District proper, she found a nice, and, judging from its line, well-liked taqueria. The steak taco proved worth the wait, and eminently affordable. She enjoyed it on-the-go, staying eastbound on 17th. St.

The steak taco was history before she turned northbound onto Harrison St., figuring it was as good a way as any to meander back towards the ship whilst staying off Market St.


{Oh noooo! Food trucks!} was her thought on sight of them, at what Maps told her was SOMA Streat (sic) Food Park, just north of the U.S. 101 freeway she’d walked under. {I’ve been good! I’ve exercised a lot today! *Must* have the San Francisco food truck experience!}

Lines were short at this early-mid-afternoon hour, making it easier for her to sample all of Korean fried chicken with garlic fries, a slider called the Screwball featuring buffalo chicken and blue cheese, ending with a porchetta sandwich to die for!

{I’m out of control, and I *love* it! Wish I could eat this way all the time.} Hhhhhh, {Thankfully I have a-ways to walk back to the ship.}


* *
Rebecca was already back on the ship, resting in her stateroom.

Per was already in Santa Clara county, making more business connections.

Clark was shooting some hoops, playing a for-fun pick-up game with some new friends on the Sports deck.

Beryl was using the bed in her stateroom for sex with her second man (so far) of the day.


* *
The to-the-ship walk Leigh promised herself she’d make didn’t happen. Feeling more lethargic and lazy than she cared to admit, she climbed onto the northbound Muni 47 bus at 11th. St. and Harrison. The view along busy Van Ness Ave. gave her plenty to keep her mind off her unexpected weariness, especially the stately City Hall and all the car dealerships. {Who needs a car in San Francisco?} she mused.

On a spur-of-the-moment whim she got off at Van Ness & Clay, backtracking 2 blocks to the end of the California cable car line. Taking that line to its eastern terminus at the Embarcadero, she felt just barely refreshed enough to solider on along the basically flat terrain north on Drumm St. then along the waterfront back to the welcome sight of the Sapphire Prince at Pier 27.


Upon re-boarding the ship, she returned directly to her stateroom, for a refreshing shower and a nice nap, re-living in her mind the many adventures she’d just enjoyed.


* *
The only one of our so-far-named day adventurers not back on the Sapphire Prince for the night was Per, staying overnight with a friend in Sunnyvale.


On the ship, Leigh was assembling a light evening meal at one of the self-serve buffet restaurants, when someone who kept occasionally briefly worming unbidden into her mind startled her with his sudden corporeal presence.

“Looking good” he sleazily grinned, holding his plate with its overstuffed self-assembled custom burger, plus fries. “Gotta say, I’m down with your wiggly wobbly shimmers, Ms. Down.”

She knew what he meant from all she knew of him, parts of this knowledge quite recently learned. Still, she couldn’t believe after their past interactions and his apology that he’d say such a thing out loud, especially right there in public where others were likely to overhear. “My *what?*”

“Your fat.”

She blinked twice, struggling to believe what she’d just heard. Not even the sparkle in his eyes nor his sweet smile that often softened her romantic heart more than she wished could take the edge off his to-her harsh words. “Dear mister Martian: here on Earth in our culture, it is considered rude to refer to people as ‘fat’.”

“Not in my world, Venus” he defiantly and annoyingly flirtily glared at her, taking his leave.