travel day five. part 1.

thursday november 20. day five.

bittersweet day. i'd be leaving california on train by 11 that night. but, it gave me the full day to get my san francisco fix and besides that, i would be alone most of the day since rye was busy setting up for the art opening. i've come to realize that traveling alone is preferable. i see more. i think more. i stop for only me. i catch the bus for only me. just me. and the city.

first order of business, i would find the tiny restaurant, crepes-a-go-go, to eat lunch at. the last time i was here, rye took my mom and me to this place and it kind of rocked my world. we got three crepes. a mushroom spinach one. a feta cheese, sweet peppers, eggplant one. and a banana and nutella one. totes drool. this time they were out of mushroom and salmon so i ordered the tomato, avocado, cheese crepe. with a coke.

i don't remember feeling sad here. but my eyes look like it.

afterward i thought it would be a good idea to take the bus down columbus and walk up the steep seven blocks to coit tower. i always figured coit tower was a lighthouse but everyone i talked to said it wasn't. they just didn't know exactly what it was for. and now i'm too lazy and uninterested to find out what it was built for anyway. currently it stands there as a beacon by which people give directions.

i took this pic to see what i looked like after coughing up a lung and sweating profusely. turns out, i'm not that bad looking. my vision, although, was patchy from lack of oxygen. dear future G, you WILL be able to walk up that steep hill without heaving by next year! yay!

coit tower. i had to walk up about 45 more steps to get to a tree garden. i liked the bark on this one in particular. and then above that is the museum attached to the building.

TOURISTSSSSSS!!! it cost $5 to take an elevator up and eyeball the scene from 200 feet above the street. i assumed there were $2 postcards that would afford me the same luxury of view so i took the cheaper option. besides, it seemed like i already walked 500 feet up the sidewalk slopes and observed the view. another 200 feet was nothing to me. there's nothing i hate more when traveling than taking pictures of the same tired place that millions of other tourists have taken. most likely it's on a post card. and most likely it's much better quality. at least that's what i have to tell myself.

i walked back down and found myself in rye's art school neighborhood again. it was almost 2pm and rye told me i could come to her ra meeting with her at the school. but this time i had an easier time walking up jones street.

these are the views from the top of her school. look! coit tower on the top right. that's where i was! can you see the cruise ship?

alcatraz.

the ra meeting was pretty cool. there are five ra's in rye's dorm and the lady who supervises the ra's has a mild stick up her butt. almost like jewish princess personality but i didn't think she looked jewish. i have to remember to research how much an ra supervisor makes. it seemed like the best job in the world. at least in san francisco. and at least at sfai.

rye's workspace. she got a wall this semester which is a step up from a lone easel. i walked around saying hi and being introduced to her schoolmates. she pointed out the good and bad paintings. this one guy there gets shit for painting super realistic images. i saw his painting of a hamburger bun and toy soldier. they were both unfinished. rye said that super realistic paintings don't mean as much as more abstract ones. at least not to his peers.

a detail of piotr's painting.

rye's friend's painting.

we walked into one of the studios where jamie and ida were sitting around watching tom crowbar his paintings off the wall. he draws extremely tiny american life scenes. there are never any people in it. i would at last draw a cockroach or two. whatever. they were eating wasabi chips and offered me some. remember sitting around with everyone from your school all the time? yea. me neither but that's because everyone cept claire in the chem department needed major brain surgery. rye's lucky here.

a painting that made rye laugh.

cindy's painting. rye looks up to her more than anyone here. she's older, never married, never attached. free spirit. happy in a non-abrasive way. a realistic way. i never met her though. and i still don't understand her painting.