Strolling out of the hotel, Villa Florence, this is the view and a stroll sideways hits Chinatown, downwards hits the Bay and I could get to like this town of San Francisco. The hotel is an old art deco place, with matching furniture in the rooms - such a change from sterile MDF furniture; and downstairs the Italian restaurant is superb, where I ate the best sea food risotto (scallops and prawns) I have ever tasted - and of course sea food and San Francisco go hand in hand. Chinatown is the strangest place, even stranger than in New York. There is food everywhere, markets selling all kinds of stuff from coconut to huge bags of dried mushrooms and tons of noodles. And watching all the old Chinese guys fishing off the pier and keeping the catch says a great deal. It is a real eye opener of a city - thus far. Although how they can make tourism and money out of everything is very American. Alcatraz has become Disneyfied and the Pier opposite sells loads of faux America - including Bubba Gump Shrimp. But all the same lots of the city feels authentic and it deserves a San Francisco band - what a joker, I really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree:
