Some of the Sights of San Francisco

After an uneventful flight up here (the TSA screener working the X-ray was a friend of mine, so while I might not have gotten a bomb by him, he didn't hassle me about the regular stuff), we picked up our daughter for lunch and then headed into San Francisco. The town was really crowded - everybody must have been coming in for Mother's Day weekend. In addition, 7,000 girl scouts and their chaperones were walking the Golden Gate Bridge as part of a graduation ceremony, so as we crossed the bridge the pedestrian walkways were jammed full.

Our first stop was in the shopping district around Union Square. If you're looking for a melting post of San Francisco personalities, that's the place to start. Here are some of the thingg I saw while we were walking around the area:

• Outside the Old Navy store were two guys holding placards covered in Obama pins. They were giving those pins in exchange for campaign "donations". I'm not sure if any of that money will ever get to Obama.
• There was a rather large girl wearing a shirt that said "got hope? Barack Obama for President". Hillary may have won California, but Obama clearly has the hearts of San Franciscans.
• On the corner of Union Square were two old guys holding a "Stop the War" banner while another younger guy tried to hand out leaflets. As my daughter said, when somebody hands you a leaflet it's like them saying "here, YOU throw this away".
• Down one street where there was a small art fair two people were singing opera - an older gentlemen tenor and a very large soprano. I looked at my wife and said "well, that's it -it's over."
• Coming back to the square from a side trip in the neighborhood we can upon a large protest by Chinese encouraging support for the Falun Gang. They had many brightly costumed particpants, a marching band, and a Chinese dragon.
• While waiting for my wife to come out of Macy's I heard drumming and shouting coming closer. It turned out to be what looked like some sort of Indian wedding parade. There was a drummer up front, about 30 or 40 people, mostly men, dancing around and shouting every now and then, most of them in Indian-looking costumes, and at the end of the procession a guy who looked like a sultan riding a white horse covered in bright fabrics. A guy walked alongside the horse holding a tall umbrella over the sultan's head. They had a police escort as they traveled around the square, so I'm really sure just what was going on.
• And, of course, we saw the usual collection of gay guys mincing down the street holding hands.

From Union Square we headed down to Pier 39. The whole waterfront area was packed with people. Parking was ridiculous and just walking around the area was an effort. I've been down there several times and have never seen it as busy as it was today.

Tomorrow we'll do a little more shopping for her and will attend her concert at 4. Should be a good day.