In the City by the Bay, Day 2.

So, when we last parted, Red and I were sleeping off our jetlag in the beautiful but chilly city of San Francisco. The next morning, I had a muffin for breakfast (maybe coffee too? I managed to keep it to once a day despite the Starbucks in the lobby), kissed Red goodbye as he headed to work, then wandered down the street to the Contemporary Jewish Museum. I have an honorary Jewish grandma who is totally awesome, and she wanted me to go there and send her a postcard. I was happy to find such a cool museum within walking distance. I learned a ton, too. Plus, where else are you going to find an exhibit called Black Sabbath? It was in this amazing room called the Yud Gallery, which is filled with diamond-shaped windows. The light was incredible. Really, the whole place is fascinating from an architectural perspective as well as religious and historical ones. Take a look!

The trees decorated with papers were part of an exhibit.

Lunch, glorious lunch. We had the fortune (good or bad, you decide) to be just down the block from a mall. I am apathetic toward malls on my best day, but this mall had a Loving Hut in the food court. Now, I’ve spent enough time as an Internet-savvy vegan to know that Loving Hut elicits strong opinions (I first read about it in VegNews; if that link doesn’t work, try this),but I wanted to experience the weirdness for myself. Anyway, Red and his coworker met me for lunch. Red had, I think, the Grilled Philly Sandwich and I had a bowl of Loving Hut Noodle Soup. Both were good, especially considering the fate of vegans at most food courts. Well played, Supreme Master.

After lunch, I may have walked around a little more, or I may have just chilled out until Red finished work and we went to the MOMA. Damn, you guys, I love a good MOMA. Not as much as Red does, though. My boy is all about his modern art. Check it, he even found Waldo:

Exploded Views by Jim Campbell in the lobby. The photo absolutely does not do it justice:

Random building photos:

Then we were hungry and didn’t feel like wandering far for food on our first full day in the city. This laziness took us to Samovar, and it was kind of the low point of the trip. Hell, at least we punched that ticket early. It wasn’t bad, for sure, but it wasn’t what we expected, either. It was cramped and noisy and expensive. It’s nice that you can order a “tea service” meal, which is a themed pairing of food and tea. It’s not nice when the tea tastes like feet and you’re afraid to ask for sugar because they obviously frown on that sort of thing, but you damn well drink every drop because you threw down a Jackson for it. If you’re still interested, I had the Chinese Service (to be fair, the food was good) and Red had the veganized Paleolithic Service, which was rather on the bland side.

The teapots were charming, though.

Note: Weird spacing and wonky photo alignment brought to you by Blogger’s new interface. Thanks, Supreme Master Google.