Much to my surprise, birthday week continued the whole week (I should have known). Right now, I’m with Caroline in San Francisco. Inside the Apple store no less. More updates later.

DAY 1
For all you player haters, here’s a recap of birthday weekend, part two.
Friday – Caroline and I boarded a Southwest flight bound for Oakland International Airport. Departure time, 730a; it was a very smooth and empty flight. We got above the LA fog and I knew it was going to be quite a weekend. We landed at 830a, took the AIRbart to the BART station, and took the BART to Powell in San Francisco.

Our first order of the day, eat. This was going to be a PT (public transportation) trip and we walked to our first stop, but that restaurant was closed. So we found another mom and pop place and had a tasty little breakfast. We purchased a three-day MUNI pass (to ride the bus and cable cars) and headed to the new Apple Store. Great as always. Then we hopped on the Trolley and headed to our hotel. We got off the trolley at Lombard Street (the curviest street – a claim to fame) and walked four blocks, downhill, to the hotel. It was around 1230p and a sunny day, about 84 degrees. We were ready for a nap, so nap we did.

We woke refreshed and we attacked Pier 39 (it was closest), ate the customary Chowder in a Bread Bowl, walked along the pier and talked. We moved toward Ghirardelli Square, shared a banana split and headed back to the hotel. It was a great day. I felt like I was on The Amazing Race. I slept from 10p till 9a. Caroline did the same.

DAY 2
We picked up some Danish and Nutragrain Bars from the hotel lobby (free continental breakfast) and head out the door. We had another full day planned. It was 10a when we got started. We took the bus to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor to see the Art Deco exhibit. A great exhibit. We stayed about two hours and headed to Alamo Square for some lunch. When we got off the bus, we found cafe and grabbed some lunch. Alamo Square followed by a walk to Height, and a short bus ride to Ashberry. Vintage clothing and coffee was what we were in search of. We found both.

While we were waiting for the bus to take us to the Castro District, I (in typical Montez fashion) had to pee. Restroom for customers only. No problem, we ate the great dessert before dinner, sticky rice with mango – de-lish.

That night, in the Castro District, we had French cuisine at Coto Sud. Everything in this place was great. Including the value. Next time you’re in the area, try it. Low light, good food, quick service, great conversation, this night had everything. Dinner was great, time for some after dinner drinks. Take the trolley to Market Street.

We exited and headed to the Marriott Hotel, but it was a little early so crossed the street to the second greatest building containing electronics, The Metreon. We spent about an hour in the Playstation Store. We played all the games and some pinball. Sony has a new toy, the EYE-TOY. It was way cool and we gotta hook our house up with one.

Now was time for The View. That’s the lounge on the 39th floor of the Marriott. The view was great. But we only stayed a short time. It was about 1130p and we were spent. We headed home, went to bed and were ready for day 3.

DAY 3
We got out of bed later than we hoped so we packed our stuff, grabbed some more lobby breakfast and headed back to downtown. Sunday was dim-sum breakfast and it was really very tasty. We didn’t have time to go shopping, so we boarded the BART and headed back to Oakland. We made our plane and headed home. We were home by 4pm.

Thank you Caroline, I had the greatest time. Thanks to all those who made birthday week 2004 the best week I’ve had in a long time.