Linmar Boat San Francisco

29nov05
This is a beautiful old boat.
On my walk yesterday from San Francisco to Marin City, where I took the bus back to the city, I walked in Sausalito by at Baotworks. They were just adding the last touches of finish in renovating a boat, the Linmar San Francisco. A worker told me, that the boat is about 70 years old, so it's from the thirties. What makes the look of this vintage boat so great, is all its wood, combined with some brass. Wood is my darling material when it comes to building and giving a comfort feeling. The lettering *Linmar San Francisco* is in gold. There are thousands of big boats in the bay, but this is one of my favorites. A wine tasting tour with reds from the Wilson Winery in Healdsburg would give it a classy style: what a luxury boat ride. I wish I could have seen the interior. I still don't have my Nikon camera, so I couldn't take a picture. This morning the boat is gone into the water and also the first day of hard rain since I'm here, so I'm not going out to Sausalito. I congratulate the owner, of which I have no idea who he is, of this nice renovation, and with his good taste doing so to preserve a historical boat.
The walk took me about five hours. It was my third walk from SF over the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin County. I also stopped to paint a small masterpiece with Crayola crayons: red, black & pink.
I did not have a camera at that time, the day after I wanted to take a Photo, the Linmar was gone from the Boatworks in Sausalito. The info below is from their website.

(The 78-foot Motor yacht Linmar was built by New York Launch and Engine in 1933. Designed by Ted Geary. Owned by David and Lynn Olson. Based at Mariner Square, Oakland.)

Golden Gate Bridge Walk

23nov05
Yesterday, i day tripped in a walk from San Francisco to San Anselmo over the Golden Gate Bridge. I wanted to make a long distance walk one way. And it turned out good like this:I started early in the morning at 6.30 from my hotel at Union Square to Marina. At Chestnut Street I had my first long break for morning coffee with 2 Donuts and morning paper news. Then along the water over Chrissy field with many stylish old buildings. Watching Surfers, to the Golden Gate Bridge, over it, with signs warning in white on blue, that jumping off the bridge can be fatal and tragic.  I spotted a few sea lions, down to Sausalito on Alexander Ave, where I broke off a small branch from a eucalyptus tree as a souvenir. At the Sailor's Landing I stopped. Along the waterfront and passing houseboats to Richardson's Bay, where I saw my first two pelicans, with lots of other wild habitat, into Camino Alto Open Space on fire roads, where I got a bit lost, then down on Summit (note on Summit: not up but down!) to Larkspur, where I stopped for goodie yummier cake at the best local Italian bakery with steep prices. Then through Ross in my beloved Shady Lane, passing Shady Lane 34 to San Anselmo at 5pm. With Golden Gate Transit back to the city. Great long, long walk, great day, great view from Camino Alto Open Space over to the city.
Except on freeways I walked on all tops available: black, earth, soil, soft, hard core, autumn leaves, heavy traffic streets, quiet streets, on the San Francisco Bay Trail, on bicycle roads, fire roads, and few times on real hiker trails. All this in very pleasant weather, in shorts and sandals. I had a book in my bag, but I never had time or envied to open it. Such can life be: good.

Homeless in San Francisco

It is sad in the whole world, in all urban areas. As pleasurable as city street walking in San Francisco can be, seeing some bad cases in human destiny makes me feel sad.

The worst is homeless children.

No Smoking Culture

I like it. No cigarette advertising. Europe has, when it comes to smoking, become like a Third World country. Even the working people hardly smoke, like on construction sites I see little smoking. I walked by at lunch break at a construction site on Market Street, with many construction workers sitting side by side on the sidewalk leaning their backs to the wall, none of them smoked. So it's not like in England, where a minister defied the pleasure of the poor and one of their few pleasures and let them have their smoke, not to ban smoking in public places. California is proof, with good information and regulated policies, you can reduce smoking. I'm open for social concerns, but when it comes to non-smoking politics, …

Zinfandel

Zinfandel Wine Country, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, CA
19nov05
I feel good, i don't need sports bars, sitting in my hotel room with the police sirens in the foreground, I'm drinking an Estate Zinfandel, Wilson Winery, 2002, Dry Creek Valley, Sawyer Vineyard, in a glass i bought for one dollar in a Goodwill store on polk street, and on this glass is engraved in a stylish font: Healdsburg Lavender Festival. I bought this glass before i tasted this wine, which is the present from Diane. Even no one sees me in my room, I'm dressed up in a classic style for this strong wine, I'm handsome as the devil, as the line of Kevin Costner goes to the boy in the movie *Perfect World*. Again it's funny that the glass and the wine are from the same place by chance. When in California and drinking red wine, if i can, i will opt for Zinfandel. All other wines they grow in Europe, but not Zinfandel. Still this might be the California grape, i guess so, that this is the grape in southern Switzerland they re imported 100 years ago, after a disease killed the local grapes, and is called now: *AMERICANA*. In Switzerland, this Americana grape is not for wine making, but a table grape for eating, small berries, very sweet with a soft skin, a very delicious grape, my favorite grape besides *Muscat De Hambourg* of Provence and the white grape *Chasselas*. All other grapes for eating have no chance to these 3 varieties, all other grapes are in taste boring. A good ripe Chasselas has golden cheeks, most other white grapes are uniformly green, light green, dark green, it doesn't matter what green, but green and never gold. And as plane green they are, they also taste plane boring. Chasselas is a superb tasting grape, and they also look visually appealing, i never understood how people could buy these plain boring white grapes in a uniform green color.

This is good wine, says a man not in a gray flannel suit, this is what it says on the label:
our Sawyer Vineyard is located on the bench lands off West Dry Creek Road near Bradford Mountain in the Heart of Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. We are a small family owned and operated winery specializing in handcrafted small lots of carefully selected grapes. Come visit us at our tasting room in our historic facility, one of the oldest bounded wineries in California.



Stylish Zinfandel Wine Tasting And Football watching in the Heart Of Zinfandel Country.
I did id with great pleasure. Thank you for the wine, prost Diane!

Best Meat

A gay guy passed me and his t-shirt said:

Best Meat

Dr. Luke Linuxwalker

16nov05
Hey Linuxwalker, finally i'm in your Apple country, your favourite compu land. der Apple store ist nicht weit weg von meinem Hotel. Der laden ist in einem eigenen Gebäude, in den Farben und im Aussehen wie die silbrigen powerbooks. immer viile Leute dort drinnen, in diesem stylischem apple store. bei einem G5 haben sie so eine kleine Tisch-Hi-Fi-Anlage aufgebaut, aber es tönt wie im neuesten Kinohaus mit der besten Dolby-Anlage. Eindrückliches Tonerlebnis.
Hey und google überall, auf T-Shirts, als Sponsorenwerbung am Fernsehen bei PBS, das ist so was wie DRS 3, nur eben fürs fernsehen, so mit hochgradigen Programmen für kulturell interessierte und gebildete Leute, so etwa wie du und ich.
Ja, und um Gewicht beim Reisen zu sparen, habe ich für meinen lappitop das elektrische Kabel zu Hause gelassen, auch weil ich dachte, es braucht hier wegen der anderen Elektrospannung sowieso ein anderes Kabel, darum kaufe ich es mir in den USA, aber meine sorgfältige Vorausplanung hat sich als Reinfall entpuppt, denn so ein Kabel kostet saftige $100, während ein Transformer Adapter nur etwa $14 kostet. Nun aber, eine Bude mit Acer habe ich hier in San Francisco noch gar nicht gefunden. Da ist ein Laden, Compu USA, so gross, dass man unser Grossmünster über Nacht leicht darin parkieren könnte, der hat vor allem nur HP, Apple und Toshiba lappitops, von Acer keine Spur. ich kann es mir selber fast nicht glauben, in einer der Computerhochburgen der Welt finde ich kein Acer Zubehör.
Alles, was ich jetzt auf dem compi getippt habe, ist auf der Hotel-Internet-Station, und die ist meistens besetzt, denn es gibt nur eine für alle Gäste. Immerhin gibt es diese eine. So kann ich fragen, wie es dir so geht im Schweizerland. Ich, uch, ich flippe fast aus vor Freude, hier sein zu dürfen.
hANS bOLLI :: pAINTER