Oh Angie, what a global perspective you bring! How wonderful that you have had that opportunity to be immersed in so many cultures.
I love San Francisco too...lived in West Marin a long time ago....and was so happy to return there for five days this May for the first time in 25 years! My favorite discovery was this little tiny street called South Park...south of Market. I walked the mile or so from the hotel, and voila, an oasis in the midst of it all...a dog park, darling cafe's (that all close at 3 pm, btw), cute little houses, and the Isda outlet. Some of their clothes are not my cup of tea, a bit matronly or plain, but others, their more edgy stuff, I love! What a well maintained and staffed mark down store. I posted a couple of pics of the street, but could hardly do it justice:
http://liminalenterprises.com/.....-park.aspx
That and the Heath Ceramics factory in Sausalito ( http://liminalenterprises.com/.....today.aspx ) were my most fun places. I bypassed the downtown stores that are all the same ones we can shop in in Seattle...Gap, Old Navy, etc...and looked for more off the beaten path places.
Basia, my son wrote to me that he is enjoying Barcelona very much and it's also giving him contrast that Berlin feels more like home already...and he needed that. I know what you mean about traveling in herds, I have not done that...it has not seemed appealing at all! Logistically to me it can seem cumbersome to even have more than two or three of you to travel together...walking and busing and cabbing becomes more challenging with more bodies. For one thing, someone almost always has to go to the bathroom, and it's usually me...that's why I take shots of so many ladies rooms!
That's interesting the perspective of visiting vs. living in a tourist destination...I lived in Hawaii and never went there as a tourist. One can see a whole different side of things staying for a while, working, and grocery shopping, the everyday things of the culture.
