So when I left off yesterday we were just arriving at the airport, I was still telling the story from her perspective (or at least how I perceived it to be).
So they took off that morning from John Wayne Airport and arrived a little over an hour later. After hailing a cab and checking into their hotel they grabbed some breakfast at one of the best hole-in-the-wall diners in the city. They knew it had to be good because as they walked up to the small 500 sq. ft restaurant, there was a line of 20 people out the door spilling onto the street. The 45 minute wait was well worth it though, especially since they were SUPPOSED to get breakfast at IHOP over three hours ago at this point.
They spent the day walking around and enjoying the city. Her boyfriend seemingly had no plan for the day, and she was willing to go along with his apathetic itinerary. They went to a museum, walked around, grabbed some lunch, spent a little time walking through Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39. It was an unseasonably warm day, her boyfriend wore pants, but he seemed fine.
They spent what she thought was an exorbitant amount of time in the Russian Hill area, around Ghirardelli square. The day was wearing on her, they had now been walking for several hours, the pedometer on her phone told her they had actually walked nearly 9 miles. By this point it was nearly five in the afternoon, she was ready for a little dinner and a drink. Her boyfriend just KEPT walking though, "WHY do we have to KEEP walking, WHERE the hell are we going?!" she thought. The area they were in now was very hilly, they stopped to rest at a park. She saw a sign that said Russian Hill Park.
A short time later, her boyfriend decided that, yes, it was time to CONTINUE walking. He kept mentioning that he wanted to find a good view of the Golden Gate bridge, so naturally he lead them further up a hill hoping to find a clear view of the iconic landmark. They continued their way up Hyde Street which was the steepest city street she had ever seen, let alone walked up. When they reached the top of the hill she realized that they were on that very narrow winding street she had seen somewhere before (Lombard & Hyde).
They took another break there to watch a few of the cars drive down the zig-zagging street. As they waited a street car pulled up, she had hoped that maybe they would take that somewhere, it didn't matter where it went as long as she didn't have to walk anymore.
"Well you ready?" her boyfriend asked, "we've gotta be getting close to somewhere with a clear view." He headed west down Lombard away from where they were. They walked down an equally steep road into a residential area. They were no longer anywhere near the tourist attractions they left behind them at Ghiradelli Square and Russian Hill, in fact they were now entering what appeared to be a bit more of a rough area. She was dying of thirst now and needed to "freshen up", so she urged that they stop at the Chevron that was coming up on the right. Before she went into the gas station she decided that she had had enough.
"Okay, what are we doing? I'm not having fun anymore, my feet hurt, I'm thirsty and hungry, maybe we should get a cab and head back to the room," she blurted, clearly frustrated.
He could tell she was annoyed, so he chose his words carefully, "Okay, that's fine lets get you some water and then we'll get a cab. I'll ask the guy in the Chevron where we can go to see the bridge, and then we'll take a cab back to the room and get showered and grab some dinner."
She felt a little more reassured as she conceded and headed into the Chevron. A few moments later she exited the restroom to see her boyfriend with a bottle of water, some tissues for her suddenly runny nose, saying he had gotten directions to somewhere with a good view from the gas station cashier.
"All we need to do is flag down a cab, the guy said we're close," her boyfriend said. It took ten or so minutes before they could flag down a cab with his light off, she could tell he was starting to get annoyed by now.
"Can you please take us to the Palace of Fine Arts," he said as they both got into the cab. It just felt great to finally sit. They had probably walked off their extremely hearty breakfast by this point and she was cranky. This damn bridge had better be worth all this god damned trouble.
"The clerk at that Chevron back there said the Palace of Fine Arts had a pretty good view of the bridge," her boyfriend spouted trying to start conversation with the cabbie.
"Oh yeah definitely it does, its from the 20's very art deco. Was built for the World's Fair, there used to be a bunch of buildings resembling it around the city but they tore them all down aside from this one," the cabbie said as he pulled up to a red light.
As they sat there an overtly attractive, low cut shirt wearing female walk across the street in front of them. Slowly trailing that woman was a very conservatively dressed girl texting as she crossed the street. The cabbie had his eyes locked on the attractive woman as he called his passengers attention to them.
"Check that out, two completely opposite girls. I bet that chick gets guys all over her, but you probably know all about that," he said motioning to Alyssa in the backseat. "But she probably doesn't get nice guys, she probably attracts the kind of guys who might want to rape you, you know?"
She couldn't decide if that was rhetorical or if he was waiting for an answer, so she uncomfortably laughed, fortunately that seemed to appease the driver because he dropped the conversation. Her boyfriend was staring out the window, as if he was looking for something. The cab turned right and drove for a few more blocks and suddenly they were there. They paid the cab driver and walked towards the palace.
It was an incredibly ornate Greco-Roman towering building. They walked through the colossal arches beneath the incredibly decorated dome. The central structure was straddled on two sides by equally tall and impressive columns. A pond filled with ducks and swans partially surrounded the palace and intensified the building's innate beauty.
Her boyfriend continued to urge her forward, saying they can come back and check out the palace once the sun had set. They continued through the columnated walkway, through the back entrance of the park area, and crossed a street to an area known as Crissy Field. This was a pretty incredible beach area that had an amazing view of the Golden Gate bridge. They had FINALLY found somewhere with a view of this damned bridge! She knew she didn't have to walk anymore! The park was filled with people swimming in the frigid water of the bay, a three legged dog trying to pick up a football with its mouth, and others playing catch with their soaking wet dogs. She stood with her boyfriend and watched the sunset over the golden gate bridge for twenty minutes or so.
Once the sun had set, they went back across the street to the Palace of Fine Arts. The building was illuminated by ground lighting now. The lighting drew the eyes to the incredibly details on the building and somehow even further enhanced the aesthetic of the structure.
They were standing at the edge of the pond near a small group of ducks. She pulled a SoyJoy bar from her purse and pulled off pieces of it and threw them to the ducks. The ducks quickly obliged to greet her and her soy-laden feast.
They stood and admired the building with the nearly full moon rising over the arches. Suddenly her boyfriend took her hand, spun her around, held her close, told her that he loved her, and then asked her to be his wife. She was taken aback, although she secretly knew it had to be coming, but she was incredibly happy. Her boyfriend took the ring from his pocket, that he'd been carrying all day, and waited for her to answer. Though this day HAD to be coming sometime soon, she was still surprised, and incredibly happy. She answered him, "Not a chance," smacked him and then dove into the pond....okay that didn't happen. She said yes, and he slipped the ring onto her finger and hugged him now fiance for the first time in her life.
They kissed and admired the area for a little while longer before heading off to grab a cab and FINALLY head back to their hotel to celebrate.
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That concludes MY interpretation of her side of the story. I will be telling MY side of the story tomorrow, I apologize for the length of the entry but the details are necessary this time.
