Gone California

On this trip, I reconnected with an old college friend, Duncan Smith. I met Duncan when I was a freshman at USC. He was an R.A. in my dorm. He went on to have a very successful career as a Navy SEAL. He lives in Coronado with his wife Karen and has three children. When Duncan heard I was in San Francisco, he asked me if I'd been to a place called Kirby Cove, which is on the other side of the Golden Gate from San Francisco. I hadn't, so in true Duncan-fashion, he arranged for it to happen. I met his friends Adam and Kiara (and Lady) at the parking area above the cove. And we began the .8 mile hike to the cove. Through a forested area. With eucalyptus trees. We passed some old military installations. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the west coast was seized with fear and went into battle mode. Duncan and his wife met at Kirby Cove, and they named their daughter after this beautiful place. Lady loved it, to...

The iconic City Lights Book Store Despite its name, the North Beach neighborhood where I am staying in San Francisco is an urban one with the beach long gone. Historically, it has been home to the city's large Italian population and still contains the city's Little Italy. On my last full day in the city, I went on a walk, including a pilgrimage to City Lights Bookstore. City Lights is one of the great book stores in the United States. It encouraged the Beat culture of Jack Kerouac, the predecessor of the movements of the 60's I love bookstores, and could spend hours browsing in them. At City Lights, I bought the "Selected and Last Poems 1931-2004," by the great Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz and a couple of postcards.   The French philosopher and writer, Albert Camus. I think he looks like my Uncle Joe. Truth. Milosz spent many years as a professor of Slavic languages and literature at the University of California at ...

The National Shrine to St. Francis of Assisi is located in San Francisco, the city that also bears the saint's name. The church is older than the city and the state of California, having been established in 1849. The gothic white marble high altar resembles that of St. Mark's in Peoria, IL, my home parish. Even as the interior was destroyed by the fire, these outside wall withstood the 1906 earthquake. The Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time. A beautiful portrait of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Ninth Station: Jesus falls the third time. Above is the only photo I took in Old St. Mary's Cathedral in Chinatown I spent the most time at Sts. Peter and Paul, attending Mass three times. The last time, I was asked to carry up one of the Advent candles during the procession. Gorgeous reproduction of Michelangelo's Pieta.

I extended my stay in San Francisco by two days. I had planned to travel to Monterey, but I was having such a fun time in the Bay area, I didn't want to leave. Plus, I was staying at the great San Remo Hotel in the North Beach section of San Francisco. The San Remo is within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Coit Tower, and other attractions. The San Remo started life as the New California Hotel, built after the 1906 earthquake to house the sailors, fisherman, laborers and even chocolate makers who would help rebuild the city. It was restored to its Victorian splendor. This very affordable and classy little hotel of 62 uniquely furnished rooms is a cross between a European pensiones and a Old West Inn. I stayed in two different rooms. Above and below is the first. The second room was decorated with sheet music of songs with the word Smile in the title. It was charming! Below is a window in my second room. The rooms ha...