Labyrinths, Puzzle Boxes and The Germans

What are three things I discovered in San Francisco? It's very Johnny Carson's Carnac the Magnificent. : ) I snuck away for the second half of last week to visit my second cousin, Andreas, who lives near Berlin, Germany, and his family, in San Francisco. I was pleased as punch that my first cousin, Julie, also joined me for the lovely three day trip. As one first cousin of my father said on our last visit to Germany in 2007, "Having these visits helps keeps the family young." I totally agree and treasure each one.

Julie, Andreas and Kari on the Golden Gate Bridge

We had a relatively long list of items we all wanted to see and do while in SFO including the following:

• Alcatraz
• Lombard Street
• Berkeley campus
• Grace Cathedral
• Chinatown
• Riding a cable car
• Walk the Golden Gate Bridge

I'm happy to share that we met our goal, although, we counted seeing Lombard Street from the cable car vs. walking it, and we split up one day to accomplish what was most important to each of us. We also got to have a nice Italian meal at Calzone's off Columbus Street, drinks at the St. Francis Hotel with my aunt and uncle, a sunny walk down Fisherman's Wharf including a wild (for me) experience a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., yummy breakfast at Zazie in the Haight - Ashbury Neighborhood, tasty pizza at Uncle Vito's off Powell St., great conversation and drinks with my pseudo-cousin, Kim, at farmerbrown, and the fantastic exhibit of Richard Avedon's photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I also discovered a wonderful black and white photographer named Youngbok Park and bought one of his photographs called "Love, Korea" in Union Square. You can find it in the Asia collection on his website.

My personal favorite experience was walking the labyrinth at Grace Cathedral with Julie. The idea behind the labyrinth is to walk into it with something on your mind that is either a worry, stress, or just on your heart. You then walk 1/3 of a mile to the center of the labyrinth, where you can meditate or pray and then "let go" of whatever you brought into the labyrinth with you. You then walk 1/3 of a mile back along the same path and leave the labyrinth. It was very calming and left me with a feeling of peace. I even bought a small Labyrinth made in Cork, Ireland, which now hangs on my office wall. The design of both of the Labryrinths at Grace Cathedral are patterned after the most famous medieval labyrinth found within Chartres Cathedral in France.

Labyrinth inside Grace Cathedral - San Francisco

Labyrinth now hanging in the office at my house

The other fun adventure was a goal of Julie's. She wanted to find what she thought was a Chinese puzzle box. Not only did we learn that they are in fact Japanese puzzle boxes, but that they are very difficult to find. Our walk through Chinatown took us down what I would call the "locals street" and then the tourist street. We saw many people clearly going about their daily lives, food shopping, store operating, and conversing on the locals street. We saw all manner of food from frogs/toads waiting for their demise, to fish of all sort, poultry, vegetables, fruit, you name it. It was dazzling. We then wandered over a block to the true center of Chinatown, Grant Street, where they've renamed an alley in honor of Jack Kerouac. After ducking into countless stores we were about to give up when I could see that Julie wanted to try two more. Finally we had success! At the first of the two, the clerk told us that the boxes were located across the street. Indeed they were and these intricate wooden boxes do not disappoint. The wooden boxes are designed with many different ways into the secret drawer compartment inside. Noticing a theme here?

Jack Kerouac Street off of Grant Street in Chinatown

All in all it was a most excellent mini-vacation and I'm so glad that I got to spend time with my local cousin as well as those who had traveled quite a distance. I was also happy to check off another national park from my long list of places to go by visiting Alcatraz. And now, I need to catch up on The National Parks special from PBS since we were out playing while it was on at the end of the week.

Vielen dank to Andreas, Lusia and Michael for including us in their trip. We all had a wonderful time. Until we meet again perhaps around a Mutzbraten. : )