frank @ m.web

From 5th to the 11th this month I've been in San Francisco and Oakland for the second time, this time for our Ubuntu Cloud Sprint. And, to make it short, I've enjoyed it again. During the first days I stayed in Oakland, in the evenings we went out for dinner in local restaurants on the Broadway and the Jack London District. Especially that area with restaurants on the waterfront is really great.

On Friday, when the meeting has been over, I went to San Francisco and had a nice walk to the Transamerica Pyramid and the Coit Tower. Before driving back to Oakland I went to the Ferry Building, every time a wonderful place. I also had the chance to see the light installation on the Bay Bridge, cool. A few minutes after my arrival the ferry to Oakland was to start, so I decided to take that one. Fantastic! It's an impressive view from the water to the skyline of San Francisco during dusk. Back in Oakland I went to Everett and Jones Barbecue for the second time. During my meal I enjoyed watching the NBA playoff game of the local Golden State Warriors together with the other guests. We talked a lot about basketball as our EWE Baskets are in the playoffs too. Sadly the Warriors lost that evening.

For the Saturday I planned to have a longer walk from Embarcadero up to Fisherman's Wharf and maybe further. I really enjoyed it, taking a lot of photos, walk on some of the bridges, visiting Pier 39 and take a look at the old ships at San Francisco Maritime Museum. My walk then took me to Marina Green and Crissy Field Picnic Area. Sadly the weather has been typical for San Francisco: very sunny and beautiful on the bay side but the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog. (sigh) So I turned to the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, followed the Lyon Street and the Presidio Avenue up to the Bush Street. Here I turned back to the city, with a short visit of the Union Squark Park and the Apple Store. The end of the tour has been some recreation at the Ferry Building again before returning to Oakland, fetching my luggage, changing my shoes for travel and driving to the airport. Those who know the distances in San Francisco can imagine how me feed have been aching. (smile) The walk has been more than 18km, large part of it uphill, upstairs and downhill. But absolutely worth it, as you can see in my West Coast May 2013 gallery. And I still have enough ideas for a next visit. San Francisco is a fantastic and vibrant town.

If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.

— Frank Zappa

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

— Mark Twain

They who want to build high towers have to give good consideration to the foundation.

— Anton Bruckner

The message of Google that they will discontinue the Reader (as other services before and after) showed, that we today tend to rely too much on external services. The initial idea of the internet with a number of connected hosts, e.g. in the web by using links, gets lost more and more. I don't like this. And so I'll move more and more services back to my own host. One part of it is this blog.