FELIZ AÑO NUEVO, EVERYONE!!! Here we are back… with some stories to tell, some happy, some unhappy (from Venezuela, of course.)
We had the most fantastic (though short!) wedding anniversary trip to San Francisco… WHAT A CITY!!!! We loved it: there was so much to do. We crammed into the time we had a visit to the SFMOMA (liked it just as much as the one in NYC). That same night we went to Embarcadero Center to watch the new Almodovar movie, “Talk To Her“. Fantastic! Go see it as soon as you get a chance: it’s a worthy successor of “All About My Mother”. The next day, we had a long walk: some 8 miles, from Union Square, to get us to the heart of Nob Hill (some beautiful pictures in Grace Cathedral), “down” to Russian Hill, into the beautiful shops, cafes and restaurants of Union Street. There we had an exquisite brunch at L’Entrecote (2032 Union Street) which is “a glass-enclosed sidewalk cafe. The House specialty is l’entrecote served in an original Cafe de Paris sauce.” I regret to inform that I didn’t have that dish, because I was in the mood for something fishy: a delicious crab salad! 
We then went on to the Palace of Fine Arts… out-of-this-world experience. We both loved it! It’s so unexpected: it like pops out between the buildings, there… majestic, since 1915, but reminiscent of the Roman times. We then walked to meet the Golden Gate: “Hello, Golden Gate! We’re here, all the way from Phoenix, to meet you.” From Crissy Field beach, we walked all along the coast, through a huge park, to run into Ghirardelli Square, house to the famous chocolates… which I couldn’t taste, but Andreina mentioned that they were AMAZING!!! We had a nice Clam Chowder in a Sourdough bread, a classic, by the coast back there, in Boudin’s bakery, which is like the king of Sourdough in San Fran. That was the end of our day there. Dinner and drinks that night (to celebrate two years of the most beautiful marriage!).
The last day in San Francisco (12/30) was devoted to register ourselves to vote in the Venezuelan Consulate there: not too eventful; and to go see lofts in the downtown area (South of Market Street) for Andreina’s thesis… We wish we could go there a hundred times: we loved the city just as much as we’ve loved San Diego, which is no small feat!
On to more mundane things, this week I received a copy of the new live album by Tony Levin, “Double Espresso“, which brought some great memories of the concert I saw him at on 2002 (while at Quepasa), and then some…
This week, the general strike that affects Venezuela continued in its fifth week: simply unbelievable… Yesterday, two persons got shot at a protest while trying to get to Fuerte Tiuna, where one of the Generals of a Division that was protesting in Plaza Altamira is kept under house arrest… R.I.P