Heading Back Home

The weather this morning was slightly less foggy than yesterday, which is why this is the first that Naoko and I noticed that our hotel actually had a distant view of the Golden Gate bridge. (It was still a bit overcast so not many of our photos translate well, but at least we can point and say, that’s where it is.)

The plan for today was to enjoy an early breakfast in China town (Naoko’s craving for rice porridge ended up as rice porridge with a few dim sum sides), followed by a morning of shopping in Union Square.

Before we arrived Jemma had purchased a Coach purse at Macy’s and she didn’t know that Macy’s always offers out of town shoppers and 11% discount. (If you travel more than 200 miles to anywhere and shop at Macy’s be sure to pick up a visitor coupon card.) Macy’s even retroactively honored the coupon, resulting in a hefty return for Jemma.

Although I’d set a semi-strict departure schedule for the day (I didn’t want Naoko and I to get home too late), we spent a bit too much time and money in Union Square with Virgin Records taking the bulk of both.

Eventually we headed out, with Jemma hitching a ride as far as Palo Alto, where she’d be interviewing people at Stanford the following day. As we passed through Daly City (at just around 2 pm) we started to consider the idea of lunch. Learning that neither my Japanese nor my semi-Japanese friend had ever eaten at Todai, the agenda was set.

The challenge was that Todai was closing in 30 minutes, and they are very strict about their closing rule. The will let you in, will let you take as much as you want in advance, but once 2:30 rolls around, you better not need anything else. We, however, were up for the challenge. Covering two full tables with our culinary delights, we worked our way through the delicacies of several cultures, with a huge focus on Todai’s sushi.

Eventually we got Jemma to Palo Alto at around 4 pm, and after a quick peek at the Stanford campus, got her checked into her hotel. We’d had so much fun enjoying each other’s company that we were having a hard time saying goodbye. So we decided to enjoy a final Starbucks for the road, before Naoko and I headed home.

Naoko was a great traveling companion. She didn’t even complain when I started playing the CDs I’d purchased earlier at the Virgin Megastore. Unfortunately she wasn’t familiar with most of the music, but we did find one CD where she recognized five whole songs.

Eventually, I got Naoko back to her home at just past 11pm. Not that bad in the scheme of things, and I think we were both pretty sad to end our lovely adventure together.