After a lovely weekend when Alex and Jason visited from LA for just one night, we are now hosting a couple from Germany. Michael met Cassie several years ago at a film festival where she was showing Pokermama, her LFS graduation film, and they’ve been in touch ever since.
Michael and Johanna (sp?) are very nice, and they remind me a lot of my old pal Gerhard from Flensburg. They live in an “eco-village” in Germany, with a very interesting social structure, and lots of cool eco-tech. Their lifestyle is starkly different from ours, with our electric toothbrush and new iPad. But it’s been a pleasure hosting them, and Gordon is taken with these strangers who keep petting him and spoiling him.
Michael was happy to hear about the CHSTP, and I was keen to hear about the eco-tech they used in the village. Johanna is vegan, so we took them to our current favourite Indian restaurant, Aslam’s Rasoi on Valencia. They have a good selection of veggie and vegan stuff. After that we went to Xanath ice-cream, with their amazing range of natural vanilla ice creams and fruit sorbets.
In the spirit of showing the tourists a bit of SF history, we then took them up to the corner of Dolores Park, where we showed them the fire hydrant that kept working after the 1906 earthquake, saving the surrounding blocks from the fire that followed. It was painted gold out of gratitude. Great shimmering views of the city and Bay Bridge.