my favorite things

Yesterday I had dinner with some colleagues from various desert lands (Africa, India, etc).  We had a lovely meal, talked and ate and drank, and left around 11.  At which point, the three of them proceeded to stare in wonderment at the snowfall.  Which is all well and good before you leave the restaurant, or after you arrive at home.  But standing in the middle of Viktualianmarkt going, “look at that church!  no, look at that church!”  “check out this tree!  wait, look at this tree!” for 20 minutes is not my idea of a good time.  I spent a good 18 minutes grumbling to myself about crazy tourists while mentally reviewing any facts I ever knew about frostbite.  But in the end, I had to admit that it was kinda pretty.

When I lived in San Francisco, a friend of mine who lived in the north bay always used to come visit and point out these amazing things in the city that I walked past twice a day without ever registering.  You know, those things you never look at unless both your iPod and your cell phone run out of battery during your daily commute?  They’re kinda nice.