Jan. 21st

The last day of our trip had sadly arrived; the past five days had passed by like a whirlwind and it was crazy to think that today was our last day in San Francisco. On the schedule for today… Berkeley, Chez Penisse, City Hall, and China Town for dinner. Yes, all of that in one single rainy day. It was going to be a long and most likely wet one, but I was excited!
We took the Bart across the bay and arrived at Berkeley early that afternoon. It was raining again so jackets and umbrellas out we walked across campus and divided into groups to explore one of the most prestigious and large public schools in the nation. My group spent the first half hour in the bookstore hoping for the rain to die out. But as we thought it wasn’t going to anytime soon. We walked across campus to Moe’s Bookstore. It was huge! Four stories of books and I had no idea where to begin. After perusing their selection we stopped for some warm coffee and hot chocolate at a small little café next-door. The campus didn’t feel much different than some of the neighborhoods we had been visiting other than the fact that the majority of people walking by were students carrying oversized backpacks.
Near Berkeley we had lunch at the famous Chez Panisse restaurant. The restaurant manager gave us both a tour and history of Chez Panisse. They source all of their food locally and also are strong supporters of urban gardening. They have created a garden outside a near by middle schools on vacant lot. The garden not only is farmed and maintained by students, the students also eat and use this food as an integrated part of their education. The ideas presented at Chez Panisse were very familiar after listening to Amanda Bird speak about the schoolyard gardens she instituted at her preschool in Indianapolis. The tour through the kitchen was pretty cool. It was fast moving and busy, lots of people working, and tons of delicious food being prepared. I even saw a whole pig hanging in the meat room, king of disgusting, but it also assured me that their meat was fresh and minimally processed, which has become important to me lately.
. Lunch was fabulous I had some delicious ravioli and an apple tart that I was able to see being made during the tour. It was such a privilege to eat at this restaurant and I tired to savor every bite of my meal because of it.
After lunch we had another once in a lifetime opportunity. We got a tour of City Hall in San Francisco and also a meeting with Mayor Newsome’s leading policy advisor. The building contained so much history it almost felt like we shouldn’t really be inside it. After watching Milk and the Life and Times of Harvey Milk I couldn’t keep myself from relating everything back to the story surrounding Harvey Milk. Jason was also very interesting he was young, brilliant, and easily approachable. I had expected an uptight middle-aged man who honestly didn’t really want to meet with us anyway. Our meeting was casual but engaging and it was obvious that the Newsome administration truly valued our interest in their progressive policy.
Our last day was definitely the most envied by my parents and probably by many other adults. I’m glad that I am old enough to at least recognize how extraordinary these kinds of days are. I didn’t have any prolific questions to ask Jason and I probably wouldn’t have realized how much of an opportunity it is to eat at Chez Panisse without the teachers telling me so. But nonetheless I understand and appreciate how many memorable and valuable experiences I am granted during these trips and this last day was probably one of the most privileged days in my life thus far.