5: From URL to IRL

Last weekend, I went to San Francisco again. The City is reason enough to come visit every once in a while, as you can see from the pictures, but I first and foremost came for a different reason. On Saturday, I was able to turn another URL friend into an IRL friend. Manja has been reading my blog for 6+ years (impressive, I know!) and when she and her boyfriend were planning their vacation in the US a few weeks ago, she contacted me and simply suggested that we meet up for coffee.

I couldn’t agree to it fast enough.

You probably know by now that I love meeting up with people, taking online relationships offline. I love how easy the transition usually is. Even though Manja doesn’t have a blog  – and therefore through reading mine already knew infinitely more about me than I did about her – we had emailed a few times and have been Facebook friends for a while, so meeting up with her was just like hanging out with a friend I already knew.

We had brunch at the “Bottle Cap” at Washington Square, a restaurant that another online friend had recommended to me. The food was delicious (highly recommend it) and even though the service was a bit slow, we didn’t really mind, because a) Europeans are used to that, it’s part of the ‘dining out experience’ and b) we had lots of things to talk about. I love when conversations flow so easily with someone that you’ve basically-but-not-really just met.

After brunch, I suggested we go over to Lombard Street to enjoy the view…

… and then to witness Manja’s boyfriend – an ex-paralympic basketball player! – go down Lombard Street in his wheelchair. It was superfun to watch and people were cheering for him. I mean, how cool that he’s able to say that he went down Lombard Street in his wheelchair! First time in San Francisco and he already made unforgettable memories.

We explored Chinatown for a bit after that and talked some more, before I had to say goodbye. Time always flies when you’re having fun, but it was really wonderful to meet up in person and spend some time together.

(Manja, if you read this: you’re lovely all around and I’m so happy to have met you and Col. Thanks for reaching out and making this happen! I hope we can do that again sometime!)

I am throwing in two more pictures from the beautiful views of San Francisco’s skyscrapers for good measure, because why not? Those were snapped on my way back to BART before heading back to the East Bay to hang out with my friend Susi for a couple of hours.

Did you do something fun last weekend?