pogoism

My boyfriend is going to be working in Sacramento a lot more now, and as a result I’m probably going to be spending a lot of time there too. I’d previously only been through Sacramento, as it’s the main stop on the way to San Francisco on the Greyhound. I’ve always thought it looked like a nice city, perhaps like a mini San Francisco.

Alonso had to work on Saturday morning, so we arrived at Rancho Cordova on Friday night, got a burrito (probably the yummiest burrito I’ve had since I’ve been here – which is quite an accolade, ‘cos I’ve had quite a few…), and chilled out in the hotel room.

Next day I got the light rail into downtown Sac. I love public transport in the US because generally it’s a fixed price. One ride, which took about 25 minutes from Rancho Cordova to the Capitol, downtown Sac cost me $2.25. Compare this to a single ride within zone 1 on the London Underground, which is £4.00. That’s almost $6, even with today’s crappy exchange rate.

Armed with the two most essential tools to discovering a new city – my iPhone and a Lonely Planet guide – I got off the train in search of the Capitol building. I couldn’t see it, or find it, despite me being on Capitol Mall, but I ended up near Old Sac at the very impressive looking bridge.

Then I wandered around Old Sac. It felt deserted, and stank of taffy. There wasn’t much to do, and it wasn’t pretty to look at. Cheap, tacky and touristy – almost like Virginia City.

Then it was onwards to downtown Sacramento, which luckily was very close to Old Sac. I found a Starbucks, plonked myself down with a ginger green tea, and studied Lonely Planet in search of something else to do. Tired, and someone disappointed with the place, I waited until Alonso had finished work, then went to meet him.

We had a nice lunch/dinner at Scott’s by the river, which almost didn’t happen, thanks to TomTom taking us totally the wrong way.

Having got a bit bored of downtown, we went in search of the gay district, midtown. This is apparently where stuff happens in Sacramento, where the locals come to hang out. With it being the Saturday before St. Paddy’s Day, there were many, many Americans celebrating their tenuous link to the Emerald Isle. After looking in some expensive lighting stores, we got a drink and panacotta at Lounge ON20.

We wanted some mochi for dessert, so we headed to Osaka Ya (again, after getting totally lost at the hands of TomTom, though, to be fair not actually TomTom’s fault). In case you’re wondering what the heck mochi is, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii.

Despite not seeming like I liked Sacramento, I’m actually looking forward to going back. I’m sure there are loads of great places yet to be discovered.

You can see more photos over on my Flickr.