On the virtue of asking for things.

We didn't end up sleeping at Hellarity. Instead, Mikey called up a friend of his and asked if she would let us crash. She agreed, although we had never met this girl and we were showing up around 2:30 AM. She even had a futon laid out for us, with blankets and pillows and everything.

The next day, after hours and hours of tromping around San Fransisco in the pouring rain, we ended up back at Alex's house where the energy quickly died. After a while I had grown bored of the half-hearted Yelping and discussions of what we wanted to do. I pulled on my boots and headed out, announcing that my mission was to wander until I found a glass of wine and a creme brulee or until I drowned (which seemed like a distinct possibility considering the weather).  There had been one particular french restaurant I had in mind, which had phenomenal reviews. But it was already around 11PM on a Tuesday night so I had no real expectations of actually satisfying my craving for the finer things in life. Indeed, they were closing when we walked by and we ended up at an English pub next door.

As we were leaving the pub to walk back to Alex's place, we passed the french restaurant again. I noticed that a man that looked very much like a chef was standing outside. He smiled and nodded to us as we passed, so I stopped and asked him, "Would you by chance like to gift a creme brulee on a poor traveling stranger?". His English was not perfect (he was actually French!) and I had to repeat my request before he understood me. At that moment, his face lit up with a grin, and he ushered us into the restaurant and to the bar, calling for a cook to bring three creme brulees. And I got a glass of very nice red wine. All for free. Because I asked if I could.

If you are ever in San Fransisco, in the inner Richmond neighborhood, go to Chapeau Bistro. http://www.yelp.com/biz/chapeau-san-francisco. You won't regret it.

I didn't take any photos in San Fran, so here's one of Santa Monica, which is where we went next:

Apparently there was some sort of football game in LA around New Years? All I know is there were a bunch of people in red yelling about the Wisconsin lemurs or something.