Golden arches

When I was in Paris (I don't want to be one of those guys who does this a lot, but come on, how cool is it that I can start a sentence like that?) someone, probably from BF Australia or Canada, said if they lived in Paris they could see themselves not looking at the Eiffel Tower every day because they'd get used to it.

I say they were from the middle of nowhere because I grew up in the Bay Area, about 25 minutes from bridges, buildings and cable cars that are easily as recognizable, if not less romantic than the Eiffel Tower, and I must disagree.

Yesterday I had a job interview (for a job I think I may want) in San Rafael, which is about 7 miles north of the point where the Golden Gate Bridge hits land in Marin County. To get there from my current side of the Bay I take a different bridge but I do see the Golden Gate, just as I do whenever I drive through Berkeley on my way to Vallejo, Sacramento, Tahoe, Chico, Oregon or Canada.

Across the water from highway 80, behind Alcatraz, there is always the orange Japanese animation eyes of the Golden Gate. I look at it every time I pass by. I don't strain my neck to see it, but as I sit in the Maze traffic 100 feet from the water line I glance out my passenger window (when going south, generally home) just to acknowledge it.


It's a beautiful bridge that actually empties into a nice area for both directions, unlike so many other bridges that start or end in poverty, industry, salt flats or oil refineries.

So no, person I met from either Australia or Canada, I don't think I'd stop looking at the Eiffel Tower or any other widely known landmark I lived near. I don't get tired of my favorite shirt, food, or songs. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think familiarity necessarily makes something less remarkable.