All Hail the Queen

You would think that the Pope has arrived in San Francisco. Or you would think SF is at this very moment hosting the Olympics. Or that the Oscars are taking place here. People are flocking to the water. They are skipping work and school. They are getting in their cars and driving to San Francisco.

Yesterday for the first time, the Queen Mary II oceanliner arrived in the San Francisco Bay. Superbowl - Superboat. Superbowl - Superboat. What to do? A helluva lot of people were more interested in the Superboat. And still are - SF has been absolute chaos since yesterday. Auto and foot traffic is ridiculously backed up due to all the rubbernecking and people hordes snapping pics.

I knew the boat was coming to town but had no idea so many people would get this excited about it. This morning I took my usual route to work and I saw streets that normally have no traffic completely jammed. I had to park 3 blocks away from my office.

I saw a colleague and asked "Is the Queen Mary around here or something?" I thought it was a funny since the waterfront, which is a block from our office, has 4 miles of piers. Her eyes got real big, indicating that I am dumb and blind, and she pointed up. No wonder there is no sun. We were standing in the shadow of that enormous vessel, tied up just on the waterfont the next block down.

To describe the massiveness of this boat I can only make one analogy: think of a gorilla. Now think of a gorilla standing next to King Kong.

Check out this YouTube Video from Lophat, which was taken from the Golden Gate Bridge as the QMII entered the Bay. It keeps going, and going, and going! And tonight it will be gone.