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right after I moved to the Bay Area: “I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but public transportation really works here.” That, as it turned out, was a load of horse shit. But that’s a rant for another day.

What I’m writing about today is that, despite the fact that public transportation here does not work very well at all, riding it has become one of my favorite activities in recent weeks.

You may have seen me mention before that we’ve instituted a rotating office at work, and the three full-timers at my company (of which I am one) switch off hosting work at each of our places every week. So two out of every three weeks, I commute to work, almost always by taking public transportation.

Now, I live on what I consider to be one of the prettiest Muni routes in the city: between the Caltrain station and the Embarcadero station in the Financial District. It runs along the Embarcadero, next to the bay, past the ballpark and the Bay Bridge. And three times a week, two out of every three weeks, I ride that route to begin my commute to work.

It’s stunning. And the never-tiring beauty of that view, combined with the warmth of the morning sunlight, makes me feel like I’m in a Hou Hsiao Hsien film every morning. Not a bad way to start the day.