Sir Drake Hotel

Let me take you with me on one of my afternoon strolls through the city.

It takes time to get to know a new place, and I’m an eager explorer.

So I use as much time as I can running between work and some classes to sniff out places I can call my own.

Now, Sir Drake hotel may not be mine, but last week after I had met this model, I needed a petite moment of awe and quiet to get back out there.

I opened the big glass doors to this old classic of a hotel and skipped up the stairs to an area that was absolutely empty.

I’m sure I should’ve asked to enter, but sometimes I happily live the philosophy that “its easier to be forgiven than ask for permission”, so up the stairs I went.

The afternoon sun hung low on the horizon and added the perfect amount of gold to everything.

I quietly introduced myself to the different rooms all draped in heavy velour curtains and gazed at the intricate patterns painted in the ceiling.

Big chandeliers lit up dark corners and I felt I was walking silently through time to an old dusty castle somewhere.

A grand piano called me by name as I rounded a corner and I was so tempted to take a seat and play some of my melodies, but not wanting my moment of solitude to pass, I gracefully declined the invitation and kissed it farewell.

The colorful carpet was so soft to walk on as I turned to the ceiling for inspiration.

Swirls of blue, gold, cream and yellow gazed back at me.

I remember feeling so happy and grateful for all the masters of the arts that has put their mark on this world.

I felt inspired to create, to pursue my dreams, and to always take time to recognize something good, beautiful or uplifting as I run through life.

It’s important to stop, feel, think and recharge.

This was one on my many moments throughout a day when I sneak away to a forgotten alley, park, room, or space.

It’s in those moment I feel the most alive perhaps.

It’s moments like that, that makes life more beautiful than it already is, that adds spice, color and texture to my petite city escapade.

Do you have places like this?

I would love to know about them!

I hope you like the petite tour of this gem of a place.

Every day I find a new place, some more grand than others.

Sometimes it’s a cafe, a restaurant, a room in the library, a corner in the city, a bench, a store or a rooftop, but I somehow always manage to bump into a petite sanctuary on my journey through a new city.

San Francisco, you blow me away!

Photos by: Marte Marie Forsberg