Blogs and Baseball – Day 7

Day 7 eh, last full day in San Fran – This one I was determined to make a lazy day!

Didn’t do much in the morning, got up around 9am, couldn’t really sleep in so had the usual bagel and juice – then got straight onto blogging again – must have blogged day 5 or something!

Four hours later, the stomach was calling, so I strolled through to Chinatown and found this little Chinese ‘diner’ would be the better word for it, and had a big serving of beef rice noodles… very nice.

Strolling back through Chinatown, knowing it was going to be the last time for a while, I decided to pop my head into a few shops and check out prices generally of junk – yeah, not that cheap, but some of the postcards of the city were nice, and cheap – but I figure that since this blog is up and going, there really isn’t any need! Apologies to those whom I said I would send them to…

Interestingly, I came across this lady whom Kurt, Bjorn and I had seen the previous evening…!….. she actually was handing out buffet discount vouchers for this restaurant, and wanted us to eat there last night!… even pointed us to the place after we came back to her ‘corner’! That was about 9pm last night – anyway, this was now 3pm in the arvo, and she was heckling everyone, left, right and centre! ….classic!… good on her for trying, must be a long day for her! Luckily Chinese women can scream and heckle all day…… I know from personal experience!

So – Tonight was going to be my first baseball game! – Down at AT&T stadium on the Embarcadero, it is a cool place/setting, which overlooks the SF Bay…. Matt, Paige (Matts Partner), Geoff, plus some others had organized to go so I tagged along.

I found I knew the basics of the game from Softball experience back at primary school, and this particular game between the SF Giants, and San Diego Padres was quite so so until after the 7^th innings when it started to get close. Interestingly, the whole crowd gets up after the 7th innings and sings “take me out to the ball game!”… yeah, that was interesting – i good way to wake the people up, and generally get involved and into the spirit again!……. Anyway, game ended up going to the 11^th innings with San Diego taking it 4 to 3 i think?

Photos below : – Views looking south-east from the rear of the stand over the car parking, me with damn short hair!!, Score boards at dusk and night, Cola bottle and glove!, Kayakers in the harbour waiting for Barry Bonds to hit a homer out there (possibly going to break the all time home run record)…! Also, an interesting extension on top of a building – note there are base isolators under the new structures columns!… and a lifting bridge, rather old school…

How’s my shortened blog entry? No more novel?… thought i would mix it up! …but i guess the downside is i’m leaving out a heap of details, like game-food, crowd size, bla bla!

Supposed Rest Day – Day 6

I’m starting this blog in the lobby of my hostel, waiting for my airport shuttle….. its been a great week!

Anyway, day 6 was Monday – I got up early as Bjorn and Kurt were leaving at 8am, so i had breakfast and blogged two days worth which took me through to about 1pm!…. the day started with good intentions of being the lazy one, where i wouldn’t think to do a hell of a lot!…..

So, out onto the street, onto the great bus service and out to Alamo Square. This is a little park to the west of the city, with a nice view back towards town, but it is more well known for its Victorian Row of houses that features in the TV programme “Full House”! Think Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Twins! And true to form, yep it does bring back memories of watching that programme! so heaps of people out on the park with there cameras out… i don’t mnd this kind of touristy, it is the hustle and bustle of shopping and crap that i can’t stand any more of!

I spent about half an hour there just sitting on the lawn, eating this free give-away bar that i got given on the first day – one of these new salty but sweet nut bars, pretty guey, but stomachable since i had been starting at my ibook since 8am! There was this photographer sitting beside me who took my photo, William McCloskey very nice guy, shooting scenery shots for advertisments – i believe he was using a Panasonic FZ30 at the time…..

So do you like the legacy Ute?? looks like a GT model too!!…… After Alamo Park, I caught a transfer bus through into the New Fillmore suburb for a lookie. The tourist map I was using mentioned a Japan Centre and the other night bussing to Geoff’s we past a Japanese tower thing, so I thought I might head back to check it out.

Apart from the tower, the Japan Centre is a pretty average mall/building, in need of a lick of paint and general bowl over and start again. It is an indoor mall of sorts, with everything Japanese. I found some car auto shops, merchandise and other crappy stuff. The only noteworthy shops would have been the Samurai Sword shop, and a European bakery where I got a Danish.

The Fillmore suburb did have some things/posters up about being a historic jazz district back in the day, but there wasn’t much too see from what I could tell – swallowed up in suburbia.

Back on the Bus, and up for a walk through the Haight-Ashbury area -Looks kind of like Cuba s, but with cars and less action, kinda grungy, but felt pretty safe. a few nice houses and interesting shopfronts.

the end of Haight Ashbury is the Start of the Golden Gate Park – I didn’t have any inkling to go back in there, so i took a side streetand headed towards the CASTRO area – man, such sweet views back at the city, and gorgeous houses old, new and done up…..

So a bit about Casto – it is the openly gay-friendly/free loving area of the city – LGBT, i.e Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transexuals……. i read quite a few of the free cicrulation papers back at the hostel, with interesting/weird articles about gay life, classifieds and buff men, etc etc………. ANYWAY, I thought I came across GOLD when I found this street post – everyone told me that Castro was all about ‘sausage’ – but CLEARLY I had found some Beaver in Castro.

The rainbow flag is the symbol of the LGBT and all other things open – it is flown on the lampposts and regularly appears inside, outside all the shops too! I noticed the other day the flag was on the central city lampposts as well, but just for Pride Week.

Walking the streets of Castro, I actually felt pretty safe dispite all the bad things I’ve heard about keeping your back to the wall, and AIDs/HIV, and sausage-fest, gay bars etc etc… ok, it was the middle of the day but hey, it feels alright…. – Funny thing is seeing middle aged men holding hands down the street, groups of guys sifting around outside shops on the sidewalk, bars with dirty old men drinking beer but with colourfull rainbow balloons everywhere! I got some cool pics of the shop windows… Yes Gary, that is the Red Bib Suit you drool over every night before betime…..

Yeah, so it seems nice tight boy briefs look like they are considered sexy for a gay-man…. I didn’t see anywhere as many lesbian couples walking around, I guess men just like to be more OPEN about it? Dunno….. Anyway, saw a very Gay-looking Toyota FJ in baby blue – yeah, ok maybe this little SUV is a little bit camp, but I still reckon they look cool…

Anyway, what else better to do but go and get a Gay-haircut. – I wasn’t wanting to pay $40 for a decent cut, so I wondered into a local Barber on Market St. I had a half hour wait, which actually turned out to be kinda funny – this stereotypical gay guy came in for a cut – was sooo picky about what clipper he wanted, and blending it up into a ‘one & a half’ at the top, flat on the top – man, it was hilarious! Louis Vutton shoes, with pressed cream chinos and a crisp white shirt… he was just SOOO stereotypical. The guy waiting beside me was also gay, and commented when the dude left “are all your clients that hung up about their hair?” – so I guess he would be considered ‘less overt’ – An interesting guy actually, about mid 30’s from NY, asian background, but yeah just friendly.

It was funny when I mentioned I was from NZ, they asked me if I was traveling alone, and just came straight out with it – “so, firstly most important….. are you gay?” – like it wasn’t actually a big deal to them eh? Nah, they were happy that I was straight, and yeah had no problems!.. I was hoping it wasn’t going to affect the price of my haircut!

What I failed to mentioned at the start, when I sat down, I went to grab a magazine…. There was the choice of several gay men magazines, some playboys and some house and garden stuff… hmmm… DID I REALLY WANT TO swing the flag for the heterosexuals in this world??!… so, went for the house and garden… by the end of it, I didn’t give a crap, and had a flick through the other mags too…. Surprised not to see naked men in the mens ones – must not have been that kind of mens mag.. PHEW!… so next time you see a gay mag with some buff man on the cover, you know it might not be a book of sausages….. still won’t be buying them tho!

Ok, enough sausage-talk… feeling pretty enlightened after the last hour, I went into a nice café for a bite before heading back into town – this one had a whole heap of cakes and slices you could order.. I mean HEAPS!… anyway, I just got a latte and a raspberry almond twist. Who cares if that sounds gay, it was good..!

Sitting back and taking in the surroundings again, this young attractive couple walked in and ordered coffees and cakes… the girl looked normal, typical almost NZ like – cotton hoodie, tight jeans, mousey brown hair.. just normal, the ‘partner’ at first looked male, short black spikey hair, kinda punk/Emo but not hardcore kinda funky…. And then they discussed cakes and SHE I guess was the dominant one in the relationship – actually quite attractive for a ‘L’ dressed up like a punk-boy…. Maybe it was the coffee, or the lack of young people I had seen in the last two hours….!

Another stereotypical late 30’s/early 40’s male couple came in – one of the guys was kinda well built and tall, the other was kinda normal – the ‘big fulla’ ordered the coffees and cakes – like a real gentlemen…. What a guy eh…. =)

Oh well, that was my little flirtation on the side – I had had a look at Castro during they day and had some shits and giggles – maybe next time I’m back i’ll check it out and night, and maybe even brave the bars for a laugh!

So – my ‘quiet day/rest day’ wasn’t really panning out quite how I’d imagined! – 330pm, back on a lovely Italian historic tram and into the mission/SOMA area for a look/walk – this is the area immediately South of Market st – hence SOMA. Not too much to see, as I’ve been told this area of town is slowly growing and taking shape – some glorious old buildings, a really nice convention centre called Moscone, a lovely park dedicated to SF’s Sister cities around the world, and a nice waterfall/monument thing for Martin Luther King – that was pretty moving… man, I must have been thinking soft after leaving Castro – luckily I had some Hard Pills in my pack! – the first photo of the ‘text’ on the wall reads….. “No, No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream”….. yeah, that one hit home.

SFMOMA was in the area – SF Museum of Modern Art, that’s the red building below, main entrance I think! – didn’t have the time or the headspace to go in (I had just taken my hard pill…)….. A nice water feature in the park opposite the Museum caught my attention so I snapped a pic.

There was also this lovely old 1930’s skyscaper which is just massive – i think our Holmes Cully Office might be doing something with this one, maybe some analysis or strengthening work.. either way, it is cool!

I kept walking east towards the start of the Bay Bridge – there are some impressive apartment buildings going up – this particular one (one Rincon St) is going to be 60 stories tall, and the highest building in SF once completed in 2008. It sticks out pretty bad as it is in the South Beach area, which is away from the central ‘Financial District’, and it is also perched up on the top of a rise/hill! I took a zoomed in picture at the top so you can get some sense of scale to this beast! Wide angle lens is good to get the whole thing in, but it doesn’t look that tall until you zoom in I reckon!

Oh well, nice tall building anyway – I wondered a bit more and under the Bay Bridge – Photos below show the cables extending into the concrete anchorages/abutments. Matt Weil later told me he had been for a tour into the anchorages, and seen how the cables terminate individually etc etc.. Apparently they haven’t been running tours since 9-11….

I guess the only two candid things I saw on my walk was yet another scientology place, rather discreet, but with heaps of flashy cars parked in the parking lot!…. and even Smog has a price here in the States.

Cupids arrow on the Embarcadero! Pretty cool sculpture, I’m happy that I actually came across this one…. South of the Ferry Building, apparently the SF Marathon finishes at this location – so Geoff informs me. Very cool with the bridge in the background. The other significant sculpture was this steel woman and child – pretty massive. Chains for the ‘black’ hair look – a nice effect.

Another point of interest is that the odd numbered piers are situated to the north of the Ferry Building, and the even ones to the south – not a bad idea.

I’ve posted this photo of the wharf container cranes across the bay over in Oakland for several reasons – I didn’t risk taking my camera out while riding the BART the other day to Berkeley, and there are really just soooo many of them!… Geoff later informed me that it was these very cranes which inspired George Lucas’s original Star Wars robots that walk across the desert!….yep, I can see it eh…. man, the more I’m here, the more I have gotten to know… its great!

Well, that was pretty much the sightseeing for the day! Back at the hostel around 730pm. Wasn’t the lazy day eh!… lots of walking again.

When I got back, one of my new room mates Chris, was an Aussie, actually from Tassie – but pretty well traveled, been all over the show in the last 6 months – Africa, Europe, I mean loads of Europe!, and the US – Chris reckoned he had sampled over 200 beers in his travels, a heap of them micro breweries in the likes of Belgium and stuff….Also an outdoorsmen into climbing and stuff… ………. very interesting character with a heap of interesting stories to tell….. … . Maybe not appropriate for this blog!….. anyway after a couples of hours talking inhouse, we ended up down at the local Irish Pub. I ended up trying some more different beers such as Sierra Nevada, Boddingtons and Chimay. Yum, for the Chimay at 8%….. Not wanting to over do it and plus the clientele at this not-so-typical Irish pub were probably all over 35, we headed back for kip. Monday night school night right?

Thank god, my “rest day” was over!