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Published: August 5th 2010
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San Francisco was fantastic. But ridiculously cool for summer. And yet I got sunburnt...
Anyway, I arrived in San Fran airport and took like 3 trains and walked 3 blocks too many because I got lost, all with 40kg of luggage, most of which was on my back. It was not pleasant. Lesson learnt. Also I had woken up at 4am to catch my flight. Damn you extensive US airport security checks and long early morning lines.
To kill time before my cousin Justin got into the city (and until checkin) I went to the San Fran Museum of Modern Art which was just down the road from where we were staying. It was alright, but not fantastic- these snobby tastes probably coming from the fact that NYC was my next stop and I knew the great modern artworks waiting for me there.
Justin arrived, and checkin wasn't for another couple of hours so we walked around the city catching up, and (largely thanks to justin's phone with GPS of some sort) we walked a steep(!) but casual course through a lot of San Fran's major attractions- we walked through Chinatown when there happened to be some sort
Fisherman's Wharf
Near where you can see the sealions and Alcatraz of funeral procession blocking all the traffic, then there was the windiest road in San Fran (which I can't remember the name of, and also read somewhere isn't the windiest road either, just the most famous- but it was rather pretty), saw Golden Gate Bridge from a distance, then walked down to Fisherman's Wharf for some lunch (though my body clock was so out of whack that I wasn't hungry).
Fisherman's Wharf was really nice, and sitting in the sun by the water was the first time it felt like summer. Being a Saturday, there were people all around and buskers playing. From lunch we walked along the wharf, saw alcatraz from a distance (unfortunately tickets were sold out over 2 weeks in advance so I didn't actually get to go there), then caught a cable car back to the bottom of Market St for an easy walk up to the hotel. So, really, I did most of my sight-seeing at the beginning of that first day.
We met Justin's friend Brendan at the hotel (I was sharing their room, sleeping in a comfy pillow cocoon on the floor), then went to a BBQ out in the suburbs
Ocean Beach
The giant camera obscura there... of San Fran in celebration of Justin's cousin on the other side, Tim's, impending wedding. It was a nice leisurely family event, where I at least knew a couple of people by sight or connection and had a nice time talking to everyone.
The next day I set off to Ocean Beach, where there is a giant camera obscura which projects the view of the beach in a large dish in the middle of a darkened room. It was pretty cool. Then a relatively easy walk to the bottom corner of Golden Gate Park. I wandered around for quite a while in the trees, then got bored after a while and headed back to the main road to catch a muni more towards the middle of the park where more of the attractions are. After getting extensively lost I managed to stumble upon the de Young Museum which had an impressionists exhibition which I refused to pay the $25 and wait the 1.5 hours to see. So instead I saw the permanent collection, which was alright.
I was supposed to meet the others from the BBQ at AT&T stadium for a baseball game (Giants vs. Dodgers). Thanks to
Post-Baseball
Me and Justin a little public transport mishap I was half an hour late for the game, but that didn't really matter because not that much had happened in that half an hour. I did get a bit of a peak at the American tradition of tailgating before a sporting event, and it certainly makes the prospect of Austin college football games rather exciting.
Anyway, baseball started a bit slow, but got more exciting as I started to get what to look for (good catches, 2 out 2 strike situations, end of 7th inning, crazy crowds especially seeing as we were in the bleachers etc.), which may have been helped by the wide range of beers they offer at the stadium, and a sugar high induced by the biggest fairy floss I have ever bought (only $6 and each colour had a different flavour!) I especially enjoyed that during the game they had an organ player that played all the traditional 'baseball tunes' we all know and love from mass media. Also the game was between San Fran and LA, which are geographically close in the scheme of things, which made the game more exciting (with the most prominent chant simply being "Beat LA. Beat LA"). Also there is the concept of 'sweeping' the competition in baseball, so a lot of Giants fans had brooms they waved around and sometime spiced up 'Beat LA' with the occasional 'Sweep LA'. The San Fran team won 2-0, which was good considering I had already committed to the team by buying one of their hats (also because we were in direct sun most of the game and I hadn't thought to bring a hat to a US summer...) But the real win for the day? The fact that the line to ladies bathroom was consistently shorter than that for the men's.
We went out to a couple bars after the game, which was fun, and I scored a free Giants foam hand from a fellow giants fan. So yeh, San Fran was lots and lots of fun. I left for the airport the next day around midday, my flight was delayed for a ridiculously long time, and then I was on my way to New York City...
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Daddy
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New York, New York
At last, you are going to a place I've been to. I can't really say I've been to LA though I did travel to Venice Beach and I had a top over in San Fransico airport (which smelt funny). Neither of those really count. Have fun in New York and keep the blog entries coming. Say 'hey' (I think that's how Americans greet each other) to Anne for me. Nothing significant to report from our end. Missing you greatly though your room has become a very handy storage space.