Day 2 - It's raining & time to watch my first Baseball game
May 1, 2009
Day 2, I woke up quite early (doh) but managed to get back to sleep and got up, finally, around 09.30, I glanced outside and saw it was raining ... what!!! Rain! In California! Oh poo!
So I searched my guidebooks for places to go and what to see in the rain, I happened upon the Cartoon Art Museum which sounded fun. So I headed out and walked the few blocks to the Museum - now I'm not really a Museum or an Art person but the Cartoon Art Museum was fun and made me smile; especially the Japanese Samurai Rabbit (Usagi Yojimbo).
The rain was building so I headed back to my hostel and rested for the afternoon, chatting with my room mates.
The evening came, and I headed out back into the rain for the Baseball game, I was excited I knew nothing about Baseball but I was looking forward to seeing the great American game and to meeting more new people. I thought about hailing a cab, but when I saw the traffic (being 17.30) I realised it would be quicker to walk. So I finally got to 21st Amendment completely drenched, walking in I found Mark, but we didn't see anyone else, so I settled back with a local beer and waited, watching the door to see if anyone I recognised walked in. About 20 minutes later Nicole and Amy arrived and seconds later Adrian, we found that a few of the guys had already been in the bar and we just hadn't spotted them, whoops! All grabbing a drink, we sat at a table and a few minutes later got kicked out ... everybody had to order food to be allowed to sit at the table. EH???!!! Whatever, it was 19.00 by then and the game was just about to begin. We quickly established that between Nicole and I we had a few too many tickets, but when approached by a ticket tout offering me $10 for my two spare tickets I was like "HELL NO"!!!!! To which Nicole, Brian & Co all fell about laughing; infact I don't think Nicole will ever let me forget it! Cheers luv! *said in my best Northern accent* :D
We got to our seats in the bleachers and settled down to the game, chatting and laughing and not actually taking that much notice of what was happening out on the field. I went and got myself some food and tacky souvenirs for my cousin (who'd asked for some tack), I decided I'd avoid the famous Giants garlic fries, I thought I'd had enough garlic the night before. After a good game, I got more into it at the end as it got much closer (the Giants won! Yay!), we left the stadium and said goodbye to Nicole, Brian and Amy and set off for some after game drinks. We went to a bar that Adrian and Pranab had been at before the game, one drink later and we were a man down ... Pranab had deserted us to chat with 6 women (charming). So we left him to it and Adrian, Mark, Bill and I headed to Lefty's. When we got there we met up with Erin and Brett, a few minutes later Michelle turned up and little later still Ian (Adrian's roomy) found us. Again the beer was free flowing and we finally got turfed out the bar by the cops at 02.00!!!! An odd end to a Brilliant evening!
So I searched my guidebooks for places to go and what to see in the rain, I happened upon the Cartoon Art Museum which sounded fun. So I headed out and walked the few blocks to the Museum - now I'm not really a Museum or an Art person but the Cartoon Art Museum was fun and made me smile; especially the Japanese Samurai Rabbit (Usagi Yojimbo).
The rain was building so I headed back to my hostel and rested for the afternoon, chatting with my room mates.
The evening came, and I headed out back into the rain for the Baseball game, I was excited I knew nothing about Baseball but I was looking forward to seeing the great American game and to meeting more new people. I thought about hailing a cab, but when I saw the traffic (being 17.30) I realised it would be quicker to walk. So I finally got to 21st Amendment completely drenched, walking in I found Mark, but we didn't see anyone else, so I settled back with a local beer and waited, watching the door to see if anyone I recognised walked in. About 20 minutes later Nicole and Amy arrived and seconds later Adrian, we found that a few of the guys had already been in the bar and we just hadn't spotted them, whoops! All grabbing a drink, we sat at a table and a few minutes later got kicked out ... everybody had to order food to be allowed to sit at the table. EH???!!! Whatever, it was 19.00 by then and the game was just about to begin. We quickly established that between Nicole and I we had a few too many tickets, but when approached by a ticket tout offering me $10 for my two spare tickets I was like "HELL NO"!!!!! To which Nicole, Brian & Co all fell about laughing; infact I don't think Nicole will ever let me forget it! Cheers luv! *said in my best Northern accent* :D
We got to our seats in the bleachers and settled down to the game, chatting and laughing and not actually taking that much notice of what was happening out on the field. I went and got myself some food and tacky souvenirs for my cousin (who'd asked for some tack), I decided I'd avoid the famous Giants garlic fries, I thought I'd had enough garlic the night before. After a good game, I got more into it at the end as it got much closer (the Giants won! Yay!), we left the stadium and said goodbye to Nicole, Brian and Amy and set off for some after game drinks. We went to a bar that Adrian and Pranab had been at before the game, one drink later and we were a man down ... Pranab had deserted us to chat with 6 women (charming). So we left him to it and Adrian, Mark, Bill and I headed to Lefty's. When we got there we met up with Erin and Brett, a few minutes later Michelle turned up and little later still Ian (Adrian's roomy) found us. Again the beer was free flowing and we finally got turfed out the bar by the cops at 02.00!!!! An odd end to a Brilliant evening!
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Hilton location for 1/5 of the price
I stayed in the HI-Downtown for 4 nights in the beginning of May.
Taking the BART into SF from the airport I got off at Powell Street and within 10 minutes had found the hostel and checked in. I was given a dorm room on the 2nd floor, sharing with 3 others. The room was spacious enough and had a private bathroom with shower. The beds were very comfortable and I never had a bad night's sleep. There are lockers in the room, but youy will need to bring your own padlock. Every morning there is a free breakfast on offer until 11am, which consists of toast, bagels, jelly, tea/ coffee and orange juice. There is free Wifi throughout, and a couple of computers with internet access for a few dollars per hour. The staff in the hostel were all very friendly and helpful, with a good knowledge of the local area. The rooms and bathrooms are cleaned every day and the cleanliness of the whole hostel was excellent.
The location of the hostel is brilliant, one block from Union Square, you are in the middle of it all. Almost opposit is the Hilton hotel, so you've got the same location for a 1/5 of the price!!!
Taking the BART into SF from the airport I got off at Powell Street and within 10 minutes had found the hostel and checked in. I was given a dorm room on the 2nd floor, sharing with 3 others. The room was spacious enough and had a private bathroom with shower. The beds were very comfortable and I never had a bad night's sleep. There are lockers in the room, but youy will need to bring your own padlock. Every morning there is a free breakfast on offer until 11am, which consists of toast, bagels, jelly, tea/ coffee and orange juice. There is free Wifi throughout, and a couple of computers with internet access for a few dollars per hour. The staff in the hostel were all very friendly and helpful, with a good knowledge of the local area. The rooms and bathrooms are cleaned every day and the cleanliness of the whole hostel was excellent.
The location of the hostel is brilliant, one block from Union Square, you are in the middle of it all. Almost opposit is the Hilton hotel, so you've got the same location for a 1/5 of the price!!!
