Got oh so close to GG Park today but didn't partake. Here is today's TR:
Started off with another great breakfast at the hotel. I'm a poached egg kinda guy and Vitale does them right, pretty much perfect, mixed things up though this morning and had them with sausage instead of bacon... damn fine, but no pics.
Took a cab up to Union Square where an Apple Store opening broke out. Yes, somehow we fluked on to the mass hysteria and hype that a new Apple Store opening creates—we were informed by a Man-in-Blue that the line-up for the opening started at 4am and wrapped around the block... all for a store opening where no new products was happening—Steve Jobs and hype lives on! And I must confess that I am an Apple fanboy, however, I am always a late adopter. Pics of new store from outside:
A cop—yes, a mother****ing cop—told us that the sliding glass door weighs 60,000 lbs. and operates on hydraulics. In fact, the cop told us more Apple Store facts... many more, but I can't remember them all... seemed like he was on the Apple payroll.
In any event, the place was amazing.Here's an interior view:
Standard Apple glass-tread stairway:
In fact, the detailing throughout was pretty much impeccable, very impressive.
We then walked down to Chinatown... which was pretty much similar to any Chinatown—at least to me cause Vancouver has a pretty decent Chinatown. SF Chi-town is more extensive; however, Vacouver's Chinatown has an incredible display of bizarro foodstuffs on display on the street, i.e. dried shrimps, squid, octopus, etc. that SF seemed to lack... be that a good thing or bad. You decide.
After wandering around Chi-town for a bit we hopped a cable-car to experience the ultimate San Francisco treat... although I got to say that the ultimate SF treat is definitely pricey at $7 one-way or $20 all-day—we decided to just ride it to the end of the line:
After which we decided to take a cab to the Castro district, which was very exuberant:
... with quite a few interesting shops sprinkled throughout the hood:
We then walked over to Haight/Ashbury, which was a bit of a supposed nirvana for my wife but which turned out to be a bit of a grotty strip of head shops, piercing palaces and pizza places... a huge disappoint in my book:
Saw some nice stereotypical streetscapes of San Franciscan cityscapes of which this is just one:
Although we were at the cusp of Golden Gate Park we ventured no further and decided to take a cab back to the hotel so my wife could rest up for her impending Alcatraz Swim in the morning.
While my wife rested up I hooked up with El Diablo for an introduction—at my request—to a sampling of American whiskeys. We ran through a flight of four bourbons... of which I am a complete noob:
While very satisfying, we were both in agreement that scotch has a bit more to offer.
We ambled on to another bar for a concluding pisco sour, which was very nice and quite satisfying:
After finishing up with an OOT vs O.O.T. not-a-meeting-of-the-minds we parted ways... me to meet up with my wife for a pre-Alcatraz-swim dinner and El D for a pre-date whatever-he-can-squeeze-out-of-it-encounter — hey, he's younger than me and the sky's the limit. *sigh* (hope it went well El D.)
Back at the hotel my wife was finishing up dessert while chatting up gay-Kevin-&-Charles. I joined the conversation, had my double-IPA-whatever-the-hell-that-is-on-tap plus roast chicken dinner... which was pretty damn good.
Now I'm signing off until my ****ing 5am wake-up call when I'll be doing the right thing in accompanying my wife down to the SF waterfront so she can do some god-forsaken early morning swim from Alcatraz to the mainland. *sigh* Why can't my wife do the normal **** thing and just enjoy good food and drink?!?!?! *argh*