Thursday, August 13, 2009
Day Sixty Eight: Wednesday, August 12, 2009: S Giants
Monday, August 10, 2009
Day Sixty Six: Monday, August 10, 2009:
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Day Sixty Five: Sunday, August 9, 2009: Coming Home from SF
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Day Sixty Four: Saturday, August 8, 2009:
Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, Giant's Beat the Reds, Reese and Bryan and the DaDa Lounge
I got coffee for us and we left the hotel about 9:30. We walked down Market to the Ferry Building and the Saturday Farmer's Market.
Took only about 25 minutes to walk. We decided to reconoiter a bit for our dinner on the 22nd. That will be great fun. We walked around a bit and then bought some pastries-a bran muffin and some fruit tarts. Then we had this amazing Pork Tostada to die for.
We weren't sure what we wanted to do, but we decided to walk down the Embacadero to AT&T Park. We even thought we might go to the Giants game if the right tickets were available. The walk took about 25 minutes and we found we could buy tickets in the third deck view level for 17 bucks each. On the spur of the moment we decided to go for it.
View from Section 332 View Level
The back side from the upper deck landing.
It was a great game. Barry Zito pitched and won 4-2. Eugenio Velez homered and Bengie Molina fell a triple short of the cycle with three RBIs vs. the Reds, sending starter Barry Zito off with another second-half victory, 4-2, on Saturday. The Giants are now just 5.5 games back of the Dodgers.
After the game we walked up Second Street to market and the over to Macys where we ate dinner, bought a coffee maker and then a gift card for Bryan and Reese.
We decided to try the Rick Bayless fast food place, Frontera Fresco, and the Hurache I had was pretty good. (Mexican corn flat breads layered with Frontera® black bean spread, your topping choice, chipotle sauce and tangy fresh greens.)
Not sure that Christine liked her torta that much. (Grilled Mexican sandwiches with avocado, Frontera® black bean spread, dressed greens,pickled tomato and smoky chipotle or cilantro crema.)
We went back to the Nikko and hung out until it was time for the party at nine.
The most memorable moment was that I got a personal phone call from Laura Ling. How great it was to hear her voice. What an honor that she made time to call me. She sounded great.
We grabbed a cab and made it to the DaDa with no problem. We had walked right by the place on the way back from the Giants. As it turned out we knew NO ONE there but Annette and her husband from Benecia. Their pictures from Fiji were amazing and Reese looked great, the healthiest I have seen her in months. We stayed a couple of hours and had a great time. I think we grabbedd a cab and made it back by about 11.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Day Sixty Three: Friday, August 7, 2009: King Tut and the Grubsteak
Nice Urban Run, King Tut, and the Grubsteak
Went out for a run at about 7. Took my usual favorite route. Over to Grant through Chinatown to Columbus. I made my pilgrimage to Vallejo to see the site of the jazz club Keystone Corner that I loved so much back in the late 70s. Too bad it's gone. Down Columbus to Bay then up Hyde (wow is it steep) then over to Lombard so I could run down the crookedest street in the world. I then went up to Nob Hill and even went in to Grace Cathedral.
Surprised to find that it had doors that are from the molds from Ghiberti's Baptistery's doors in Florence.
As I was walking in front of the Mark Hopkins who do I run into but the couple from Ohio that sat next to us last night in Fleur de Lys. What a crack up.
I then got us Starbuck's and we rested and chilled the rest of the morning.
Then we drove out to Golden Gate Park to see if we could get into the King Tut exhibit without having to buy tickets ahead of time. I hate those Ticketmaster fees. we couldn't find parking close but we finally just drove down JFK before we found one. We figured another urban hike would do us good.
I had also never been to the new de Young museum before so it was fun. The only bad part is that the new de Young is ugly. Weird blend of wire and metal.
Looks a lot better here than it does in real life.
We were able to get into the Tut exhibit. We just had to wait until 2:30, about an hour. No problem we could look through the museum. The tickets cost $32.50 each and $7 each for the audio for a grand total of $79.
The strange thing about the exhibit was that many of the biggest pieces were not in the show as they were int he 70s. And later I found this on the website:
Many individuals have fond memories of King Tut’s Gold Mask (also known as the “Funerary Mask” or “Death Mask”), which traveled in the 1970s, and have looked forward to seeing it again in the current exhibition. There has, therefore, been some confusion around the absence of the Gold Mask in Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.
During the 1980s, the Egyptian government declared that the Gold Mask of Tutankhamun was a national treasure and too fragile to travel. As such, it will never leave Egypt again. Today, the Gold Mask resides at its permanent home, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It and the other 5,000 artifacts from Tut’s tomb, including his solid-gold inner coffin, will soon be housed in a new museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum, being built by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities alongside the pyramids in Giza.
After we left the exhibit we went up in the tower and the view was spectacular. A 360 degree view around the park and toward the bay and down town. Stunning. From there we took a look at the Japanese Tea Garden and then walked back to the car.
View from the tower.
Grubsteak
For dinner we decided to try another Diner, Drive-ins and Dives place, the Grubsteak on Pine near Van Ness. It didn't open until 5 so we had to hang around outside for about ten minutes. The main part of the diner is an old Key System trolley car that came across the bay from Oakland. My dad was a conductor in the Key System back in the 30's
I had the Grubsteak a burger with bacon, cheese and a fried. Christine had the Claim jumper which had fried mushrooms and onions. I had fries and she had the onion rings. I had a Portuguese beer and Christine had a Coke. All for a mere $40.
