Haight-Ashbury

There was a change of accomodation for tonight which was more downtown and we got there early as Alice read that parking was at a premium. Luckily we were able to drop off the car before we checked in and that gave us plenty of time to get to the 'ball' game.

This time baseball. America's sporting pastime has lost its mantle as the nation's favourite sport, being supplanted by football. I wouldn't say it out loud whilst here though as it appeared sold out. Considering the game started at 12:45pm and it was a Wednesday, who goes to these games? Well clearly tourists for one and Alice and I weren't the only ones. The AT&T Stadium is the home of the San Francisco Giants and is central making it a lot easier to get to than the football. It actually faces out to the Bay and when we got to our seats it was a spectacular vista. The sun was really strong and we both realised we didn't have any sun cream. After a few innings, and an uncontroversial national anthem, Alice and I headed to get some food, suncream and myself a hat. Being baseball I had to get a baseball cap! I can see why everyone has one at these games when the weather is this good.

It was also food time. Alice went for the nachos and I went for another frank. A pretty special 'Johnsonville Sheboygan Bratwurst' no less. Fully loaded with onions and sauerkraut we found out afterwards that it is one of the best meals available there. I concurred.

Back in our seats Alice went through the rules with me as I had no idea. Even though I'd seen it enough times on TV (shout out to JSTV!) I never really gave it enough attention. Sitting there watching the teams rattle through the innings it was a lot quicker than I realised and a lot more fun. At certain innings songs would be played. For example a scene from the Blues Brothers movie was shown on the big screen with nearly everyone joining in and singing along with the words that were also lit up 'shake it shake it shake it baby!'. At the seventh inning a song is played and everyone, and I mean everyone, joined in, 'take me out to the ball game'. And my favourite was towards the end and with the home team losing 3-1 the song that played, which I'm guessing is due to them losing, was 'don't stop believing' with the camera zooming in on various people singing their hearts out. Very funny.

We walked back to our motel and then had a think about what to do next. We were near to Haight-Ashbury which is an area that is synonymous with the counter-culture of San Francisco. It was here in the 60s that the Hippy movement flourished and in the Golden Gate Park there is Hippie Hill. The archive footage of the Summer of Love mainly comes from here and I had to see it. It was a nice hill with a few alternatives and homeless people milling about. I read that the park is safe but there had been infamous issues between park visitors and the homeless people here in the past. As the sun was setting we made our way out. There was a quick visit to Ameoba which is a huge independent record shop that also has historic ties to the area.

It was now dinnertime and we just happened to be next to a restaurant called Cha Cha Cha and the menu said it served Caribbean tapas. Intrigued, we wondered in and ordered various tapas such as cajan prawns and chicken wings. The food was fantastic and the queue outside just got longer and longer as the evening progressed. A nice surprise and final meal here in San Francisco before leaving in the morning. On the way back to the motel there was one last photo op as we passed the intersection at Haight-Ashbury which was a 'happening' place back in the 60s. We dug it.

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Take Me Out To The Ball GameMeer informatie