Sunday 13 May 2012

San Francisco

I was still in a South American mindset arriving into San Francisco and adjusting to the suddenly foreign Western norms took longer than I thought it would. Having this slightly unsettled mind was frustrating as it was undeniable that San Francisco was a fantastic place to be in.

We spent exactly a week in and around the bay area. Alcatraz was fascinating, the Golden Gate bridge was just as striking as it had been made out to be and the orange bay skyline didn't disappoint. Following the basketball in Atlanta we were fortunate to experience two more American sports: baseball and arena football. Unsurprisingly both had an abundance of unnecessary razzmatazz which was a staple part of any American sports event. We first watched the San Francisco Giants lose to the Brewers and then later saw the San Jose Sabre Cats beat the Utah Blaze. The latter Arena Football game was particularly noteworthy as the start consisted of the standard over exuberant national anthem, a guy in leathers riding out into the middle of the pitch on a Harley Davidson and then finally the Sabre Kittens giving the obligatory pre-game cheer leading dance.

Joe had a predilection for root beer and was busy tasting every variety he could find. I had happily settled for the triple combination of mountain dew code red, A&W cream soda and cherry coke. On the food front we continued our assiduous devotion to all things American. Conquests this week include Taco Bell, Chipotles, A&W and Quiznos. As well as this we went to the specialist stand alone shops Ikes Place and Bi-Rite Creamery. They were voted 1 and 2 in California which was, from our limited experience, a fair assessment. In other words the sandwich was probably the best I had ever had.

My time here has already answered several questions. The main one being that while I like life in the states, I had heavily underestimated the UK. I'm looking forward to returning to it with a new appreciative set of eyes. Following our trip to San Jose we caught a bus to LA where we will spend the next 5 days.

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