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Day 13: Sunday 29th April The Aida advertised that breakfast was included in the price of the room, so we got up in plenty of time to go downstairs and eat. Much to our surprise, breakfast consisted of two lovely doughnuts and lots of strong coffee, a tasty way to start the day. As Homer Simpson would say "Mmm... doughnuts". 
After finding a place to check our e-mails we took a taxi to another one of San Franciscos' landmarks, the corner of Haight Ashbury. Later that day I was speaking to a guy who had hung around there in its hippie heyday, and he was moaning about how commercial it had all become and what it was like in the 60's. I could kind of understand his point, one corner of the junction is now a Gap store. The opposite corner, however, is a Ben & Jerrys' ice cream parlour which was our first stop because Heather wanted ice cream. Haight Street is now full of head shops, book shops, tattoo parlours, pubs etc. and, I suppose, is to S.F. what Carnaby Street is to London. Towards the Golden Gate park end is the biggest second hand record/CD/video shop I have ever seen, the wonderful Amoeba music store. I had spent our holiday looking for CDs by Oingo Boingo because you can't get them in the U.K., so I had a quick look inside the shop and managed to get one of their CDs for about $4. I could have spent all day looking for things but as we had so little time in S.F. I had to reluctantly tear myself away. 
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around Golden Gate park. It was such a lovely day and the park was teeming with people. The park itself is beautifully laid out, with several gardens, a baseball diamond and bleachers, an outdoor stage where bands play, and a museum amongst other things. Our main purpose for visiting the park was to see the Japanese tea garden that was recommended in the guide books and by a friend of mine who had recently visited the city. It took us ages to find the place, we must have circled it several times, but we eventually made our way inside. The tea garden was an incredible piece of planning, every inch of space was taken up with plants and statues. It is built on so many levels you are constantly crossing under or above where you have just walked, and there is a definite serenity about the place, very calming. We wandered around there for an hour or so, taking photos and just enjoying the surroundings and each others company, and forgetting to have any tea. After that we walked back through the park to Haight and caught a taxi back to our hotel. I have seen many odd things in my life, and one of the oddest I saw on the taxi ride back, a man walking along the street with a live chicken sitting on his head. The taxi driver agreed that it was strange behaviour even for San Francisco. Because we were so impressed with last nights meal we went back to the same restaurant to eat and drink more Big Daddy beer. I had to get up early in the morning (read tomorrows account for the reason why) so we decided to have an early-ish night. Walking back to the Aida I was stopped by a very pleasant woman who asked me if I could spare 10 cents. I explained, truthfully, that I had given the last of my change to a guy down the street. "That's OK", she replied, " it's just that I need 10 cents more to buy some heroin. I'll ask someone else". And off she went. We arrived back at the Aida and spent the evening drinking beer and watching television. I find it highly amusing that Viagra is advertised on T.V. in America, I can't imagine that over here. And then it was off to bed. |
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