Et Tu, San Francisco?
Andrew and I spent the weekend in San Francisco, one of what should be a series of small weekend trips to break up the weeks that remain before Japan (six weekends to go!). We drove down on Friday and met up with some of Andrew’s friends from business school who had come to the U.S. for a wedding and some vacation. We went with them to an Oktoberfest in the city, complete with German music (the band, oddly, played the Chicken Dance several times—like a wedding nightmare), German food (sausages and more sausages), and beer. Elaborate balloon-hats in the shape of beer steins were being created and handed out. There were some German costumes worn by the most dedicated Oktoberfest-goers. I will say that Andrew was sporting a beer-stein-balloon hat by the end of the evening.
Saturday was a shopping day, and I found a few sweaters and a dress, all in the name of strategic packing for Japan. We took a long walk through North Beach in the evening; and after a leisurely browse through the City Lights bookstore, we had a lovely Italian dinner, sitting outside and people-watching. We had a drink at the San Francisco Brewing Company before calling it a night.
Andrew had convinced me to go to a football game with him on Sunday, 49ers vs. the Patriots. I thought it might not be so bad, sitting outside in what had been predicted to be cool fall weather, perhaps drinking some hot chocolate, wearing a warm new sweater, and reminiscing about my high school marching-band days. This was not the case. It was blisteringly hot outside (et tu, San Francisco?), with unrelenting, cloudless sun, and I came away with a significant burn. Andrew has taught me well in the ways of baseball, but my conversion to willing-football-game-goer is going to be much harder to bring about. On an interesting note, we saw several people on two different occasions being escorted out by security, with at least one person in handcuffs. Getting that worked up about a football game is something beyond my comprehension, but I gawked happily nonetheless. In the picture below, taken before the game started, you'll note my somewhat wary expression, as well as smoke from team-entrance-announcing fireworks in the background. 
As always, we were reluctant to leave last night, and drove home in rather glum silence, cheered only by a quick stop at In N' Out for dinner.
Saturday was a shopping day, and I found a few sweaters and a dress, all in the name of strategic packing for Japan. We took a long walk through North Beach in the evening; and after a leisurely browse through the City Lights bookstore, we had a lovely Italian dinner, sitting outside and people-watching. We had a drink at the San Francisco Brewing Company before calling it a night.
Andrew had convinced me to go to a football game with him on Sunday, 49ers vs. the Patriots. I thought it might not be so bad, sitting outside in what had been predicted to be cool fall weather, perhaps drinking some hot chocolate, wearing a warm new sweater, and reminiscing about my high school marching-band days. This was not the case. It was blisteringly hot outside (et tu, San Francisco?), with unrelenting, cloudless sun, and I came away with a significant burn. Andrew has taught me well in the ways of baseball, but my conversion to willing-football-game-goer is going to be much harder to bring about. On an interesting note, we saw several people on two different occasions being escorted out by security, with at least one person in handcuffs. Getting that worked up about a football game is something beyond my comprehension, but I gawked happily nonetheless. In the picture below, taken before the game started, you'll note my somewhat wary expression, as well as smoke from team-entrance-announcing fireworks in the background.
As always, we were reluctant to leave last night, and drove home in rather glum silence, cheered only by a quick stop at In N' Out for dinner.
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