Go where the day may take you

Well, I had a big day yesterday! The biggest day I've had in San Francisco by far (I'm sure there will be more!)

I started my day out early so I could get to the hotel in plenty of time to talk to the tour escort in charge of my city tour group. Turns out they are all Australians! I usually do pretty well with Australians because they tend to keep it real, their not too fussed with formality.
The bus arrived and I introduced myself to the driver. Raymond and talked over the route with him. Luckily he's done plenty of this before so I just had to give him my ideas and away we went.
It was surprisingly easy to do a city tour. I had been studying the parts I didn't really know and then the rest just sort of came to me. Having been a city wanderer for days on end helps too because I can make it more personal.

Bay cruise

Everything was going great until we got to fishermans wharf. We pulled up to a stoplight and one of the guys dressed in gold (or silver) that pretend to be statues was there. Everyone was excited to see what he'd do. He was sitting down holding still and then he looked up and flipped us off. Then he proceeds to get more mad at us and stands up and flips us off and starts yelling at us. So what do you do about that? I mean, what on earth was that dumb ass thinking. A bus load of potential tippers just got told to shove it. I just said, well that is one of the colorful characters you'll find in the city and this one happens to actually be a color. They thought that was funny and we moved on.
The weather was perfect for a city tour and we went to Twin Peaks to see the view and then headed back to fishermans wharf so they could be dropped off for lunch before their Alcatraz Cruise. I got off the bus with them and answered a few questions and then they all disappeared. I had the biggest smile on my face. I just managed to pull off a 3 hour city tour by motorcoach, just like they taught us in ITMI. Wow!

Irish Coffee

So I had some tip money in hand and a craving for mini donuts on Pier 39 so thats where I went first. Then I went and got myself a sweatshirt with a hood because I've been wanting a fuzzy warm thing to cuddle up in and havn't had one. Plus they are cheap there. Then as I wandered on I came past the fish mongers and up to the boats that offer bay cruises for like 15$ and I said why the heck not! So i got onto a little boat and out we went to the see the Golden Gate Bridge. We had the whole thing to ourselves too. Then we circled Alcatraz and came back in. It took about an hour to do all of that and it was a beautiful day out! So I was really living it up it felt like.

Tony Niks in North Beach

Tony's Pizza, so good!

From there I decided it was time to go to the Buena Vista Cafe and have an Irish Coffee. They are famous for it there and I always tell guests to go try one so there I went and did it! They are fantastic too! Its a great place! I had a couple of them before I realized I hadn't eaten lunch yet so I found a seat at this table where these two guys were sitting. Its kind of a free fer all in there anyways and they were cool. They had driven up from Pasadena to see a concert by Mike Patton at the Great American Concert Hall (or something) so we chatted and introduced ourselves (they were Sean and Cristian) and then they headed on down the road. I finished eating my lunch and the waitress says (I had my tourist map out, its amazing what doors open when you do that!) you should try Tony Niks in North Beach, you'd like it there! So thats what I did. Tony Niks is a little local bar with great character. I sat at the bar and ordered a drink and proceeded to make friends with Tina and Andy and Jan and Devon the bartender. Then after having sat there chatting for quite a while I bought some pizza from next door at Tony's pizza (amazing!!) and was eating my slice (at the bar...) when a girl walks up and chats with Devon and the others and says "I'm on my way to a concert at the Great American Concert Hall" and I say "you're going to see Mike Patton" and she's blown away! She has an extra ticket and would I like to go?! I said "yes of course I would"! So after a few laughs about the coincidence we head to a place called Whiskey Thieves to meet her friend Stephanie (the girl I just met was Rebecca) so we had a drink there and then made our way. We had a Bulleit whiskey. Thats the brand name. It was really good stuff. Anyways, at the concert we're in line for the bathrooms and we meet Sammie and his friends who are I don't know what because I wasn't paying attention, but all friendly at any rate. We head into the show which was a big theatre space but with no chairs. And who do I find? Sean and Cristian from earlier in the day. They were so surprised! It was hilarious! The whole day had come full circle.

Stephanie and Rebecca

So the music was totally weird the man just screamed into the microphone and the other guy pounded a keyboard non musically but everyone there was totally digging it. I just laughed.
After the concert was over and we'd all exchanged numbers and things it was time to go home. So I walked down to Market and caught the N train and was just about to open the garage door when I see Brian D emerge from the house. He was so surprised to see me, it was really funny. I don't even know what time it was by then maybe midnight?!

Tornado

He said he was headed to Tornado (not pronounced like to looks of course, tor nah doe) they have a ton of beers on tap all unusual etc. people have been telling me about this place forever now so I went along with him. Its a cool place, another local one. I had a pomegranate cider beer and Brian had a sour beer. It was amazing! Like sour grapes but not wine tasting, its hard to describe!
That about wrapped up my night. Can you believe the day I had?! Epic!

Sean from Pasadena

Today I'm headed to work for a few hours and then back here to the house for the big start of season party.