Thursday, April 16, 2009

San Francisco - Part II

So... we've added two more days to San Francisco.
There is just so much more to see... and pick!


The Bay Bridge (passing through Treasure Island)

I love that San Francisco is a walking city!


Yes - this says the "First Chinese Southern Baptist Church"
Definitely the first one I've ever seen!


This picture is dedicated to you Mr. Joe Muffoletto!

We walked up the street (Literally - with hills that rival Seattle's!) and visited the Crookedest Street full of fanciful homes.




From there, we walked to the post office, into Chinatown....



We spotted roasted ducks hanging from store fronts, underpants dangling from apartment windows, and more golden trinkets than you can count!



Through the ferry building...


We walked up and down the steps, but we promise... we didn't sit on them.


We found this door right next to Platform 9 3/4!


And finally to the piers.


After 2 days of walking all day, we decided to sleep in a bit. We later hopped on the traditional San Francisco Cable Car. It was a herky-jerky ride, but it was fun!

The San Francisco Treat - - Ding! Ding!


The best part of this video is the guy pushing the car while holding a cup of coffee. Glad he's got his priorities straight.




We did a bit of work (writing this blog), had dinner, then went to the Broadway show Wicked.

AMAZING!


The showed featured Patty Duke (Probably most famous for The Patty Duke Show) playing Madame Morrible.

Guess what?!?! The Wicked Witch of the West isn't really wicked - just slightly misunderstood.

We ordered our tickets through TicketMaster - and the guy said there weren't any seats right next to each other, but there were seats directly behind each other, so we said okay - let's buy those. Turns out the seating system in the Orpheum Theatre puts all the even numbered seats on the right side and the odd numbers on the left. So, Richie and I watched the play from two different sides of the theatre. Nice to have two different perspectives! It's holding hands with strangers that's awkward.

I was so impressed by Wicked that I just started reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - another novel by Gregory Maguire. I'll let you know how I like it.

It was curious to read the advertisement on the back of the show's playbill. It was quite captive in encouraging businesses to advertise in future playbills.

The Playbill Reader

AGE:
median age - 45.9

ANNUAL INCOME: (household)
average annual income - $132,240

AUTOMOBILES:
74% own 2 or more cars

REAL ESTATE:
Median value of residence owned $476,315

DINING OUT:
91% of the theatre audience are avid restaurant goers

OCCUPATION:
Professional, Managerial & Executive - 64%

TIME SPENT READING PLAYBILL:
In the theatre: 10 min.
At home: 11 min.

For information On How To Reach This Responsive Audience
CALL... blah, blah, blah... (Yes - it really said blah, blah, blah... heehee)


Besides Wicked... the highlight of the day was watching and hearing a little girl singing the "Let's go fly a kite" song from Mary Poppins. The only part of the song she knew was "Let's go fly a kite," so that's all we heard over and over again... up and down the streets of San Francisco. "Let's go fly a kite... Let's go fly a kite..."

Note the "Louisiana Fried Chicken" sign.

Overall, we had a great time in San Francisco. It's a cool place to visit, but we probably would not want to live here. The folks are nice enough, but people drive crazy - and the traffic seems like unnecessary stress. Not to mention our pockets are quickly depleting!



My favorite part of this photos is the "Turn Left!" sign in top right window.
There are "no left turn" signs on each corner of this block - it's great!
Read more about City Lights fascinating history!

2 comments:

Tom said...

What I want to know is whether or not the Louisiana Chicken spices really were right or NOT?

Michele and Richie said...

Don't know, Tom. When we see "cajun" or "Louisiana" on signs outside of Louisiana... we tend to stay away!