Bentron Finishes off San Fran... Battle Royal Style!!

Alright, now I've gotta cover some of these pics before I get to bed, but I'm getting pretty tired seeing how it's already 1:30 and I've gotta be at the airport at 7am! Argghh... why did I put off uploading these pics?! Well, I guess I can't be too made, 'cause Andrew and I were making the most of our last night hanging out. Anyway, without any further ado, let me elaborate on the awesomeness of the last couple days...

First off, let me say that I have been to a fantastic restaurant. Yes, another one. This one was the "Pork Store" a breakfast place that rivals the food of the gods... now though one review I read said that this place uses more saturated fat in each dish than you could fit in a children's wading pool, I have to say that I don't really agree. In fact, I had a fairly healthy meal prepared directly infront of my face, along with some very nice staff to keep the atmosphere delicious... I don't know what the best part of the meal was though... either the food, or possibly the one cook who was wearing a Backstreet boys oldschool T-shirt.

Oh, and here's a pic of some of the trees and vegetation scattered around the city. Pretty cool really.

This is a pic of a small castle located in San Fran... it's on Gough street... of course, it is pronounced "Goff." Weird, I know.


Hey, and here's a pic of yours truly, and Andrew having a good time by the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a HUGE bridge, and the cables used are actually made up of thousands of tiny tubes all bundled together... also, apparently there are TONS of suicides off this bridge, since the railings are only like, 3 feet tall. Sad, but still, such a cool bridge.


That same night, Drewple and myself took a ton of pics of the sunset. Sunset at the Golden Gate... oh baby. Now, that is sexy.






Yesterday, Drew and myself made our way through the San Fran China town. It wasn't as large as the one in Tokyo, but it was still really big and reallly neat. There were tons of shops, each with different specialties, and though we couldn't find the one that offered up 'naughty fortune cookies' we were still happy to see some crazy squids, etc. See that big white boat thing in that one pic? Yeah, that was carved from Ivory, and was about four feet from head to tip. It was also valued at $20,000 american. CRAZY!!!

Later, we went to the Palace of Fine Arts... which is where they shot a few scenes from Andrew's favourite movie "The Rock." He gets turned on at the thought of the movie...as I'm sure you can tell from his easily provocative pose in that pic. Of course, we made our way to the Rock as well... and you'll see those pics in a second.


Oh, and down by Pier 39, I got some pics of me hanging out with the sea lions. They're pretty cute, and I'm pretty happy to have heard them getting all crazy on the dock. I was trying to blend in...

Yeah, so back to the Rock. Alcatraz had a pretty wicked audio tour, and after ferrying our way over there, we took that and chilled out walking from scene to scene from the movie. Here's a pic of me exercising in the same exercise yard as renouned killers Al Capone, and the Birdman.

After the Rock escapade, we made our way out to the "Fog City Diner." Now, this diner was pretty cool, and there's a nice pic of me using their 'fancy' mustard, of a particularly well known name. I think that overall the food was over priced, but since it was my first Guiness of the trip, it was delicious, and so I tried to keep that in mind as I enjoyed my dinner. The Guiness tasted a little different... actually, lots of things are different down here... I haven't been able to see any MARS chocolate bars, but instead, they've got MILKY WAY bars, owned and produced by Mars, and they're essentially identical... strange.


Again, the houses here are pretty cool and very stylistic... you're pretty hard pressed to find a house that looks identical to another house, so they must have enlisted a huge number of architechts when buildling this city.

At the Embarcadero Centre, I had a delicious beer called Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and also, it was only $3 for a pint (I went for "Happy Hour.") After walking the city for the majority of today, I have to say goodbye to the city, but I'm glad I made the trip and I'm also glad that I'm basically done this post, 'cause I'm totally exhausted.

w00t!!! SAN FRAN COMPLETE!!!!... now all I need to do is ride planes and wait for the next 9 hours...

-bentron out.

The SMOMA & the Drewple

Another day in San Fran, and everything starts blurring together. Thursday was supposed to be the day that I went to the SMOMA (San Fran Museum of Modern Art) as well as the Computer History museum, but sadly, those did not come to fruition. Instead, I spent the majority of the day chilling out and scoping out Andrew's living quarters. I've got a few pics to post, and so you can check those out at your leisure. He lives in a very nice place, and it's all open concept. I love the open concept architecture! The beige stone look is totally in in San Fran, and the whole place beams with radiant Spanish/Mexican glory. It was pretty overcast, but you can see some of the beauty of the water and the mountainous areas around. Makes Guelph look a little flat, and a wee bit boring.

Friday, yee haw! Now today was awesome! First thing we did was drive into Andrew's work, and while he was working all morning, I spent my time in a local Starbucks, watching the first season of Arrested Development, which by the way, is probably the best TV show made in the last 4 years. SO AWESOME! And after that, I had the chance to visit the Google Campus! Now, I have to tell you, everything that you heard about Google as being the coolest company to work for, is all true. When we pulled up, we were greeted by two nice security guards (it's high security there) and then ushered into the naturally lit parking garage. Since it was packed full, we had a Valet (yes, they have valets) take the keys, park the vehicle for us, and then we were off to the sites of the campus. Everything has the prismatic Google colours motif, and the campus is adorned in natural flora and fauna, completed only by multicoloured scooters everywhere. You can use them at your leisure!

After seeing Andrew's office and meeting one of his co-workers Chris, we were off to see some of the nicer parts of the buildings. We saw lap pools that are current driven, and adjustable, so that they're only about 3 metres long, as well as beach volley ball courts, work out rooms, huge parks, and 11 cafeterias. (I don't have to tell you that for four buildings, that's a ridiculous amount of food.) We ate a HUGE lunch, prepared by masterful servers, and you wouldn't believe the selection, or the price. The cafeteria was about twice the size of the University of Guelph UC servery, with all gourmet foods, including fresh seafood still in shell, various ethnicities, and lots of deserts. It was of course all free. Free even to me! Guests eat free as well. Anywho, after a long haul, I had to bid Google goodbye, and make my way to the Caltrain so that Andrew could get back to work. It seriously looks like Google is the best company to work for, and I'm very happy Andrew gets to work there. (Sorry for no pics, but it was high security, and I didn't want to offend anyone.)




On the Caltrain, I saw some crazy things, from weird parks, and strange sculptures, to weird buildings of all sorts. I had a guy ask me how to use the ticket dispencer thing, and I had to confess that it was my first time as well... luckily some woman came by to help him out. I snapped a pic of them anyway, just for kicks.

When I got off the Caltrain, I made my way down to the SMOMA, and saw a small exibit that was being filmed outside on new energy efficient cars. I had to take a couple pics, because if you know me, you know that I love environmentally friendly cars, as well as Hybrids in general. Anywho, they had a fuel cell car, as well as another car that could get 100 miles per gallon. Minis get 35miles/gallon and that's considered crazy good mileage!





The SMOMA was really cool, and I spent a good three hours checking out all five floors! From Freida, to Henri, I saw some pretty classic pieces of art, as well as some weird ones. One pic is of a urinal from early 1900s France. Apparently that's art... go figure. I think that if I were to decide on one thing, it is that anything that you find beauty in can be an art, and that's essentially my definition of art. Art is something you can find beauty in. SMOMA helped me come to that conclusion... oh, and I have to elaborate on that last picture. The guy singing in that picture is from an exhibit that was by Phil Collins, where he went to Turkey to get random people to sing the Smiths songs Karaoke style in order to create a counter-culture rebuttal to the Western perceptions that Turkey is a backwards country. Sound crazy? Well not as crazy as these videos. Hilarious.

Oh, and so after that, I took the MUNI (municipal transport) to California and 23rd, to a place called Pizzetta 211. It's essentially a cool and very intimate little pizza place with an atmosphere similar to that of Guelph's bookshelf. I had one of their cool beers (okay two of them) and Andrew and I ate a couple pizzas. I was quite impressed. Also, the bathroom was really cool, which if you know me, the you'll know that I normally judge a restaurant on its food, price, and bathrooms. Not necessarily in that order either.





Okay, well that was the majority of my day, but I have to say, I'm having a great time here in San Fran! Oh, and I also took a couple pics of the Golden Gate Bridge tonight, though they didn't all turn out so well... it was really overcast and dark, so the focus was a bit of a problem. Tomorrow Andrew and I are hitting up a Hippy Diner for breakkie, followed by an illustrious trip to 'The Rock' Alcatraz, and finally we'll try and do something krazy for dins. More posts to come.

-bentron out.

Arriving in San Fran! Thank God for Sammy and Cheryl.

There's nothing like getting up at 4am when you've got a trip to get to. My father was kind enough to drive me to Toronto and wait around with me until I got in through the baggage trip. I love you dad! I got into the air port at about 5:45am, only to see a huge line in front of me. Anywho, once we were through that, I only had to wait for about 25 minutes before I was chilling out in the lobby for my flight to start boarding. I was flying AA, and here's a pic of my plane.

At about 7:50, I was in Chicago, only to discover that my flight was pushed back another half hour. Seeing how that was the case, I decided to appease that desire in my belly, and of course my grief at having to wait another half hour, with some super discount McDonalds breakfast. $3.35 including tax you say? Sounds delicious.



I arrived in San Fran at about 1:15 (remember to include a three hour time difference, otherwise it seems like my trip was only five hours long.)

Anywho, I learned how to use the BART (Bay Area Rail Trail) and make my way over to the well known and extremely touristy Pier 39. I've included a little pic of a map off of train. I actually ended up using that map as my map for a little while through my camera view finder. Gotta love high res.



Pier 39 was really cool! There were a lot of weird and funny things going on, from street performers who were juggling fire pins while balancing on a tight rope, to people walking around with tiny dogs dressed like royalty, to sea lions on the pier, to eating clam chowder out of a sourdough bowl. (Although, I ended up opting for the Fish and Chips instead of the Chowder, as well as having an "Anchor Steam" local draft, specially prepared by the pier... I won't lie, it kinda tasted like bottled bum.)



After my little excursion, I decided that the best course of action would be to take the ONLY Mobile National Treasure, i.e. the oldschool wooden Trolly Cars, back over to downtown, and then walk my way through San Fran over to see Andrew. I've included a couple pics of my trip, although they fail to do justice to what San Fran actually looks like. You'll see a pic of the Gap (Gap started in San Fran) as well as a ridiculous picture (or should I say mural?) of a guy outside of American Outfitters. I didn't opt to include pictures of Porn Dungeons, and strip joints from the underbelly of San Fran, but I will say that I was a little nervous walking around all by myself with my camera and laptop on me, at night, through 'dirtsville.'


After about a 10 mile hike with 40lbs of equipment on me, I have decided that San Fran needs less hills. OMG I WAS SO TIRED!!! I'm glad I've got an adventurous heart, because if I didn't, I probably would have fallen over and started crying. Did you know that pay phones don't exist in San Fran Bay area? I sure didn't... made it hard to find Andrew when I couldn't call him, didn't have a cell, and of course, made my way to the exact OPPOSITE area of San Fran in my 10 mile hike. That's right, I went the wrong way. So much for maps, eh? I even tried stepping into a couple stores and asking if I could place a local call, since there aren't any pay phones around. I said it would only be a minute and that they could dial it... regardless, the answer was an abrupt "No." I was beginning to formulate my opinion of what the typical San Fran person was like when...

Luckily, I ended up meeting up with Cheryl and Sammy, two people I befriended in a Bar called St. Mary's Cocktails. Cheryl and Sammy were both very kind people, and Cheryl got me a phone from the bar, quelling most of my worries right there. While I was waiting Sammy, who works at the Docks, bought me a pint of American Beer. (For all my skeptical Canadian counterparts, it honestly wasn't bad, so it IS possible to come down here and enjoy the beer.)

Andrew ended up coming down and picking me up in his car, and then we made our way out for some authentic Mexican in the form of Burritos. Despite giving me the worst case of the runs in my life, it was pretty good.

And so ends yesterdays excursion, I'll try and include some more info about Andrew and his place in my next post. We're planning on hitting up Alcatraz on Saturday, and tomorrow I'm going to go to the Computer History Museum, get a tour of Google, and also check out the SMOMA (San Fran Museum of Modern Art.)

LOVES IT!

Bentron VS. San Fran

How much would a ticket to San Fran, plus Medical Insurance cost in Canadian Dollars you might ask? Well, speaking from experience I can comfortably say that I'm play a little under $600, which is just the right amount. I don't know if I'd have been able to swing over $750, but hey, then again, you only live once... that is unless you believe in reincarnation... in which case I probably would have to say... Worth it?

Going to see Andrew will be quite the joy ride, and frankly I'm glad that he's having a good time down in the States. We miss him up here, but how can you complain when he's offering you a free place to stay in San Fran? I for one, am going to take advantage of the situation, and his amazing hospitality. Seeing San Fran sounds like such a riot, and if I can enjoy it along with someone who knows the ropes and happens to be hilarious, then damn... I may just have to visit him again when I get back from Japan.

Now to go off and plan what to do from November 15th to the 21st.... what to do, what to do...