Tampa - 3/2/13

Superbowl Sunday! The game was starting at 6.30 EST, but the buildup had already started by 9am.

Attempted Daily Eats again - similar wait time today, but there was no rush so we waited. The place lived up to expectations and everything was awesome.

Back to the apartment and spent a few hours chilling (after all the driving that we'd been doing we were bent on taking it easy for a few days!) before driving to Stefan's friend's place for the Main Event.

Got there to find a table laden with food, to which we added our own, and a stacked fridge. US fridges being what they are though, there was plenty of room for our own booze and the other 20 people's that also arrived.

The game started to a packed couch, so I hovered around, standing up until about half an hour into the 1st Qtr (length: 15 minutes), when the couch emptied somewhat. Surprised, I swiftly took a place directly in front of the tv and didn't move for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, everyone else was moving around, standing in the kitchen chatting - for such a huge buildup there seemed remarkably little interest and we (B&I ) came to the conclusion that the superbowl was just an excuse to have a party. No arguments from us though!

At half time, the Baltimore Ravens were trouncing the San Francisco 49rs, and Beyonce appeared for the half time show along with Destiny's Child. Apparently the rumours of a reunion are true, I'm reliably informed by my pop gossip (B). As the game restarted, the 49rs were in need of some heavy scoring immediately but the Ravens had other ideas and executed a 109 yard running return, a superbowl record. Shortly afterwards, half the power to the stadium went out, causing a stoppage. Conspiracy theories abounded about the 49rs paying off someone or other to remove the Ravens' momentum; whatever the reason, the momentum was lost, as the 49rs scored 17 points within about 2 1/2 minutes of game time putting them in the position of needing just 1 touchdown for victory. What was seeming like a whitewash turned into a nailbiter - the final 49rs pass into the endzone which would have netted them the trophy for the 6th time in the last minute of game time was fumbled (or interfered with according to 49rs fans!) leaving the Ravens victorious. And there was much rejoicing. (Not at our party though).

B also discovered a new fave drink, called Reddes. This is an cider ale, actually very tasty.

San Francisco - 12/1/13

Saturday morning was a bit of a lie in, got going around 11, did a wee bit of essential shopping (US sim card,  three day bus permit etc.),  then headed out to the 'Mission' district, situated between 16th and 24th street. The main drag  turned out to be pretty run down, and also not - wealth next door to poverty unusually close together; on one street there was an old tramp digging through a bin to get food, while on the side of the pavement was a luxury organic vegetable delivery truck carting expensive food into nice homes. It had quite a nice vibe to it in some parts and not in others - the nicer parts were set back from teh main drag, really pretty townhouses, almost a colonial design with lots of character and colour. We also found a really interesting alleyway that had been painted by locals over the years since the 70s called Balmy Avenue, plus an equally good one on another street that was carrying on the tradition, but only started in the last few years. There was also a really lovely cafe called La Boheme (just off 24th street) which served for lunch particularly nicely. Running parallel to Mission Street was another called Valencia, which looked a lot more fun and lively. We were planning to go out there in the evening, but decided not to, as I'm sure it would have been fine, but was also quite a long way to go.

Saturday evening turned out to be a playoff game for the local American football team for a place in the super bowl, a big deal here, so we watched that and met some friendly Americans. The SF 49rs won fairly easily - great atmosphere as you can imagine. Against our better judgement, it was in an Irish bar in the centre of Downtown which didn't turn to be too bad (just expensive) and B was really chuffed that they served Magners. We had been planning to head out to Haight (another district) for some drinks, but were a bit tired and in need of some refreshment. After the game had completed satisfactorily (to the locals) we headed out to Haight, much nicer that Mission. Although Haight seemed pretty dead, we found a rum bar that was busy,  met some more Americans and had a lovely time. There was one chap who's birthday it was - so I introduced him to the delights of Sambucca. Turns out that the rum cocktails in this bar were pretty strong, so we left before I disgraced myself - rolled in around 1am. 

B noticed the amount of homeless people in SF in general, and around 90% of them (it seemed) had some sort of mental health problem. Talking to themselves, shouting at doors, riding buses (or 'muni' transport) to keep warm. In the evening it was even more prevalent; it was rare to see an empty shop doorway without a homeless person sleeping in it - we guessed that the homeless situation was so bad because there were just no shelters available, either due to budget cuts or lack of care. It was a pretty sobering thought considering that it is a 1st world country and more than a little bit sad.