Diamondbacks and Chinatown

Breakfast messiness

4/24

Diamondbacks and Chinatown

At the ballpark

We were up early today and decided laundry must be done. After a small continental breakfast we moseyed across the street to the Stop-n-Wash coin op. 3 loads and an hour and a half later, we finished, went back to the hotel and showered, preparing for the Diamondbacks game at AT&T Park. Driving to the park was a mistake. It took us 45 minutes to find a place to park and it cost 40 dollars, although it probably would have cost that much for a taxi. However, we managed to get to our seats before the end of the first inning. We had seats on the fifth row on the first base side. The baseball park is really beautiful and we have never been so close to the action before. Several foul balls landed in our area, but none close enough to try to catch. After a pitcher duel into the 8^th inning, several runs were scored, along with lead changes, but in the end the D-backs won in the 10^th inning. It was awesome hearing the loud stadium go silent as the last out was recorded.

Our seats

The Entombment - Rembrandt

Surprisingly our drive back to the hotel was quick and painless. After dropping the car off with valet, we started walking to Chinatown. Along the way we stopped at the Irish Castle Shop were we met the lovely shop owner, Orla O’Malley aka Granny. She regaled us with tales of Ireland and her Native American husband. She said that I could pass for an undercover cop, with my backwards cap. She wished us many blessings and told us that we were going to have a girl.

After leaving her shop, we were walking past a few art galleries and I saw an Albrecht Durer in the window of one of the galleries, Christopher Clark Fine Art.

Chroma - Richard Macdonald

Walking in I discovered that there were over 50 different prints of Durer, Rembrandt, and others, all on display and for sale! If only I had an extra 40 thousand dollars to spend! While Shawna ran interference for me, chatting up the gallery attendant, I was able to surreptitiously snap a few quick shots of these masterpieces. Fantastic lines, darkness, light covered these pages, some from the early 1500’s. There were also some works by Richard Macdonald, a famous sculptor whose pieces were all dancers in motion. One of my favorite pieces by him was a dancer in mid-leap coming, his foot coming out of the stone in which he was carved, as if he had emerged from it.

Hurlingham - James Whistler

With regret, I left the gallery after 20 minutes, but hunger was calling and we had a date at the Utopia Café. The Utopia Café is in Chinatown and they serve the most delicious sesame chicken I’ve ever tasted. It was a small hike to get there but was totally worth it. Afterwards, we strolled down the main drag of Chinatown, Grant Street, stopping at various places just to browse. I found (and now wish I had bought) some of the foam airplanes with plastic propellers that my granddad had used to give us for Christmas.

Sesame Chicken

San Fran at night

It is very interesting to see the changes in the city as you walk. As we walked down Geary Street, back toward our hotel, at first the city appears very opulent, with Chanel and Louis Vitton shops everywhere. But as we continued to head west, the buildings get a little bit more run down and people asking for change increased. I’ll admit, the people that asked for money that were original I had a hard time refusing. Now off to bed. Tomorrow, Sacramento to visit Aunt Anne and then the real part of our trip starts, going up the coast!