We left in the afternoon and dealt with traffic on either side of Sacramento, but the bay bridge wasn't the worst I'd seen. We got into the city in time to check into our hotel, the Embassy. It was a neat 30's art deco building. We lucked out and got a corner room, and if you book on hotels.com there's free parking. The continental breakfast is not a lot, but it's on the same block as world famous Brenda's French Soul Food. Think creol, New Orleans style. Beignets and great grits.
After moving into our room, we went to AT&T park and watched the giants game. It was the first in the series against the rival LA. It was a good game that they almost lost in the 9th, but closed it down to win by one.
We strolled back to the hotel and through union square. We were sitting watching a couple people on roller blades when all of a sudden dozens of people showed up on skates pushing a stroller with a boombox. They had organized dances to song, mostly versions of the electric slide. But we were treated to Thriller on skates. Quite unexpected.
Saturday we got up and explored. It was going to be a very art intense day. I had saw online about the Scott Nichols gallery and wanted to check it out. When we got there we found the entire building was art galleries. It's on 49 Geary and I highly recommend it. It reminded me of an art co-op, but filled with world class works. The Nichols gallery was our favorite with a window into the framing room, pictures stacked on walls and a great series of important images. Other galleries were more formal and organized, but they were all free and all for sale. Everyone was real nice and would tell you whatever you wanted about the art. I really liked it and will be back there anytime I go to Frisco.
From there we headed over to the SFMOMA. They had a great exhibit celebrating their 75th anniversiery so they pulled out all the best works they've acquired since they've opened. Some real classics I was glad to see in person. My favorite was Diego Rivera's Flower Carrier.
Diego Rivera "The Flower Carrier" It was much larger then I expected.
Frida Khalo
Matisse
Mondrian
Braque
Margritte
Lichtenstein
They also had a show called "From Calder to Warhol." The Calder was poorly lit and an uninspiring display. There was no movement or flow. The Warhol stuff was really good and impressive.
I didn't know the Elvis' were this big.
From there we went up to the Orpheum theater to enter the raffle for tickets to Wicked. Eve's was the first name called, so we got tickets for 25 bucks. We quickly changed in the room and went out for dinner at the Heavan's Dog chinese food. It was quite impressive and put to shame any chinese food I've ever had. We had the roasted duck and the scallops. The scallops were the most amazing. Desert was a caramel mousse on a cocoa streusel with a homemade caramel pecan sauce. It was heavenly. The show was great. I hadn't seen a broadway show in years and this one was perfect. It's the back story of the Wizard of Oz. Where the traveling characters came from, why the witch became the wicked witch, and why the wicked witch was green. I would highly recommend it.
The next morning we met up with Eve's brother and his girlfriend at Brenda's for brunch. We walked around the Civic center and saw them shooting a Mitsubishi commercial, then headed home. In Sacramento we had our first experience at IKEA and was as impressed as everyone promised. It is an amazing store. On the way home we experienced some horrible traffic on 80. I think it's easier and quicker to drive in the winter with the snow, minus the construction.
I hope the next time I go to San Francisco, I'm there for a week.
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