(Well, not really, but I am running out of San Francisco songs … AND there is a pretty cool Tony Bennett connection to today, so … 🙂
We began our day at
Yep. The explanation is much too long, so I shall skip it. LOL Just suffice it to say, our ghetto fabulous hotel’s “free breakfast” was prepackaged danish or cinnamon rolls and coffee with powdered Cremora. PERIOD. (hit the “NO” buzzer, Johnny!)
From there we walked several blocks to our obligatory stop at Ghiradelli Square. Neither of us were really in the market for large chocolate purchases, but when you’re in SF, ya gotta go.
I know for a fact that this part of town is prettier at night, but our schedule only allowed for an early morning visit, before most shops were open.
Yep, there’s the bird (on the right) with which we arose to be here. 😉
We checked out of the Travelodge (g.f. edition) because we decided to stay our last night closer to the airport, due to our early scheduled flight. Before we drove to our final San Francisco location, we did something COMPLETELY “GRISWALD”: We went to the curvy section of Lombard Street, and drove down it. If you’ve never seen pictures, here’s a stock shot:
Here is just before we turned onto the curvy block … you can see a pack of tourists waiting to watch us drive it. LOL
I manned the wheel … Gerry manned the camera (phone) and narrates (and you don’t really hear very many of my sarcastic asides LOL) If you click on the link here, you’ll see our video on Youtube. 🙂
We were then off to a tour of the home of the San Francisco Giants, AT & T Park. Located in the far south side of the city, ALMOST in South SF, it was about a 15 minute drive away. If you’ll pardon the pun, this was another event that really hit it outta the park. I’m perfectly happy watching a baseball game from time to time, but we all know that Gerry is a HUGE SPORTS FAN, and we both LOVED this tour! I shall caption the following photos to tell the story:
with the Juan Marichal statue
with the Willie Mays statue
“Now, Lulu, this is Willie Mays …”
Willie Mays Plaza, the main entrance to the ballpark. There are 24 palm trees, representing Willie Mays’ number, 24. 🙂
Words to live by. 🙂
The tour begins on the 5th level … the “viewing deck”. It’s a small park, relatively, seating 14,000.
Our tour guide … she & Gerry had lots to talk about.
No one has ever hit a home run (or any ball) INTO the giant glove in left field. If anyone ever does, apparently it’s worth a million bucks!
There is a photo mural all along the outside of the upper deck. Lots of New York Giants photos!
We then proceeded down a level … to the Suite Level, sponsored by Oracle. Most of the suites are leased for years at a time, but we were told that a FEW could be purchased for one game. We were allowed to visit one of them:
Yes! The TONY BENNETT Suite! (and it was gorgeous!)
Happy as a clam!
Lots of fun to see inside the fancy suite!
The next level has the Museum, and many fun things to peruse …
A very large framed photo of “the shot heard ’round the world”
A photo of all of the Giants Hall of Famers together.
Lots of display cases, with LOADS of Giants artifacts!
When Gerry was a kid, and the Giants were still in NY, he attempted to get Juan Marichal’s autograph. As he tells it, “I was calling his name for a half hour, and he just ignored me. :(” Hopefully this does something to smooth that age-old sad memory. 😉
Pretty cool … all three World Series trophies!
(and the bling! 😀
Next stop, the Visiting Team’s clubhouse!
I had G. sit at #14, as his birthday is 8/14. 🙂
Nice digs!
The batting cages for the visting teams!
This is one happy bench sitter!
Even Lulu had a great time in the dugout!
When a hit goes over the right field wall, and into the bay, it’s called a “splash hit”. Since the park opened in 2000, there have been 74. 🙂
So cool to be able to stand out on the field!
Just remember the only rule, Gerry: Don’t walk on the grass!! (Spoiler alert: He did. For about 2 seconds — until the tour guide, and most of the people on the tour yelled at him to get off. LOL Poor Gerry … he was only trying to walk over to me without getting in anyone’s way…) No damage done! 🙂
These words are a full wall mural as we exited the stadium.
What a great tour, and a wonderful day! I will NOT impose the remainder of this day on you now, but will extend to an additional post very soon.
Happy traveling!
❤️❤️