Day Three: Happy 4th July!

Great day :) We started late after a huge arguement in the hotel room above hours woke us at 2am. A lovers tiff? The girl left crying in the middle of the night and was never seen again. (I think she was part of the German film crew staying here who were making a documentary on Levi Strauss).

We ate breakfast downstairs and then jumped on the Hop On Hop Off (open top big red bus) and toured our way to the Haight - Ashbury where we found Amoeba Records and just about wet ourselves with glee. The place is just MASSIVE. Not that I'm into trance all that much but as an example, in Brisbane you might find a few trance CD's in the electronica section ... here they had an entire section devoted to it. And it's all so darn cheap!! We went a bit crazy... probably (definitely) blew our budget.





The above is about 1/4 of the store.

Next stop Blue Front a cafe with a Mediterranean influence. American meals are massive and you really only need one between two. Small is equivaent to an Australian Jumbo size. We keep forgetting and can't eat all we buy. Very yummy lunch and I had Chai tea too. Tasty.

Haight Street is really cool. Perhaps a little Nimbin-come-Byron-ish. Bong shops, tattoo parlours, dark caves full of gothy punk metal gear, record and sneaker shops and everything bizarre you can imagine for sale. There seems to be two distinct sections the top end and the lower end and they are almost segregated into the touro section and the authentic local section. The locals are a little hardcore and look like they own the streets. I would have fit in perfectly 20 years ago :)

We didn't get many photos ... you feel like a bit of a dick doing that there.

Jumped back on the Hop On Hop Off bus and headed back over the bridge and via other scenic stops on the way back to Union Square.










Arrived at the hotel around 6pm ... quick nap, listened to some of our new musc then out again at 8.30pm for the start of the fireworks for 4th July. We actually woke Charlie up so we could go out. We decided to avoid the wharf and just walk to the top of the street near the hotel. The street is so steep they put stairs in the side walk.





Awesome view out over the bay and we could see hundreds of cruisers out there all lit up. It was nice hanging out with all the Americans waiting for the show. A few comments like "You sure know when the state is broke" told us it wasn't as spectacular as usual. Still a good show though (but not as big as Brisbane). Now we are back to the hotel room ... waiting quietly for Charlie to go back to sleep so we can continue our evening. I would have loved to be down on the wharf listening to the bands and drinking...