It's a jungle out there

June 17, 2017

Gudrun has organized police protection for herself in San Francisco. Captain Stottlemeyer and Adrian Monk are not present because they have the day off.

We are at the 63rd North Beach Fest in the Italian district. This is fun literally without end, because around every corner there is a new street full of new activities. There are great bands playing, and there is plenty of food. Even the somewhat older gentleman in white from the neighboring Chinatown thaws out after a few beats of music and goes completely crazy. No woman is spared, and everyone gladly joins in.

Even our rental and care dog, Lilly, seems to be represented by her brother. He works as a therapy dog for cancer patients and has dressed up especially for the festival.

We set off at dawn and reach the city around 9:00 a.m. We find the hotel easily thanks to the navigation system, but the room won't be ready until 3:00 p.m. So the first priority is to find a secure place to park the car, which becomes evident upon first glance at the surroundings. The sidewalks are crowded with homeless people in various states of neglect.

Three garages are too low or the managers come up with another excuse. A guarded property is the last hope for now, and then the best solution thanks to Gudrun. The parking lot attendant clicks his tongue, talks about how big our car is, how much space it needs, and asks for $150. Jürgen already puts the car in reverse and Gudrun offers a hundred. The deal is made, and we park our snail shell in the last corner and hope for the best.

The second impression of the city is excellent. We enter the visitor center and are well advised by a volunteer. The city map with its annotations is our guide for two days. First, we head to the Ferry Building right at the ferry port. The former ferry terminal is packed with all kinds of shops you can imagine. There are specialties from the region and from all over the world, but at world prices. Poor people don't shop here.

That's different in Chinatown. Here, the poorer people also provide themselves with high-quality goods. We eat incredibly good dim sum in an incredibly noisy restaurant. By the way, we meet our gentleman in white for the first time before visiting the festival in Little Italy and enjoying the view of the city from the hill.

Another highlight is checking into our room at the Hotel Aldrich. It is a listed building from 1910. But that's about all that could be positively noted. Since 1910, nothing essential had changed, it had only gotten worse. We had booked the room through HRS, it should not actually be offered there. It is only thanks to our four-week training at campsites of various quality that we survive this test.

We immediately go back into the city and look for something to eat. We find a good pizzeria and eat a very good pizza and an outstanding salad with beans and celery. The ice cream for dessert must be good, because it costs seven dollars per person for two scoops. Yummi!

On the way home to our social hotspot, we see the announcement of the musical "Janis Joplin" in the theater district and decide to buy tickets tomorrow. After all, the Summer of Love is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

We fall exhausted into bed and can largely ignore the loud yelling of our sleeping companions on the street.

Table of Contents