Missed scene - Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair"

First of all I would like thanks those few people who always somehow encourage me to write my reviews.
I have been told off by them this week for not including a scene from episode 7 with Joffrey and Tywin. So there it goes:

Eye roll...

Lord Tywin is being summoned by the young king Joffrey to the throne room. Poor child has finally decided to be a king and rule a little. He obviously has no idea what is going on and the whole situation is probably arranged by Margery (or her lovely granny lady Olenna). Joffrey is a little concerned about meetings of Small Council being held in a new location (too many stairs to climb) and him not being invited every time. Well, I think Joff takes from his fake father when it comes to being a king. Their main interests are slightly different however: Robert wanted to drink and fuck, while Joff wants to kill and humiliate. And he tries...
Tywin however is not 14 years old girl and will not stand for some shmuck to push him around and jump through hoops. So all on all - same old routine.
I initially omitted the scene for few reasons. As I said in the review of the previous episode: the schedule of the show is so tight, there is no room for pointless scenes. And I still think this is true.
So why is this scene here? I was asking myself this very question since then and I simply can not find the answer that satisfies me. Therefore maybe there is something I do not know and will learn in the future?
Didn't want to write about something that was still bugging me a bit.

If this scene is there to show who is the actual ruler of Seven Kingdoms - to me and I think most of the viewers it was obvious it is Tywin Lannister. His intentions, actions, plans - his entire demeanour (and the POWER that comes with that), shown in almost every episode since he first appeared, were very clear about this.

If this scene was a little hint about Tyrells wanting to take control of Joffrey and by that the throne, I think that was pretty obvious too.

If they put this scene there to show that Joffrey is stupid, incompetent, ignorant and misinformed as a king... then, well... We kinda already knew.
Seeing him so nervous when his grandfather comes in to the throne room, really convinces me that someone put him up for this whole meeting.

This scene could be there to show all that at the same time of course. Not for just one of those reasons!
But that is still not enough for me.

The dragons are not letting me leave it alone. If you are still reading this, please be careful cause there will be SPOILERS!

Awww...

So, how is it that nobody in King's Landing believes in dragons? With all the spies they have around... how is it that nobody fears that Daenerys is coming with an army.
I do not want to spoil everything, so I will leave one traitor out of this equation and will focus on Varys.

Varys is one of my favourite characters in the book and in the TV show. And the main reason is his conversation with Ned Stark:

Ned: Tell me something, Varys. Who do you truly serve?
Varys: The realm, my lord. Someone must.


One thing is certain: Varys is not a pawn in this story. He knew about Daenerys and Viserys, he is friends with Illyrio Mopatis, he knows about the dragons but decides not to tell anyone, or maybe he is just not telling Lannisters. There is a reason for making them believe dragons are dead. And whatever Daenerys has is not even close to a cameleon. Varys has a Targaryen blood in his veins, I am 99% sure of that. Very thin kind but still Targaryen...

And this small scene in the throne room is, to me, a proof that Varys can play Tywin Lannister, as he pleases.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 7 "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" SPOILERS

Ah new episode! Because of the secret Mojang trip to Monte Carlo I missed it, didn't feel like watching it until Sunday. It is a good thing, now I don't have to wait all week because episode 8 comes out tomorrow.

The song The Bear and the Maiden Fair (Polish title sounds so funny and I love it - "Niedzwiedz i dziewica cud") pops every now and then in the book, which is an awesome touch from the author. Reminds me a little bit of Wiedzmin books (or Witcher if you like) by Andrzej Sapkowski - who, for me, is still the best fantasy writer of all times. Love these little things, that make the world in the book so real and believable.

My favourite version - short but the best!

We are yet again encountering a slow episode, which is surprising, but I guess the last two will be HUGE. Or maybe I am just waiting for something that is not coming? I am afraid that after last episodes of season two I am expecting too much. Hopefully not! 

Now don't get me wrong - there is plenty of stuff happening in the show, I just mean that there is not a lot of long, thrilling scenes. 

So we start off with Ygritte making fun of Jon Snow, not the first time, not the last. They are being so cute together, exactly how it suppose to be with young couple in love. They let me forget for a while what is coming, but we all know it is winter. Later on, Jon is being told how handle his girl, Tormund apparently has some good moves! Orell, one of the wildlings, tries to pursue Ygritte, badmouthing Jon. Ygritte however confesses she loves Jon and admits she would even wear a silk dress for him.
Jon tells Ygritte that the wildlings will be defeated, as they were six time before. She reminds him that he is one of them now, so if they die - they die together.

Ahhh, Ygritte is being CUTE again, she is making it harder and harder for me to hate her! 

Girls see more blood...

King Robb is on his way to his uncle's wedding, when he is told by his new and hot wife she is expecting a child. That information makes him really happy and a little bit afraid at the same time. Very hard time ahead of both of them.

But they do have fun too!

I am starting to think, now that I am rewatching the episode, that it is a sex education lesson. Margery spreads her (or rather her grandmothers) wisdom over poor Sansa who is still shaken up with the news of the arranged marriage. Sansa is still so silly...
Bron is also convincing Tyrion that this whole marriage is a good idea: Sansa is young, pretty and holds a key to the North... Tyrion however still loves Shae and would rather marry her. As a peace offering and "I am sorry I have to marry another girl" gift he gives her a golden necklace and offers to spoil her if she stays with him.

Far away from all this drama, Daenerys approaches Yunkai, with a strong urge to free the slaves. Lots of dragons this time! Emissary from Yunkai Grazdan mo Eraz pays her a visit, trying to bribe her with gold and ships. Daenerys is adamant, cold and confident. She takes the gold and gives ultimatums: free all the slaves, give them payment for their work or die. The emissary leaves empty handed and shamed. 

My dragons make no promises...

Grazdan mentions "powerful friends of Yunkai", which seems to worry Daenerys.

Upon arriving at King's Landing Gendry learns from Melisandre the truth about his father. He is not aware that his royal blood is a valuable asset to the red priestess. Melisandre shares a little bit of her dark past.

Home, sweet home.

Arya escapes the cave of Brotherhood without Banners, still angry at Beric for selling Gendry to Melisandre. She is taken captive by Sandor Clegane, who must have been hiding in the forest for quite some time!

Theon is still being tortured, but in a very different way this time. Two young and hot tormentors visit his dungeon, tempting and pleasuring him. Just as usual tho, the boy with a trumpet appears and takes away all the hope from Theon, as well as his genitals.

[*Rant*: Apparently people called "critics" are complaining about this scene - calling it unnecessary and even "boring and confusing to watch"... What the hell... Yeah, torturing Theon, again and again, must be boring to you people by now... so old...
I can understand that, from a perspective of a person, who did not read the book and therefore does not know what is coming, this doesn't make much sense. But at the same time (we are talking about critics here, who should not be mindless peons just hitting their keyboards to to produce words) consider this: Third volume of the book has around 1000 pages, they have to somehow fit that in 10 episodes. I know, I know they decided not to go season per book, but rather just go with the story, but still they are keeping with the books timeline for now. Don't you think, that with a schedule as tight as this one, every scene HAS A POINT!? Maybe it is just me, that thinks a little bit before publishing her thoughts... *End of rant*]

After promising Brienne, that he will keep his word and return Stark girls to their mothers, Jamie leaves Harrenhal, leaving Brienne behind. His newly formed conscience is challenged on the way, concerned about Brienne's well being he decided to go back to Harrenhal. Upon the arrival he finds Brienne (armed with only a wooden sword) in a pit with a bear! Yes, she is still wearing her pink dress. He jumps down to rescue her and soon after (with some help from the Steelshanks) they are free. Again, having rich and powerful father pays off as he is able to wiggle out by promising money to his captors.

And the bear just wanted a hug...

 

And here is a cool piece of art with Brienne by Rory Phillips (http://www.gogopicnic.com/)

Thank you all for reading!

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 6 - "The Climb" As usual with SPOILERS!

Seems like it is going to be easy to be brief this time. Another slow episode with few highlights. I think this season had and will have few huge moments, so we encountering the period of thickening of the plot.

Samwell and Gilly are happy campers, sharing stories and singing by the fire. It is nice to see Sam being happy for a change.
While by another fire we have a little tension between Osha and Meera Reed. The situation is quickly mended by brave Bran. Jojen has a vision which very much resembles an epilepsy seizure. I still can not believe this is the little boy from Love Actually. His performance is excellent so far.

Jon and Ygritte are preparing for the climb. Now that is an interesting scene. I think that this is the first time ever (books and TV show) that I actually like Ygritte. She is not my favourite character of all, I would even say that I dislike her.

It's you and me, that matters.

She finally acts fair, she doesn't judge, she doesn't mock. She loves Jon, even tho she knows he is still a Crow. Jon promises he will never betray her and he believes that, Ygritte doesn't, she knows he will have to do what is right. She is very genuine and honest in this scene, while Jon can not even look at her.

Robb sits with Freys to discuss the alliance against Lannisters. PERFECT portrayal of Freys if you ask me, they indeed look like peasants. I like, when they leave the room, one of them actually limps, that was a nice touch to add a bit to the image of village idiot. Edmure (Cath's brother) is being forced to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters - Roslin. Edmure is SUCH a typical guy in this scene, I had a good laugh. I feel sorry for him. This whole situation just reminds me how I dislike Robb for his decision to marry Jeyne.

You are paying for my sins, uncle...

I will just fail to mention Brienne in a pink dress...

Lovely gifs from uproxx.com

Tywin Lannister and Olenna Tyrell bargain and trade their children and grandchildren. They both take out heavy weapons against each other but finally Tywin wins, for now. However he is disgusted with the whole conversation, especially since he is accused of being gay. Very brave Lady Olenna!

And then Ygritte breaks The Wall. As much as I like dramatic scenes, the only thing that came to my head after seeing this was: "Boy! That escalated quickly..." and so I started to laugh.

Spent some time making this gif...

The Ron Burgundy quote is ambiguous in this case: 1. A small scratch leads to a huge catastrophe, I get that, but... 2. This scene is just too damn long. I don't know if that was suppose to make it more dramatic or something?! Well to me it failed horribly. Maybe it is the lack of music, or the scene being emotionless, since I knew what is going to happen? I won't say I was disappointed, but it did not move me.

Another funny one, in this episode, is the garden scene with Loras and Sansa. He is being properly daft. And this poor girl looks at him like he is a miracle. I guess being Joffrey's punching bag did not teach her anything yet. But remember my words... she will learn.

Girls? Ewww...

One thing that annoys me a little bit in this whole being gay situation is that they emphasize it EVERY DAMN TIME it is even possible. Whenever his name is mentioned someone makes a stupid face or not so funny "ha ha" comment about how he likes long swords. We get it already, he is GAY. I really have to compare this to the book version here. This entire issue is described so subtle in the book and yet it is quite clear, whereas in the show it just sounds opprobrious most of the time.

This episode's ending gets quite serious and sad. The most ambitious little creep in the King's Landing - Littlefinger - makes an excellent speech. Lord Baelish, aware of the agreement Varys had with one of Littlefinger's prostitutes - Ros - gives her to Joffrey as a punishment for the betrayal. And probably to suck up to the sadistic creep. Ros dies of multiple crossbow shots. Joffrey apparently still doesn't like close combat.

Chaos, is a ladder... the climb is all there is. 

Sansa is crushed by the news of the new marriage plans Lannisters cooked up for her, crying her eyes out, watching her last hope - Littlefinger - leaving King's Landing.

Ygritte's dream comes true as she stands on The Wall to see what is beyond; with Jon Snow.

Beyond The Wall

And that is a wrap!

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 5 "Kissed by Fire" - Spoilers!

For some time now I have been writing little reviews on my Facebook after each episode.
I realized that they are becoming longer and longer with each episode, so this time I decided to post here. This change gives me more space and possibilities to share my opinions and contemplations. I can also share more screenshots that are fully visible in the post. I realize that long posts on Facebook are often perceived as - too long, didn't read, while my blog lets me present them in more tempting way. A little disclaimer too: I do not and hopefully never will compare the show to the books. I trust that George R.R. Martin, who works with the show creators, keeps an eye on everything. I also fully accept the fact that tv shows and books are two different mediums,therefore affect our senses in a different way. I shall refrain myself from comparing the two, unless it strikes me very hard! You have been warned about possible spoilers, I assume I will also include my own divagations and theories.

Screenshots are very dark on my screen... If you want to see them better just click on them!

"Kissed by the Fire"

As usual the title refers to many scenes of the episode. I like that, it is a nice touch and always gives me something to think about. The episode five starts with some fireworks. Here we have Sandor "The Hound" Clegane being challenged by the leader of The Brotherhood without Banners Beric Dondarrion. Now Beric is a fiery guy, he has a nice burning sword, with which he fight Sandor in his trial by combat. This is not a very fair fight to be honest since Hound's only weakness is fire. He fights bravely and wins, killing Beric and winning his freedom. Poor Arya can only watch Sandor leaving the cave, still not being punished for killing her friend Mycah. Beric however rises from his fifth death... Crazy, you would think! But no... since the dragons came back to the world magic is becoming more and more spectacular.
I have to give it to The Hound - even now, when he has nothing, he still wants to live so badly, he is able to fight his biggest nightmare...

Trial by combat

This episode consist many naked scenes! Boobies and butts of both genders to please all viewers I would say. We arrive at frozen North to witness Jon Snow and his new girlfriend (kissed by fire - Ygritte), making out in a different cave. Jon is not an unusual guy, like most he doesn't like when girl talks about her ex lovers after a lovely cunillingus. While for some viewers this may be something to wait for, I could only think how smelly they must be after wearing all this fur for weeks, without bathing. Maybe I am not a romantic...
Ah... cause of all the nakedness I forgot to mention that Jon is still not trusted by some of his new pals in the North, to prove himself he has to sleep with a girl. Pretty fair deal if you ask me.

Poor Jon...

Ok... Back to the first cave! Gendry and Arya are saying goodbyes. I can't stop thinking how these two remind me of Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon. Arya calls him her family and Gendry calls her 'my lady'. He is probably the oldest son of Robert (knowing the good old late king Robert, it is possible he fathered more illegitimate children, but then again who knows if they are still alive...) and maybe one day Arya will call him 'my king'. Even tho I dislike Arya as a character more and more with every book, I admire Maisie Williams. It is her first role and she is splendid! Very touching scene.

I really have to mention Rob at this point. I don't think it struck me this hard in the books. I think it is the dramatic music and the gestures he is making (he throws his sword away and clenching his fists), but it is really painful to watch how the war changed him. The revenge and abandonment of his allies brings only more pain to everyone around. He can not fight off his conviction even if the alternative weighs in his advantage. He is truly his father's son, burdened with too much responsibility at early age.

Son of his father

Stannis Baratheon reunites briefly with his family, he is feeling guilty after succumbing to Melisandre and confesses to his wife. She feels guilty for not giving him heirs, only a "sick and dirty daughter". She encourages him to continue the relationship with Red Priestess and fight for the Iron Throne. That is what crazy does to people. Yet again being a guy in Westeros pays off...

Selyse and her stillborn sons.

We have a chance to meet Stannis's daughter Shireen. She is a kind girl who cares for her friends, even if they are four times her age traitors who can't read.  Bless the child.

That is all very touching, but where are all the promised boobs and butts?! Now we will have a CLEAR case of inequality in the show. Jamie gets naked, but of course we don't get to see any good bits... apparently showing asses is more appropriate than any other interesting part of the body. Cause butts are not offensive... I bet it would be totally different if guys would have nipples there... But luckily I could not complain too long cause Jamie started to talk. It is like that with Jamie, you hate him and then suddenly he is not so bad anymore if you get to see his point of view, his motives, his feelings. Sadly not all characters were given that chance (like Joff... wait... forget that one) yet. I have noticed that community around GoT is very judgmental towards some characters. Then suddenly they change their minds, claiming they always knew better. I am waiting for everyone to change their minds about Sansa... It's not going to be anytime soon, but it will happen.

Back to Jaime and Brienne. Fascinating scene in the bath. Both camerawork and the actors are excellent. Jaime tells Brienne the truth about being The Kingslayer.
He is broken, he seeks absolution in her eyes. Why her? Maybe once he was like her, or dreamt to be like her: pure, honorable, devoted? He is like a child in that bath, he comes out from it with his sins washed off.
At least in the eyes of one person.

"Jaime... My name is Jaime..."

Rather boring conversation between Barristan Selmy and Jorah Mormont. Jorah tries to figure out if he is in trouble yet. Luckily for him Barristan knows nothing or he just says less than he knows. Daenerys has her new army and she tries to teach them how not to be slaves. I can overlook lack of excitement and Missandei's boobs since we had a lot of those in episodes 3 and 4...

More exciting news on the other side of the sea... There are marriages to be arranged left and right!
Margery and Joffrey, Sansa and Loras, Cersei and Loras, Tyrion and Sansa... wait... what?!
How are they going to afford all that, they had a problem with one wedding.

Jokes aside... pretty ugly scene with good old daddy Lannister. Tyrion is being forced to marry Sansa, who is soon to be heiress of the Winterfell. That brings a lovely smile on Cersei's face... just to be wiped out seconds later by the news of her own wedding with ser Loras Tyrell. Tywin gives a great example of house Lannister motto: "Hear me roar"

The burden of being a Lannister

Once again the music people did a great job. Most memorable in scenes with Rob & Shireen (also as ending credits).
There is one more butt and bits scene in the show but to be honest I think it could be dropped since everybody knows that Littlefinger has spies and Loras is gay and easy.
Not an exciting episode, but with all the stuff that is coming I think it is good that they tone down a bit sometimes. Also it is always a good time to show some nakedness (I am being serious, some people watch this show for boobs, like there is no internet) and explain what the hell is going on (I am being serious again, most of the viewers didn't read the books)
I am still waiting for two major episodes. And it looks like I am going to like it very much. I love how the show progresses and gets better with every season.

How did you like this episode?

San Francisco - Game Developers Conference 2013

Oh boy! Where do I start? This was our favourite trip so far! We left Stockholm on Friday 22nd of March in the cold and windy afternoon, with a brief mid landing in London and after 11 hours flight (which was also delayed) we arrived in San Francisco. I am always a little bit concerned when it comes to landing and going through the boarder control. It all went smoothly until I wanted to pick up the luggage of the belt.
This had to happen sometime! They lost my luggage somewhere... not only mine tho. There was a line to the airlines representative, so we waited and waited, eventually she said that it is somewhere in transit and will be delivered to our hotel on the next day around 4. It felt like a huge weight off my shoulders cause my camera was in my bag!
Anyway we arrived at our hotel - Parc 55. It looks awesome, but it is a little weird. People mentioned it on the elevator that there is 13th floor - which apparently is a big "no, no" in hotel business. Fortunately for the people who got the room on this floor and complained the hotel staff bumped their rooms to a junior suit!

Another weird thing was - no mini bar, no fridge, free coffee and tea - but no place to store milk!

(If you click on a picture it will open a gallery in full size, or try middle click today!)

Our hotel.

We on the other hand, got a junior suit on 23 floor - which means we had a VIEW! And boy, what a view! Sadly the picture doesn't capture it quite well.

Morning view.

Evening view.

We had two huge bay windows, one by a small couch and the other one right in front of our bed! It was just fantastic to get up in the morning to see how the day is starting. Nathan is a big sleeper but thanks to a jet lag I was up around 6 - 6:30 in the morning.

Since I didn't have my camera I asked Nathan not to do any touristy stuff until I get it back. We decided that on the first day we will just take a small walk to the shore, maybe hit the beach. And we actually ended up walking for over 7 hours!!

View Larger Map

This map only shows the way from the hotel to the last interest point - the way back to the hotel is not show cause there was nothing to see really :P The weather was amazing, sun shining and cool breeze, it was very early so not a lot of tourists around when we arrived at Pier 39 which is the most exciting pier of them all!

Pier 39

This is a very special place, and not because of all the shops, restaurants, street performance or the aquarium. When you go to the very end you get an amazing view of  Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island and Bay Bridge.

Alcatraz

We were sitting there for a while eating churros and corn dogs, when strange sounds surrounded us... I was convinced it is a weird sound recorded and played over and over to scare the birds off (don't ask me why...) but we decided to investigate... And we found this:

Sea Lions

So apparently at some point Sea Lions felt safer inside the bay. So as you can see they have a little bay there for themselves, where they just sit and swim around, making weird sounds and fighting and loving each other. It was adorable, we watched them for 20 minutes. I think Nathan took 100 photos on his phone! I can't really describe this, but everyone there was mesmerised by them, and you could hear awwws and ohhhs all around :)

Playing...

I think he was the boss.

We left Pier 39 and walked towards USS Pampanito submarine, SS Jeremiah O'Brien-National Liberty Ship Memorial and Fisherman's Wharf.

Fisherman's Wharf

I am sad to admit I didn't try chowder while in San Francisco. I am not a big fan of sea food in general. Whenever I try it, it's never good so now I try to avoid it. It is a shame cause I am very curious and passionate about local cuisine. Apparently not curious enough to eat crabs :(

Poor guys...

We walked around the memorial ship and the submarine, passed arcade museum without realizing it at first, passed cable cars and sat on the beach for a while before deciding what to do next. And of course we made some new friends. Two guys who were speaking Polish, but I didn't react until they made a joke about snow in Warsaw (and we were on a sunny beach), I laughed and we started to talk. They came for Game Connection with their game Bruce, The Game as a Selected Project Finalist (check them out Tabasco Interactive). The game look awesome and I can't wait until it's out. I am a huge supporter of Polish games on the international market, very proud of CDProject RED (which I met at GDC few days later) and I CAN NOT WAIT to play Cyberpunk (cyberpunk.net)

Anyhow we then walked on the last, long pier before Fort Mason and then headed back to the hotel. That was a loooong walk, but nothing interesting happen. San Francisco is pretty much straight lines but it gets really confusing when your map turns with you :P 

Ah... there was a surprise when we got back tho. Not a nice one either. We both got sun burned, and I am talking serious burns which blistered and made us look like zombies with melting faces. That was absolutely the worst part of the entire trip. Also my luggage was still not there!

On Sunday we had breakfast at Denny's and hang around the conference centre and met our friend Offspring aka. Dave. We walked to Chinatown:

Chinatown I

Chinatown II

It is a very busy and colourful district, lots of shops, markets and fortune cookie factory which we didn't see. Offspring suggested then walking to Ghirardelli which is the nomilicious place! 

Nathan being all cool!

Fling books at Broadway and Columbus  Ave

Saints Peter and Paul Chruch

Ah chocolate!

Cable cars at Beach St

The queue at Ghirardelli was insane, it was after all a Sunday and the weather was very nice. We just squeezed through the shop tried some awesome chocolate for free. I took some pictures of the chocolate making process and drooled over other peoples ice cream. 

Next stop was Musée Mécanique at Fisherman's Wharf:

Bang bang!

Huge cupboard with huge music box?!

Horoscope reading by magic typewriter!

AWESOME PLACE! If you have any spare time in San Francisco, just go there! It is this huge space filled with vintage and antique 'arcade games'. They are very, very old and so much fun. It doesn't cost anything to enter but the machines are 25 cents to 1$ (there may be few that are more expensive but not many). I could go on forever about this place and this post it starting to be monstrous anyway. It was definitely worth seeing! We took a cab back with the best cabbie EVER! 

I am sorry - this post is going to be huge, I hope you are still reading!

The next day started with a breakfast at TwichTV - was fun - can't tell you more.

That just says all.

YAY POLSKA!

Now at this point GDC kinda started, so I had to do all the exploring alone. Nathan was busy at talks and company meetings. First I went to see Cartoon Art Museum, not a very big place but showcasing many different types of cartoon and/or comic art. Worth seeing for 7$! 

 Cartoon Art Museum

I will just mention few names here: 

Jon Klassen - I Want My Hat Back - my personal favourite :)

Nom, nom, nom...

Sam Kieth, trust me - it's more than just Batman! 

RAWR!

And the biggest part of the exhibition - Chuck Jones - a guy responsible for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies - essentially Bugs Bunny guy!

We also visited EA office in Redwood City (Thanks Offy! <3) which was awesome! Their campus is amazing... So many places to just sit down and chill in peace. People get very creative with their office space and some of them fill it up with really geeky stuff from My Little Ponies, mining picks from Minecraft to portal guns and lightsabers!

EA

I don't think anyone survived until here! If you did: I am absolutely grateful and I promise you a beer if we ever meet. There is few more things to report! Keep on reading!

After getting my camera back very late on Saturday night, I had to go revisit some places. Sadly the weather wasn't as awesome as before, but in San Francisco weather changes really fast so by the time I went to Golden Gate it was nice and sunny. 

Coit Tower - we could see this tower from our hotel room so I read up a little bit about it and decided to go check it out. It has quite a story behind it so if you want to read up on that click here!

7$ - not very expensive!

It is a nice treat when the weather is at least good. Sadly the view just from behind the windows, but still quite a treat!

Awesome view of Pier 39, Alcatraz, Bay Bridge and Golden Gate + city.

City View

Bay Bridge

Pier 39

Cute!

Ah and last but not least that day: Golden Gate Bridge! Fantastic from afar and up-close. I am a fan of bridges... go figure. Next time in SF - I am getting a bike!

Alcatraz from GGB!

This guy!

Ah! Again, thanks to Offspring, we were able to go to a baseball game. Now... I met Offy few years ago at MMO-Champion IRC channel! So before we went to USA this time and I knew we are going to meet, I asked him if there will be an opportunity to watch a game. He said the season starts later in the year but after some investigation it turned out, that there will be in fact first friendly, training kind of game, while we are in SF. San Francisco is a home of Giants! We met with our other IRC friends who we also invited to the game. 

And may I just say: IT WAS GREAT! Now this was a double treat for me. I have never been to baseball or any kind of big game before. And I come from a city in Poland that actually has a stadium and a team that is in professional league (ekstraklasa) :(

I must say - they just know how to have fun at the game. It may be a cliché to you but stuff like a wave (Offy told me off for participating in it), kissing camera, half time warm-up or singing a song together during the game is amazing. People were really nice and there was no antagonism between Giants and A's fans. I would love to see such spirit in Poland. I know, I know... there is a lot of normal football fans in Poland, but honestly there is lots of freaks too!

Before the game

Beautiful view of the bay

Go Giants!

The stadium is half open, with the view of the bay, and it looks brilliant when it gets dark. Funny thing is that around half time the seagulls start to circle around the stadium waiting for people to leave so that can eat whatever is left. And it is both funny and scary. Oh and there was a guy on a kayak just outside probably hoping to catch an out ball! Such a devotion, it was really cold! 

There was few other things I would love to mention but I can't and it is killing me! Now it is going to kill you too! 

Anyway thank you very much for reading this. I had so much fun in San Francisco. It was by far the best trip we have ever had with Nathan (beats Paris, no contest). The only thing, except for the sunburn, we both complained about was homelessness. I am sorry if this sounds unkind or insensitive to you, but we have been bugged for money at any given place and time of the day so many times that it actually started to be annoying and scary. I would love to help everyone, but feeling that any amount of money will be spend on drugs or alcohol is just overwhelming. Whenever I have a chance, I try to share food (but got told off few times), and I get scared in a big city when I am alone. Suspended Coffee is a way - but I don't trust coffee places to actually give it out after you leave, so I just prefer to share personally.

And just some random pictures for the end.

I know I promised you a beer!