The Basement

We finally made it to The Basement after 8 years! Fiona arranged a girls night out to see the double bill of Axle Whitehead (of Australian Idol and getting-naughty-bits-out-on-stage-while-drunk-at-award-ceremony-and-getting-the-sack-from-Channel-10-fame) and Brian McFadden (of Westlife and shagging Delta Goodrem fame).

The venue itself is near Circular Quay tucked away and obviously downstairs under ground. We went with the dinner option for some extra cash which also means you get a great table close to the tiny stage and waiter service for drinkies :)

The venue is pretty small considering, I couldn't tell you how many people it holds but it's more like a big bar and couldn't be more than a couple of hundred max which gives it a really intimate feel. The food was good value and tasty for the price, I'd certainly go for that option again.

There was even an acoustic support act who was really good while we waited for the "headliners" to appear. Axle arrived on the ickle stage around 9:30 and performed a pretty lengthy and high energy set before Brian belted out tunes new and old from about 10:30pm. Both the boys, regardless of your opinion of them (probably the same as mine) put on a really enjoyable show and made the most of a great venue.

San Francisco

I managed to get approval for a trip to San Francisco with work to attend TUCON - the annual Tibco Usergroup Conference. Tibco BusinessWorks is the platform that my team looks after at work and it seemed a good idea to take a look at what Tibco are up to in terms of their products, future direction/strategy and also find out what their other customers are doing.

I went with my boss Pete on the Sunday flying Business Class with Qantas. It was the first time I've flown business class and even though it is ridiculously expensive it was worth it! The seat, the service, the food, everything is so superior. To the fact that you can recline the seat until it's flat, to the little white table cloth they put down before you eat, proper crockery/cutlery and freshly cooked food and a chance to pre-order your bacon and eggs - nice one!

We arrived before we left due to crossing the date line and got to the hotel at around 11am Sunday morning (even though we left Sydney at 2pm Sunday). I took the chance to freshen up before meeting Kathryn (who I haven't seen in EIGHT years!!!) that afternoon.

After the initial shock of actually seeing each other in person, we met up with Pete and took a cab up to Fisherman's Wharf for the usual tourist look around. We walked around and took in the sights on a great warm day (apparently the best of the year so far!).

Kathryn & I at Fisherman's Wharf (Alcatraz in the background)

We took a walk over the Golden Gate Bridge and I was able to get some great photos like the one below as the fog hadn't descended onto the city yet.

The Golden Gate Bridge without fog

We were also lucky enough to be in town when the Giants were playing. The Giants are the San Francisco baseball team. Pete and I were also lucky to have Kathryn with us as she actually understands the rules being a big baseball fan - we were able to question her throughout the entire game which made it far more enjoyable given it was bloody freezing!

San Francisco Giants vs Colorado Rockies - Giants go down 2 - 3 dammit!

We were also treated to a baseball 'must do' which is have a big serve of Garlic Fries (they come complete with a mint when you've finished!) - yummy!

Garlic Fries. Mmmmm garlicky...

Pete and I enjoyed the conference and attended the keynote presentations and many seminars, presentations and breakout sessions over the course of the week. But that's boring so I'll go onto the interesting stuff. Once the conference finished on Friday, I met up with Kathryn again and we headed out to dinner with her good friend Cara (who picked a great restaurant for dinner). I also had a bit of time to do some shopping in Union Square hitting Nike, Abercrombie & Fitch and G-Star the hardest!

We also found these houses on Alamo Square...

Pretty houses on Steiner Street (of Mrs Doubtfire fame)

The Saturday (my last day) we decided to drive into wine country up in Sonoma County. Another perfect weather day meant we took a leisurely drive, enjoyed buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and ended up in Healdsburg. Such a lovely town full of great wine and food, we took a good walk around taking in the sights. We then headed out into the country side where we found Sonoma Lake and we took a drive around.

Sonoma Lake on a beautiful clear day

Kathryn drove us back to San Francisco via Sausalito (north of the Golden Gate Bridge) which is a very expensive part of town and very picturesque - we almost got lost on the way to the airport but thank god for the iPhone and Google Maps!