My Depeche Mode Tour Blog 2017/18 Schulzi on Global Spirit Tour : Depeche Mode in San Jose, October 8 or "so work hard"

After another wonderful night in my favorite hotel of the California Tour, we had to travel again. We went by taxi to the airport. We called this taxi by an app, Lyft, and paid by credit card. It is a very good idea, cheaper as the normal taxis, the driver are independent contractors. The drivers are very friendly and I have had many interesting discussions with the drivers, because I have used these taxis a lot. Afterwards, the drivers are evaluated via the app and because they are their own bosses, they make a lot of effort. Often more than the drivers of large companies who are hired.
We flew as a group of four to San Francisco, our both friends of Frankfurt stayed in the area between San Diego and Los Angeles.
The hotel situation in San Francisco is not easy. Good rooms are very expensive, so we rented two rooms via AirBnb,which were close to each other, located in the beautiful and safe neighborhood Glen Park. Our room was to small, you could barely turn around in the room, the furniture and the bathroom were very worn. The landlady has deposited the key in the room, we never saw her. So my first experience with the Airbnb was very bad. Our friends, on the other hand, had a great place to stay.
After a short stop in our rooms, we took the Bart, a kind of metro ( San Francisco have a huge net of different public transport systems, not easy to understand for a tourist, sometimes very expensive, but you can go everywhere by public transport, which is great). The Bart drive to the Downtown area, from where you could reach many tourist attractions. We went to Chinatown where we have in a small restaurant a very good meal, which you will never find in Germany. Arkadi and me tried a very strange drink, which consisted of cooked red beans, mung beans, stripes of green agar agar jelly and coconut milk. Very delicious.
Later we find a bar on the Bush Street, called Chelsea Place and we drank a few pints of my favorite american beer: Anchor Steam, which is brewed in San Francisco. If you come ever to San Francisco, try it. You have to! Amazing strong taste. The waitresses of the bar were very friendly, the whole atmosphere in San Francisco is so lazy and friendly, for me one of the best places in the world. It was 12 years ago since I was in San Francisco the last time, but I needed only a few hours to dive into the free-spirited atmosphere that surrounds this city and that I love so much.

Next morning I stood up very early to run the hills up and down in Glen Park, enjoying the sunrise and a wonderful view over the sleepy city. Than we found a big supermarket with good biological food and I ate a delicious salad for breakfast. We started the day with a shipping to Alcatraz where we made an audio guided tour through this old Prison Island. This is the next Must. The tour is so interesting and the audio guide is so interesting, an unforgettable morning. From Alcatraz you have a great view to the city and to the Golden Gate Bridge. If you go with one of the earliest ships to the island, you have the chance to walk very relaxed through this old and spooky prison. Hard to imagine what it must have been like to be detained here. So many people in a small space in very sparse cells without privacy. Now it is a cultural asset and thousands of tourists visit the island every year. San Francisco has extremely many homeless people, many victims of the drug Crystal meth, but many are simply victims of the American economic system. So much housing that is empty on Alcatraz. The small cells would probably be a dream for many homeless people ....

Near by the landing bridge of the ship is the observation tower, Coit Hill, dedicated to the Firefighters of San Francisco. You have a wonderful view from the tower, specially when the weather is so sunny and clear like this Sunday. At noon the annual air craft show, the San Francisco Fleet Week, started and we saw a spectacular flight show of the American and Canadian Air Force.
As we came down from the Telegraph Hill where the tower is located we crossed a festive procession of the Italian Community of San Francisco. Wow, what a Sunday. We walked to Chinatown and on our way we trudged upwards the beautiful Lombard Street, which has become known as the winding road in the world.
In Chinatown we visited a vegan Chinese restaurant, called :"Lucky Creations", where very friendly Chinese woman served us a tasty and nutritious meal.
Then we drank a beer, Anchor Steam, what else, on my favorite place " Union Square". I love to watch the hurly-burly on this place and the view of the hotel The Westin. The elevators are outside of the hotel and when they drive up and down it looks like a space shuttle.

So, then it was time to drive to our small room in Glen Park and to get dressed for the concert in San Jose. 12 years ago I was in San Jose at the concert of Depeche Mode, too. I didn't like this small city which is known as a sleep city for the commuters of the Silicon Valley. 2005 we tried to have some drinks in a few bars but signs hung on many doors, forbidding entry for tattooed people. So I couldn't get a drink there. We came on point for the concert, drank only a can of our favorite Margerita in front of the Sap Center and walked in. This time we had places on the left side beside the stage with a great view. The setlist didn't change. It was an amazing concert, the crowd was very good. Many fans stood from the first song and screamed like Europeans, wow.
The band was very lucky about this great crowd and Dave gave it all back to the audience. We were so close and I saw the energetic work of this tiny man. Like a tiger in the cage, he turned his restless rounds. We didn't see the films of Anton Corbijn very good from our place and one more time I discover, that the films divert attention from Dave's performance and he has to do more to get the audience excited. He worked hard for his money, believe me, ok, lots of money, tons of money, but hard work. We had so much fun and sang the whole time with the band. Martin was very celebrated, too. "Home" was a highlight, " Pain that I used to, Cover me and I feel you" were my favorite songs of the evening. While " I feel you" Dave gathered all his energy to completely unload them in the last song "Personal Jesus". A battery whose voltage discharges like a thunderstorm. "Personal Jesus" is a kind of natural force, it is a very physical feeling, I can feel the electricity of Mr. Gahan, the audience becomes on pole of the battery.
After the concert I felt completely discharged, too and was very happy to fall into my bed.
What an intense day. A work hard sightseeing day plus a work hard concert!