Wednesday turned out to be a rather fun day for me. Somehow or other, my name had gotten on a distribution list inviting me to a “Private Wine Tasting Event” sponsored by Historic Hotels of America. It was from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. I’d RSVP’d in the affirmative a few weeks earlier. The day of, however, I wasn’t feeling particularly social. I nearly cancelled, but figured that it was best to at least show up. If things were not to my liking or I truly couldn’t stand to be around other people, I could leave. The event was being held in the Peacock Court at the Mark Hopkins International Hotel, which is midway through my cable car ride home. Not that many people attended, maybe 30, if that. The event consisted of 4 or 5 wineries, as well as 10 or so hotels, that were marketing their properties for company events. Food was provided as well, buffet style. Basically, my modus operandus was to get a glass of wine, chat up the winery, followed by chatting up a hotel and gathering pertinent info, nibbling on something (cheese, desserts, fruit, risotto), then doing it all over again. Another attendee had made my acquaintance right when I walked in. We talked a few more times throughout the evening and discovered that we’re both enamored of travel. Although she loves Bali, her favorite place to travel is “anywhere in Italy.” Her most recent trip was to Dubai, though she admitted that she probably wouldn’t go again. She gave me her card and asked that I keep in touch; said that we should be future travel companions. That works for me as she doesn’t have a husband, children or pets to consider, she DOES have the time and money, she does NOT do tour groups and she just seems like an all-around fun person that is just as content to do things on her own. Besides, she’s never been to Vietnam and will be awaiting my account of travels there. A gentleman had also asked if he could join me at a table when I was noshing on something. It turns out that he “researches” bars around the world and writes about them for business travelers. We did a quick comparison of bars that we like from Paris to New Orleans. His favorite bar is on the top of some hotel in Hong Kong; will have to ask him again. He also has a list of other bars for me to try, which he’ll E-mail to me in the future. At the end of our conversation, he said that I was “delightful” and gave me his card. Obviously, my social networking skills are still up to par, even when I’m not initially feeling social!
The wine tasting event was followed by an Earth, Wind and Fire concert at the Masonic Theater. It started at 8:00 p.m., which gave me time to walk the couple of blocks from the Mark Hopkins. I even had time to stand in an excruciatingly slow line to buy a T-shirt. My seat was surprisingly good – in the second row, main floor, slightly off center. Earth, Wind and Fire put on a great concert. In my youth, they were always one of the bands I’d wanted to see perform live. I had a great view to make videos until about 2/3 of the way through the concert. That’s when the band announced that they were going to shake the hands of concert goers. That announcement was immediately followed by a flood of people running from the back to the front. That in itself didn’t bother me. It’s the fact that they REMAINED there until the concert was over. We all know I’m vertically challenged, so it rather annoyed me to have paid for a good seat only to have people from the cheaper seats run up and block my view! The people in the row behind me were exasperated as well; they asked “So, are they just going to STAY there?!” What’s more, with the stampede of people in front of me, I didn’t even get to shake the hand of any of the band members! In the end, it didn’t matter. The evening was still a success in my eyes.
Enjoy the photos and video, as if you were there yourself!
“Shining Star” – Earth, Wind and Fire