Saturday, April 10, 2004
golden gate geezer (day 3)
Sights seen (1) Legion of Honor: San Francisco's main art gallery lies high on a hill to the west of the city. Built after the First World War it's renowned for its Rodin, but more modern art also has a place. We visited the Art Deco exhibition (the same show I didn't see at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year), an impressive selection of early 20th century art and artefacts. It felt most odd to encounter the former crystalline entrance to London's Strand Palace Hotel so far from home - they don't make dazzling glamour like this any more.
Sights seen (2) Japanese Tea Garden: Golden Gate Park is full of little gems, including this pocket of oriental charm. Pools, bridges and spring blooms, plus express tea service - very tasteful. Fortune cookies were invented by one of the gardeners.
Sights seen (3) Mission Dolores: A Spanish-built church, the oldest intact building in the city, completed in 1791. Unfortunately noon on Good Friday was not the best time I could have chosen to visit, but the outside was pretty enough.
Fog index: Smothered by fog at dawn, but all burnt off by 10am. Glorious sunshine followed (except down by the ocean, which is where we spent the afternoon. Wispy mist clouds wafted by, just like movie special effects).
Jetlag quotient: Nil. I think I've adjusted.
Seismic activity: Nothing above 1.1 on the Richter scale, which is about as feeble as you can get.
Contours ascended: Some. Even a three minute climb is breath-taking.
Number of photos taken: 11
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