San Francisco, 18-Jul
We spent the day in San Francisco, going to SF MOMA and walking from Chinatown through North Beach and to the Embarcadero.
It's hard to have vacation time in the Bay Area without taking time to go to San Francisco. We knew we didn't want to try to park in The City, so we decided to take CalTrain up. I hadn't been to the San Jose depot before, but we were pleasantly surprised at how much available parking there was. We loaded some money onto our Clipper cards and found the next express train north.
It has been well over a decade since I've been on CalTrain, and I remember them being somewhat nice, but not this nice. They were in great shape, clean, and had very good WiFi. They must really want to support people commuting to San Francisco, making it easy for them to work on the train.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
We arrived at SF MOMA just before they opened, and there were a few dozen people already in line. We joined the queue and the doors opened right at 10.
Our normal strategy for museums is to go to the top floor then work our way down. For this visit, we modified that a bit by doing some of the 5th floor before going to the 6th. I would say that was planned, but we noticed the 6th floor after we had looked at a few things on the 5th.
The first thing we saw was a Yayoi Kusama piece which looked like five flat polka-dot-covered gourds fused together. Once you see some of her work, you would recognize right away who made the piece. Next to it was a walkway at the top of the atrium over the entryway. Surrounding you is a tunnel of colored glass and mirrors which looked great in the light coming through the skylights.
Realizing there was a 6th floor, we went up there next. We saw a Kusama mirror room there, so went inside to take a look. After the attendant closed the door behind us, we saw infinite polka dots. The dots on the walls were translucent, so some of the detail from the surrounding room was also reflected.
At the other end of the floor was an installation in a dark room with about ten projected videos, each of musicians. The screens were synchronized so they were all performing the same song, but you could hear the instruments you were closest to. The performance was about an hour long, so we didn't stick around for the whole thing. That meant we missed the cannon being fired.
Other things we saw on different floors were a sculpture garden, a living wall, and pieces by Alexander Calder (you find his work all over Seattle).
Chinatown
It was time for lunch by the time we left the museum, so we went to find something to eat. Close to the museum was a very intricate fountain by Ruth Asawa, a renowned local artist. In fact, there was an Asawa exhibit at SF MOMA, but since we already had a lot to do, we chose not to buy the add-on for that exhibit.
We walked up (both north and gaining elevation) Stockton Street until we arrived at a dim sum store. There were about a dozen people waiting in line, a lot of the people being locals, so we figured it would be good. We ordered a selection of things and then went to Portsmouth Square to eat. The bench we were at had a great view of the Transamerica Building.
The last time we walked through Chinatown, we went by the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company, but didn't buy anything because we didn't need a full bag of cookies. We walked by there again, but there was a long line just to get into the store, which itself looked very busy. No fortune cookies this time, either.
North Beach
The next stop was City Lights Bookstore, which looks small at first, but also has an upstairs and downstairs. Shelves are packed pretty tightly, but we managed to take a look through the whole store.
Our next destination was Washington Square Park, but we decided to swing by Cafe Trieste for a snack, which ended up being tiramisu and rugelach. This café was the first place to serve espresso in San Francisco and was a gathering place for many artists, poets, and musicians during the Beat Generation.
Continuing our walk to Washington Square Park, we saw a gelato store. We shrugged, went inside, and got some gelato, carrying it to the park to eat. There were a lot of people there, but plenty of space on the grass.
Coit Tower
With that boost of energy, we went up the hill to Coit Tower. After gaining all that elevation, it would be a shame not to also go up the tower. We looked at several of the murals on the ground level, bought our tickets, then decided to do the tower before finishing with the murals. The first couple of stairwells also had murals on the walls, but after that, the walls were plain. After going up all 234 steps, we came out at the top to clear skies and great views.
Done with Coit Tower and the murals, we went down the Filbert Street Steps, stopping by to check out a small public garden. When we got to the Embarcadero, we did a quick walk through the Ferry Building before catching a Muni train to the CalTrain station, then a train back to San Jose.
After picking up groceries, we went back to the room to have dinner and relax for the evening.
