Matt has been having to travel to San Francisco for work more lately so I decided to accompany him for a day. He didn't think I could go the whole day without shopping and spending money (except for lunch)... It was rough but I came, I saw and I conquered. I proved him wrong! I walked right by my favorite seven-floor Macys complete with Cheesecake Factory at the top. I closed my eyes when I passed H&M and and only stared at Zara but I knew if I went in, I was toast. I felt a thousand retailers screaming. But I actually had a wonderful day exploring areas of San Fran I never even knew about.
It was free museum day at the Exploratorium but not having a car, I didn't feel like trucking across the city on foot for an hour and a half to get there. I brought my bike but I was too afraid to take on the hills and decided to take the time exploring on foot.
I accidentally came upon the Occupy Wall Street SF camp which was crazy looking. I was in search of a bathroom but struggled since I didn't have any coins. I finally found one of the street but then realized that it was the closest to the camp and just couldn't allow myself to use it since the protesters have probably been living out of that thing. I snatched a pic on my phone and then I ran quickly.
I spent the morning walking around the Farmers Market on the Embarcadero sampling things like kale chips and then sat and enjoyed the view of the Bay. While sitting there, I googled free things to do in SF on my phone.I came upon a web page that suggested free city guides at various locations around town including one taking place only a mile away from me which gave me just 15 minutes to get there. It was at the Coit Tower which I had neither heard of or seen, but the description of controversial art sounded intriguing.
I ran down the Embarcardero (literally) and into a neighborhood only to find that I had to climb a million stairs of death with only five minutes before the tour started. I had failed to notice that the tower was located at the top of Telegraph Hill. I tried to run but failed and finally made it to the entrance out of breath, heart-pounding and dripping with sweat. I must have looked like a mess because the others looked at me a little strange.
The tower was pretty cool looking and had an interesting story but the best part of the tour was viewing all of the murals inside and getting the low down on their communist-loving artists who painted these amazing murals about American life in the 1920s. The murals had vivid colors and beautiful detail and told a profound story life during the depression. Our guide also pointed out many subtle images and words that the Bohemian socialist artists mixed in making the murals quite controversial at the time and causing one to be painted over.
A couple old guys in the group got all fired up about the city should restore the piece that was painted over by removing the paint on top. But the guide argued that it was still very controversial since the artists had written the motto of the Communist party and still would probably very much offend some people.
I couldn't believe how upset these guys were - talking heatedly about how they were allowed to have freedom of speech though another gent brought up the fact that it would be like painting swastikas all over or running around with the confederate flag.
I definitely don't think I would have enjoyed the murals as much without all of the intriguing deets from the guide and I would recommend the tour to anyone.
Afterwards I meandered down Telegraph Hill enjoying the cute neighborhoods and row houses. I grabbed some lunch and then headed off to battle another incline - Nob Hill - to check out the swanky hotels. By the time I actually got to the top of Nob Hill, I realized I had Matt's valet ticket and I should probably head back towards the Financial District since Matt needed to be in Cupertino by late afternoon. So back down again I went towards Mission Street.
As I got close to Matt, he called and said he was probably going to be another 35 minutes so I decided to check out the Yerba Buena Arts Center and Gardens. I didn't get much time there but they had a beautiful park and a huge playground for kids that our nieces and nephews would have loved. I grabbed a minute to sit and let my feet rest then walked back to the Deloitte office.
All in all I had a wonderful day exploring places of San Fran I have no been. I love this city and the creativity it exudes and I'm so glad we live so close now. I even told Matt that since he is working up here so much maybe we should move to San Fran :) Don't know if he would love it as much though.
Check out photos I took on my little adventure:
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| Building I loved the color of |
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| Awesome art outside of the Deloitte SF office. I got in trouble standing on a bench to take this photo by the security guards. Hee hee. |
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| Funny random statue outside of Deloitte SF office. Who thinks of these things? And if this is art, I could definitely create something like this. |
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| The complete funny random statue collection |
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| Occupy Wall Street SF camp right in the heart of the Financial District. Since it was morning there was not much happening here yet. |
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| View of the Bay Bridge from the Coit Tower |
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| The Coit Tower. Many people call this the fire hose and think that because the lady who donated the money for the statue loved firemen that it was made to purposefully look like this. But apparently the architect did not make it that way intentionally and had a liking of this fluted style. |
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| House covered in Bougainvillea I came upon walking down the stairs of death. |
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| Saw this in a residential neighbor and it was the only one of its kind in the area. Thought it looked pretty cool. |
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| The mega slide at the Yerba Buena Arts Center that the munchkins would have loved. |
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| Infinity waterfall at Yerba Buena. |
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| The back of the waterfall - yo waterfall, the back of yo head is ridicalous. |
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| Can you tell I love bougainvillea? I saw this right by the waterfall and had to take a pic with the skyscrapers in the back |
