Around the World (Again) San Francisco – Halloween 31st Oct 2013

San Francisco – Halloween 31st Oct 2013

This was the day that we would be leaving San Francisco but not before we visiting the Mission that gave it, its name.

 

The mission is the oldest building in San Francisco and it has withstood the earthquakes and fire over the past 200 years. The simple adobe walled building, built using the clay and straw from the surrounding river bed and marshland has stood the test of time better than most of the more modern buildings erected with the use of girders and pylons made from iron and steel.

To the rear of the mission they have turned what was once a classroom into a small but informative museum, depicting the founding of the mission with maps and diagrams. But it also shows the original native folks and their way of life.

Leaving the small museum, you turn into the graveyard with its crypts and headstones many engraved with the names of Irish men and women who came to San Francisco to escape the potato famine in Ireland  only to be cut down by a cholera epidemic that swept the settlement.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then went into the Basilica next door, this is a very grand affair, though I think it has none of the feeling of history contained within those adobe walls of the original Mission. It was made a Basilica when Pope John Paul visited the mission when he came to the USA in 19?? , he held a service and prayed for the AIDS victims of this city. Did it do any good, well I have my doubts, but then again belief can help to ease suffering and pain, so better not discount it.

 

The high Altar

A very nice stained glass window depicting St. Francis of Assisi

The altar for the souls of the departed, all nicely decorated for "All Hallows Eve"

the true meaning of Halloween.

 

We stopped off for a coffee at a small café a couple of blocks up the way (and it is UP) we sat outside in the warm sun, before walking past the lovely Dolores High School and Dolores Park, returning to the apartment to pack and eat the remains of last night’s curry and Linda cleaned the flat and we finished packing.

 

 

Dolores Park in the sunshine, wonderful!

 

Richard returned from the University and invited us up to drink a glass of wine and eat some cheese and biscuits sitting in the bay window overlooking the wonderful city of San Francisco, it was a pity it had to end, but end it must as we had an aeroplane to catch, this would take us on the next leg of our journey to New Zealand.