Gone West 3

Go West 

May 24 2016

MOMA San Francisco, Cable Car and Fisherman's Warf

Before leaving Germany and being informed by Richard that the new SF Moma was now completely renovated and fully up and running, so this was a must. We were up and ready once again at 04:00 so I wrote up a bit of my Blog, reduced the size of some of the photographs that I shall be boring you all with and had a cup of coffee

We packed our “Tagesgepäck” into our small rucksacks (photo gear, spare underwear, maps and other daily needs) and headed off to Metrotram  J to get to the Market and Hyde stop. 

We crossed Market and popped into the Levi store just to check prices, prices checked we headed to the MOMA building.

The entrance fee was $25 for normal people and $3 cheaper for us, the special people (the pensioners). We divested ourselves of unneeded vestments and backpacks, agreeing to meet back at the seating area outside the cloakroom above one of the larger exhibits in two hours’ time. 

I first went to permanent exhibition and though not on size of some of the larger European Galleries was very well represented with a lot of the modernist masters.

I then took the lift to the 7^th floor and then descended slowly by the stairs, floor for floor, gallery for gallery. I must say I was amazed by the amount and variation of exhibits, I was like a kid in a sweet-shop, it was fantastic. There was even a British Gallery, containing Plastics from Moore and Hepworth amongst others.

           

Here is a very small cross-section of the goodies in that sweet-shop.

We met up at our arranged time, Linda was waiting she had also just arrived and was sitting reading , she had also been suitably impressed by the quality and amount of art, it was the first time she had seen any Warhol never mind the quantity here on display.  I popped into the adjacent bookshop and purchased a couple of postcards, we then headed for the door and out into the sunlight

Our next port of call was to Market and Hyde again to the cable car turntable; yes we were going to take the best funfair attraction in town, the world famous cable-car ride up, down, up, down to Beach Street.  

At Hyde Pier you can visit one of the marine attractions and do a tour on a submarine; unfortunately it doesn’t submerge any more. We sauntered along Jefferson St. taking photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the normal Touri Photo Shots.

We passed a crab purveyor with the live crabs fresh off the boats so this gave us the idea to head straight to Fisherman's Warf.

We were feeling a bit peckish by now, so we selected a place to eat on the main street, we sat outside in the warm afternoon sun and shared a large bowl of mixed sea food on salad leaves, I drank a beer and Linda was happy with the free water (cheapskate). We both agreed that the Dungeness crab was one of the sweetest, most succulent that we had ever tasted, I have eaten crab all over the world and this rates in my books as one of the best.

We then walked along the street passing the sellers of fresh boiled crab, shrimp and lobster at the Pier a little along from the old cannery building, but though tempted, we had just eaten so were able to resist that temptation.

Some one enjoying the droppings

We did pop into wonderful French bakery of Boudin’s at pier 43-45, the home of the clam chowder in a sour dough bowl (or so they proclaim)

We walked the whole way along Embarcadero to the Old ferry terminal building almost underneath Oakland Bay Bridge, stopping to take a few shots of, the sea lions at Pier 39 with a pelican fly past.

The tower on telegraph hill and of course another of San Francisco’s  other iconic building the Pyramid building.  

We then carried out the same inquisition as we had carried out in 2013, where was the underground station to catch our train back to Richards house (the old grey matter isn’t what it used to be). We found it were it was last seen at the bottom of Market street. We jumped on the Metro J to the corner of Liberty and walked the few yards to Richards.

Richard is having problems with his back and it was playing up so he suggested we walk to a restaurant not far from his house where he could eat up standing. So we got rid of our backpacks and then walked a couple of blocks to Liberties (passing the house or Facebook founder Mark Suckerburg).

As with most nice eateries in the area of Mission it was small compact and friendly (well the waitress was).  Liberties prides  itself on serving real British style Pub Grub, I the ever sceptic, perused the menu, I saw fish n’ chips and decided we will give them a try (I could have had cottage pie, bangers and mash or many old pub  favourites ) first plus point a real vinegar bottle with malt vinegar was plonked on the table. The fish was Pacific Cod, I have had this many times before and it is delicious, it was served with very nice French fries (unfortunately or may be not,not real chip-shop chips).

  

Linda had the Samosa's

Richard the Tomato soup with toasted cheese sandwich.

Everyone agreed it was all very tasty and for America authentic PUB GRUB!

Full and Satisfied  we headed back to Richards and beddy-byes as next day we were heading out to pick up our Jucy Camper near to Oakland Airport.

We had a wonderful few days in San Francisco (I have never had a bad one and this is my 10^th time)and as usual Richard had been a wonderful host and a mine of information on what to do and what to see.  We will be returning for our last day of our trip so thank you and we shall see you in a few weeks.

Gone West 2

San Francisco 23 May 2016

Gone West 2

We had been in bed early the night before so consequently were up early, I wrote up my day blog and watched the sun rise over San Francisco from the dining room of Richard’s holiday apartment.

The weather was a little overcast but warm, we had decided the evening before that we would have an American Breakfast in true style at Chow diner that we had visited yesterday evening. We had arranged with Richard that we would meet up at the Sunday market that takes place at UN Plaza opposite City Hall.

We walked down Dolores Street passing the original Mission to St Francis of Assisi and the new church, before turning along Church Street to Chow. 

We selected a seat at the bar (well wherever else), at once came a glass of chilled water and a cup to be filled with never ending coffee.  I had noticed my neighbour being served an interesting  breakfast, so I asked what it was and on being informed we ordered  the same, organic scrambled egg breakfast, sausage patties, bacon and pancakes and sourdough toast. We chatted with the neighbour who informed us he came for breakfast in Chow every Sunday, coffee being topped up as and when it dropped to below half.

Our breakfast came and filled the bar space in front of us, it was huge. Everything was wonderfully cooked, the creamy scrambled eggs had courgettes, asparagus and goat's cheese running through it, the bacon crisp, and the chicken sausage patties very tasty. 

We had only ordered one small stack of pancakes and it was truly enough, but everything was tasty and well cooked, the staff attentive and full of banter. A great place to breakfast, well done Chow.

We paid up and then it was time to meet up with Richard at the market, we walked down Market St. and then turned into Van Ness Ave. passing the Symphony Hall, the Opera before turning into Grove street passing the Civic Hall and the Asian Art Museum. We sat in the warming sun at the Monument to the founding of San Francisco, we had arranged to meet Richard at “the” Monument, but unfortunately we were waiting at the “wrong” monument. But luckily the “other” Monument to Simon Bolivar was just across the road so we were soon reunited. 

The "Wrong Monument"

We had a good hour just browsing the stalls full with the fresh spring produce that is brought in from the farms surrounding San Francisco, there motto being “We grow what we sell”. 

Here are a few of the stalls selling their fresh produce.

And Some not so fresh!

It was then time to go to the de Young museum of Art, we had attempted to go there last time we visited san Francisco, not knowing that on Mondays it is closed, we were not making the same mistake again. So Richard took us to the bus stop for the Number 5 trolleybus that took us straight to the rear park entrance nearest to the museum.

On the way to the museum entrance we passed some swing dancers, this is a weekly occurrence but we were not in the mood for dancing so we watched for a while and then strolled towards the de Young Museum entrance. A wonderful thing in the USA is that senior citizens get reduction on transport and entrance fees to museums.

Here is a small selection of the works on show starting with the large mural in the entrance hall.

I went outside and sat in the sculpture garden,enjoying a cold beaker of water and enjoyed the warming afternoon sun to reflect on what I had seen.

One thing I found lacking in the museum was any art of the first nations, the Indian tribes of North America, there was art and artefacts, from Inuits, Eskimos, Aztecs, and other early civilisations of Central and South America, even some from Papua New Guinea, but none from the first nation, I wonder why?

After we left the de Young Museum we were aiming to go to the Japanese tea garden, but the number of people waiting to go in and the price of 10 dollars put us off, so we collected a free blueberry yoghurt ice and crossed the road to watch some free entertainment at the bandstand, it was Armenian dancers from the very little to the older and a full 30 piece band. Unfortunately my battery was out of power so no pics you will be glad to know.

We now headed for tram 33 to take us back to Dolores Park, having decided to knock our original plan of a trip to Chinatown on the head. We arrived back at the apartment and Richard suggested a nice Italian Restaurant called Noeteca that he knew, the owner and cook is a first generation Italian so the food has not been messed about with.  We all had a wonderful Chicken and dumpling soup followed by salads for all of us, Linda beetroot and goat’s cheese, Richard a Caprese and myself, a Chicory, Gorgonzola (Wisconsin) and crispy bacon. We then headed home and a well-earned sleep, as we are still suffering from jet lag and getting up very early (04:00).