As promised, here's the second part to my third day. I've been having a blast making these posts and I do hope you feel the same way reading them. Muir Woods was beautiful and green, but there's something about the urban cityscape that screams being alive. I guess it's the hustle and bustle of things that I've noted.
After we traveled down the mountains and out of the forest, Amber's dad decided to take us to the Palace of Fine Arts since it was around the area we were in. I've only ever been to the Palace once and I didn't even go in, we only took pictures outside of it.
The one on the right was my favorite. The white accents against the gray and taupe are beautiful. Adding in a touch of maroon for the gates made them pop.
We were all in awe at how beautiful the homes were facing the Palace of Fine Arts. I would love to have a home with huge windows one day.
SUCH A CUTE DOG. HE/SHE IS SO FLUFFY.
The Husky saying hi to their swan friends!
A short history lesson summarized in five points.
A. The Palace of Fine Arts is a monument constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition to display artwork.
B. It was reconstructed in 1965.
C. The Palace was designed by Bernard Maybeck who took inspiration from Greek and Roman structures.
D. It used to house the Exploratorium before they moved to the Embarcadero.
E. IT IS BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL AND MY FRIEND KIM HAD HER PROM PICTURES TAKEN HERE AND IT WAS MAGICAL.
The one thing I can say about the Palace and being finally up close to it is how monumental and gargantuan this construct actually is. I fell in love with the small designs on the columns. Much respect to Bernard Maybeck for his wonderfully crafted skill.
The dome oh my god. I love everything about it. The angels on the top of the columns were giving off that creepy stare, but I still loved it.
Did I lie down on the ground to take the picture before this? Nope. This guy did. Props to him and his pro photo skillz.
Hey Nikki! Nikki recently posted her vlog of our trip. Watch (here) for a simple and direct overview of the week we spent in SF. Tiffanie also recorded her perspective of the trip, watch (here) for day one!
Immediately after The Palace of Fine Arts, we drove up to Lombard Street. The walk around Muir Woods kinda tired us out a bit so we just opted to drive down the iconic Street. What is Lombard Street you ask? Well, according to Wikipedia:
Lombard Street is an east–west street in San Francisco, California. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns. The street was named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia by San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell.
I couldn't take a proper picture of the street because we were in the car, so here's an aerial shot of it from Wiki.
Thanks, Wikipedia.
However, I did catch this one, from the bottom up!
Still pretty awesome, I would say.
From the top of Lombard, I took this one awesome view of the city, Coit Tower and all.
After we drove down Lombard Street we drove to China Town for a bit to sight see.
One of the trolleys! We rode this, but that's another post for later.
San Francisco's China Town is one of those places where a huge diverse cast of characters roam about. I took this opportunity to go and try my hand at street photography.
Another chic couple. San Francisco has some of the most fashionable people around.
The smell of China Town was extremely nostalgic to me. I love the smell of incense and rather odd herbs and dried things only Chinese grandads and grandmums would know.
After China Town we drove into Little Italy. It was my first time there and the huge difference a street can make is so shocking! One minute we're in the heart of China Town and the next, we're traversing down lanes with the smell of garlic wafting our noses and Italian opera playing.
I love street art.
The Stinking Rose! There's one in LA and my sister would probably love it here. With her love of garlic and food, she would have a blast here. We settled to eat at this small pizza place and it was delicious. There's something about small family owned Italian restaurants that make their own pizza special.
Amber thought the hill would have a really pretty view at the end of it.
This reminded me of the Full House house.
I think the one thing that kept running on my mind was, "how the heck do these San Franciscans deal with all these hills?" Shortly after, I saw a woman carrying groceries like a champ, even jogging her way up to her apartment.
At the end of the hill, we expected a view but nope, there was only another street. Until we turned around.
I took my friend Eva's advice and tilt shifted one of the shots. It turned out absolutely wonderful.
There was an artist's studio at one of the buildings we saw and I fell in love. I would love to have a studio with windows all around, especially in a cityscape.
After our walk down the hill, Amber's dad took us to Washington Park and we strolled around. I twas nice seeing local artists sell their products while at the same time we saw Chinese grannies dancing.
We entered into one of the churches and the structure was absolutely beautiful. I didn't take any pictures out of respect. The interior reminded me of churches back in the Philippines.
So after Washington Park we went up to Coit Tower. The original plan was to go up the elevator to see the view of the entire city but once we got there, the wait was 45 minutes. We opted out! In the end we still got some pretty awesome views from the base of the tower.
Still a pretty good view!
From how high up we were, it was cool seeing the rooftops of some highrises. I think the one in the center was a hotel?
Thanks for reading this one huge chunk of my third day in San Francisco! Day Four, my favorite one, will be up soon.
.x
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