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August 2005

San Francisco

David Aaronson
2005-10-01 19:07:38

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This is an optical illusion, and also the inside of the Museum of Modern Art (8). Like most museums of modern art there's a healthy mixture of jaw-dropping grand scale art work, talented but confusing exhibits, and of course displays that only a hard code artist could ever really call art. This is also the most accessible of San Francisco's major museums. Most of the others are out in Golden Gate Park which is a fair bit away from the center of town. MOMA is located in the financial district.

We can't have a San Francisco page withough a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, so here it is (9). This is seen from Russian Hill. As you can see, it's really only obviously red if you're much much closer, or maybe if it's actually sunny (rare). The first day we were here, it couldn't be seen at all because of the fog.

This is our San Francisco postcard picture (10). Two passing trolleys on Russian Hill with Alcatraz looming in the bay. We could probably say something about Alcatraz here, but let's face it, it's an abandonded prison on an island in the bay. Is it worth touring? Maybe. We didn't, so we'll leave that as an exercise to the reader. As for trolleys? They're neat, they make pleasant clanging noises, but as public transportation goes, they're crowded, expensive and quite limited in terms of coverage. The buses of San Francisco are cheaper and more efficient unless you're travelling very explicitly along a trolley route.

On the other side of town is the Bay Bridge heading off to Oakland. You can see Oakland there to the left of the support tower on the bridge (11). The other obvious landmark is the quirky looking Coit Tower which originated partly as a fire watch tower, and partly as just a weird obsession.

Pier 39 was taken by a hostile invasion of sea lions somewhat unexpectedly after the 1989 earthquake. After initial confusion and a bit of damage to local boats, the city decided it was best to keep them, albeit segregated. So now they have their own set of rafts to lie about napping on, and occassionally making loud noises like 'ARQ ARQ'. There's also a specially expanded viewing area on the pier. They're rather interesting to watch and you can attempt to develop your own theories of Sea Lion colony social graces (have a beer first though).