San Francisco Photo Journal

A few random photos from San Francisco without the boring usual suspects. Above, a stuffed giraffe at the Academy of Sciences.

A watercolor painting by a naturalist on a boat sometime in the 1800's to capture the colors of the tropical fish before they fade away:

Tiny part of a huge mural in the Mission district:

Another mural, this one in front of a private residence, very cool and weird but I like the little red bird the best.

Foucault's pendulum at the Academy of Sciences. Proves the world is rotating. I happened to see it knock over one of the markers. It was very exciting and the crowd oohed appropriately. Read here for more info.
One of the brazen squirrels in the Golden Gate park botanical garden. I especially like his shadow.

View from our hotel window at the Westin of the Marriott. The last evening in San Francisco we went to the top of that hotel to the Sky Bar or whatever it was called. It is in that giant half circle. It was like the emperor's chamber on the Death Star. At the bottom of the photo you can see a weird pyramid like room poking up; that is part of the Contemporary Jewish Museum. I went in that strange room and it was all white inside.

A delicious gingerbread pancake at Zazie's on Cole street.
Bicycle polo players in the Mission district. We had to wait 25 minutes for the J train and this kept us entertained. The players were very serious about their game.
A fabulous, creepy shop on Haight called Loved to Death. Lots of stuffed birds and bones and antique prints. I was in heaven and bought one of these urchin shells and some of the teeny tiny seastars on the left. I want to try and suspend the stars in resin. I also bought an antique fish engraving to go with the one we bought in London.


Street team dancers at Haight street and Cole. Capoeira: n. An Afro-Brazilian dance form that incorporates self-defense maneuvers. I guess they teach classes. It looked fun. And they were singing and clapping on the outside ring while 2 or 3 members danced.

Self-portrait sans flash in hotel room.
Trevor at breakfast at the Canteen.

Trevor insisted on a photo of this since at his work he is always talking to his team about "adding value" to their product. (Developer speak.) But the more I look at this photo, the more I like the abstract idea of it.
If you visit San Francisco, I highly recommend getting the consecutive day MUNI pass that let's you ride all the trains, buses, and cable cars in the city. It took me a day or so to figure it all out, but it was well worth it as we got all over the city and saw a lot more than the little shopping/museum district downtown.