Last California Post

It's been a weird week. I feel like I'm moving in slow motion while everything else is speeding by. I had such a long list of things I wanted to accomplish and so much that didn't get done. But I guess that's not really unusual for me. Frustrating, yes. Unusual, no.

But back to my photos from California. Just a few more to share before I move on to other things. Thanks for putting up with me!

I really wish I had spent more time at the Cantor Arts Center on Stanford's campus.

Outside is the Rodin sculpture garden. Inside is a huge collection of more of his works as well as quite a bit of other art, much of which I did not get to see. I intended to go back and spend some more time there, but it never did happen.

I did get to see the entire collection at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. I even got a personal tour.

The museum is in a (small) storefront in the downtown and it was not at all what you would have expected. The exhibit there was more fiber art sculpture than quilt, but it was interesting and fun as was that area of the city. In the center of the boulevard by the museum was an art installation solar phone booth.

There were other museums and galleries and things to do in San Jose, but I just drove through.

When Matthias was researching things to do in San Francisco he came across an article that claimed that the city was easy to do in a day. There was a schedule of places to go and it all sounded perfectly doable. Well, I would have to disagree. I could have spent a few days in Golden Gate park, let alone the rest of the city. There was plenty that we didn't end up seeing in the park (the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory, the Academy of Sciences...). But we did spend some time at the de Young Museum.

The apples sculpture by Gustav Kraitz was perhaps my favorite, but there are so many great pieces both inside and out. The building and surrounding gardens are beautiful, too.

And at the top there is an observation tower.

Do you see why I wanted to spend more time here?

We did move on from the park so that we could see a few more things in the city, including the Golden Gate Bridge (not near the park as I had imagined).

There were no places to park in the overly crowded lot beside the bridge, but we parked illegally to snap a few photos.

Chinatown was fun and beautiful as the day was fading.

I found it funny that there is a monastery on top of Bank of America.

All in all the trip was great.

Hope you had a wonderful week.