We continue to love San Francisco – despite the weather
The weather has decided to take a turn for the
worse. Instead of blue skies and sunshine, we’ve got a miserable sea
mist hanging over the city, making everything seem grey and gloomy.
So a great day to do indoor things. After visiting Starbucks to upload
yesterday’s diary, and check our email, we took a combination of buses
to the California Academy of Science and Steinhauser Aquarium. The Science
Academy turned out to be more about nature than science, including a
great tableaux of African animals in a landscape setting (of course,
the animals are dead and stuffed – a process which Emily wanted to know
the fine details of!), as well as a room full of skulls of different
animals. Again the girls were fascinated (they’ve obviously got a morbid
streak), and Emily took a great deal of interest in the human skulls
at different ages. The simulated earthquake was another favourite –
it seemed to be much more relevant here in San Francisco than when you
do the same thing at the Science Museum, especially when you’re seeing
film of the area the museum stands in, being wrecked by the 1986 earthquake.
The other highlight was the aquarium, which we hadn’t been too fussed
about, but turned out to be a real treat. The highlight was ‘the roundabout’,
where you walked up a circular ramp into something like a huge lighthouse
top, and tuna, stingray and lots of other fish were swimming frantically
around the outside of the glass, in an amazing display. It captivated
us all, and made the visit memorable.
Then,
after a spot of lunch at a café, it was off to the Legion of Honor,
an art gallery in a nice park setting on the Pacific Ocean. They had
the Rodin ‘Thinker’ - but sadly it was inside a tent that we couldn’t
get into because of some corporate event. So we at least went there,
and stood outside the tent imagining what we missed! We also saw some
paintings by all the majors, including the impressionists - must be
the favourites of all of us, because we’re all willing to gaze at them,
having rushed past the Constables and Vermeers of the gallery. And just
so you can feel as if you were there, I took a photo of the nicest Monet,
of Venice (1906)
Then we did an awful thing – we went back to the same restaurant for the third night in a row! How shocking is that – we’ve got the whole of San Francisco to choose from, and we end up in the same restaurant again and again. But it was described by one restaurant critic as “the place to go if you have a caviar taste and a Spam budget” – so its obviously right for some of us!
Then,
after a spot of lunch at a café, it was off to the Legion of Honor,
an art gallery in a nice park setting on the Pacific Ocean. They had
the Rodin ‘Thinker’ - but sadly it was inside a tent that we couldn’t
get into because of some corporate event. So we at least went there,
and stood outside the tent imagining what we missed! We also saw some
paintings by all the majors, including the impressionists - must be
the favourites of all of us, because we’re all willing to gaze at them,
having rushed past the Constables and Vermeers of the gallery. And just
so you can feel as if you were there, I took a photo of the nicest Monet,
of Venice (1906)Then we did an awful thing – we went back to the same restaurant for the third night in a row! How shocking is that – we’ve got the whole of San Francisco to choose from, and we end up in the same restaurant again and again. But it was described by one restaurant critic as “the place to go if you have a caviar taste and a Spam budget” – so its obviously right for some of us!