San Francisco day 7: Coit Tower, Market Street, Mission Dolores, Painted Ladies

Today is the last full day in San Francisco,  we decided to go to Coit Tower first



Coit Tower, also known as the Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, is a 210-foot tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built in 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco; at her death in 1929 Coit left one-third of her estate to the city for civic beautification

We hiked up to Coit Tower,  we then took the elevator up to the top

Here are some pictures from the top of Coit Tower


Panorama of the city

Marina and Alcatraz

Bay Bridge



Here is also some art from inside the Coit Tower near the elevator


The Stockbroker




Workers




Train workers




Street/Market





From Coit Tower to Market Street
We then took a walk from Coit Street down to Market Street, here are some pics

My guess is that this is a topless cabaret




Cafe Trieste



I don't know if it's true or not, but the lady who operates the elevator in Coit Tower told me that Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screen play for The Godfather in this cafe. Patti Smith is another frequent visitor back in the day


Cool looking record store



The Hobart Building




The new SalesForce headquarters




Some office building




Another office building





After Market Street, we decided to go to Mission Dolores




Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions. The Mission was founded on June 29, 1776, by Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Francisco Palóu (a companion of Junípero Serra), both members of the de Anza Expedition, which had been charged with bringing Spanish settlers to Alta (upper) California, and evangelizing the local Natives, the Ohlone.


View from the cemetery

 


Fra Junipero Serra




View inside, note the orange glass




Another view




Side view





We took a stroll around Mission Dolores Park





People enjoying a perfect day in the park




Nice palmtree



And we finished the day with a visit to the Painted Ladies

Painted Ladies near Alamo Square


In American architecture, painted ladies are Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details. The term was first used for San Francisco Victorian houses by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their 1978 book Painted Ladies - San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians


Painted Ladies with the financial district visible in the background

San Francisco day 6: Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park and Twin Peaks

Today the plans were to go to Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden and Twin Peaks

On the way to the Japanese Tea Garden we passed this brown fire truck

It was interesting to see a brown fire truck, normally they are red


Just so that you know if you get to the Japanese Tea Garden before 10 AM on a Monday, you get in for free, otherwise it is $9 per person.  The Japanese Tea Garden is inside the Golden Gate Park. We got to the Japanese Tea Garden around 9:30 AM





The temple inside the garden


View of the tea house

Some fortune stones that are for sale in the gift shop

Some porcelain kitties

Some more porcelain kitties


Matcha


I ordered this and it was good. Texture was interesting. It was served with a marshmallow textured like dessert which was filled with bean paste.  Matcha is finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves. It is special in two aspects of farming and processing: the green tea plants for matcha are shade-grown for about three weeks before harvest and the stems and veins are removed in processing

Japanese Tea Garden Gate


Buddha Statue


Interesting Bridge


Golden Gate Park

Interesting little bridge


Chinese Pavillion


Interesting flowers




Twin Peaks

The Twin Peaks are two prominent hills with an elevation of about 925 feet (282 m)[1] located near the geographic center of San Francisco, California. Only 928 foot (283 m) Mount Davidson is higher within the city.

Picture of one peak taken from the other peak


View of downtown San Francisco


Panorama from Twin Peaks

Financial District


Another view of San Francisco


Financial District


Some kind of tower


The one thing you will notice when you get up on Twin Peaks is that it is really windy, so make sure to hold on to your hats and phones

San Francisco day 5: Japantown, Missions District, Lands End

The plan for today was to visit Japantown and Lands End

Japantown is located 3 blocks from where we were renting a house, this made it very easy to get there :-)
There are a bunch of stores, restaurants as well as cultural showrooms and societies


Plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Kanrin Maru



The Kanrin Maru, was the first Japanese ship ever to cross the Pacific, and its arrival in San Francisco made history

Some street signs in Japanese

Webster



Buchanan (Osaka Way)



These are 4 different pictures I put together from signs that are on various spots



I came back to Japantown for 5 minutes at night, that is why these 2 pictures are nightshots

The Peace Pagoda



A restaurant in restaurant row



The fillmore music venue



Some interesting houses




Mural near the fillmore for the Boom Boom Room


Towards the Mission district, we passed City Hall


Rogue One mural in the mission district


In the Mission District I could not believe how many homeless people were roaming around. I was talking to a driver about this and he said there are a lot of them in San Francisco because of the weather. According to the driver, in the 1980s, a lot of mental institutions were closed and the people who were in the institutions were let out. A lot of them ended up homeless

We took public transportation to Lands End. By the way having lived in New York, the public transportation system in San Francisco is a total mess. They really should come up with some kind of clipper card which you can by at every station. right now for the Muni you have to buy tickets there for Bart somewhere else etc etc


Panorama from the visitor center




Sutro Baths



The Sutro Baths was a large, privately owned public saltwater swimming pool complex, this is what is left now


A person meditating



With a view like that, I am sure his troubles seemed far away even if for a little while


A giant camera obscura

The beach with the black rocks



We then hiked on the Coastal Trail, here are some pictures I took from that hike


Mile Rock Beach

A hazy view of the Golden Gate bridge




Another panorama




Eagle Point



Hidden labyrinth at Eagle's Point, constructed by local artist Eduardo Aguilera

This what it for the day