Whipping Around San Francisco

After the day on the cable cars, we had a couple days of whirl-wind touring in the car around San Francisco. The Palace of Fine Arts was built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition to exhibit works of art presented there. It was rebuilt in 1965 of stronger materials.

Boxes above the colonnade were made to hold plants, but they were never added. Weeping women at each corner were supposed to water the plants. Seems like a waste of water in drought-stricken California.

Any visit to San Francisco would not be complete without driving down the crookedest street, Lombard Street.

There are 8 tight hairpin turns down a very steep grade. Glad I don't have my trailer with me...

People who live on the street have a difficult time finding a garage door to fit.

A photographer's favorite view is of the Painted Ladies, with the city behind them. Unfortunately, it's hard to see how pretty they are because the sun is behind them. Afternoon would be better.

I always enjoy going to the California missions, and Mission San Francisco de Asis (aka Mission Dolores) is a great one. The mission was founded in 1776, but this is not the original - this one was built in 1918.

This is the inside of the Mission Chapel, the original mission. I thought the ceiling was really unique.

And I loved this mosaic outside.

From there we meandered over to Fort Point, underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

Fort Point has stood guard at the narrows of the Golden Gate for over 150 years.

It's now a National Historic Site, but was used in World War II as temporary housing for soldiers.

An 1869 photo, long before the Golden Gate Bridge was built.

Looking above the fog.

We also went through the Japanese Tea Garden. Would probably been better in the spring, but it was still interesting.

And they have an interesting bridge that you can crawl over.

More to come!