San Francisco

One of the cool things about hostels, at least the two I've been to so far, is that they give you free continental breakfast. Apparently here continental just means toast, bagels and coffee, but it was free so it was perfectly fine with me. This hostel used to be a hotel and they do the breakfast in a little restaurant off the lobby so there's limited seating. About halfway through my first piece of toast, a total stranger (!) asked if she could sit at my table. I'm trying to stop being such a timid mouse around new people (and also, what am I going to say? Leave me alone so I can eat my toast in peace?) so of course I said yes and she sat down. I got up for more toast and coffee and she got up to get her breakfast arranged but finally we were both sitting down and had no choice but to talk to each other.

I'm pretty sure she talked first, maybe asked me where I'm from, I don't remember. Anyway, we had a nice discussion about where we were each from, what brought us to the hostel, etc (her name's Kelly, she lives in nearby Stockton, CA but she takes classes in SF and the commute is too much to make several times a week so she stays at the hostel in between). I mentioned I was thinking of going to Golden Gate Park today and she pointed out the free day for the science museum she was planning to go to and suggested we head over there together. So yes, I met a complete stranger at breakfast at the hostel and we went and did something fun. That actually happens. Crazy.

So we took the bus over to GGP, which I enjoyed immensely because it seems no matter where I go, taking the bus is pretty much the same. For a moment, I felt entirely in my element. :)

When we got to the park we found that the line for the science museum (California Academy of Sciences, to be technical) was genuinely, literally, a mile long. Clearly folks in San Fran enjoy their free museum days. Kelly had a class in a few hours so waiting wasn't an option. We headed instead to the nearby de Young art museum where we did have to pay to get in but at least there was no waiting. We saw just about everything on the main floor which included the Art of the Americas and the Collection of Contemporary Craft (which contained several beautiful glass pieces by Dale Chihuly). There was another floor and a half of art to see, but at that point I was getting tired of looking so we found a bench to hang out on while Kelly figured out how to get to class from the museum. Soon afterward she took off to her class and I headed next door to check out the Japanese Tea Garden.

I had read great things about the Tea Garden but maybe I was too tired to appreciate it or maybe there were just too many people. I kept hoping I could find a quiet corner and relax and think about things but there weren't any quiet corners. I took some photos and found a bench outside to figure out my next move. I had seen some information about the Conservatory of Flowers online but I didn't quite know where it was in the park so I just started walking in what I hoped was the right general direction. I like to think I have a pretty good sense of direction, so it was gratifying to see the conservatory roof peeking over the trees before long.

I was hoping for a giant room overflowing with gorgeous colorful flowers that you hardly ever get a chance to see in nature, like a Portland garden times 100, but it turns out when they say flowers, they really just mean plants. Bummer. Still, there were some interesting plants and a handful of beautiful flowers for me to see so I enjoyed myself anyway. The rooms had to be sweltering and humid to provide the right environment for the plants to thrive, but at the same time the humidity sucked all of the energy right out of me. When I got to the gift shop (which they must plan somehow) I was all worn out and ready to buy things :D Somehow the voice of reason chimed in to remind me that no matter how many lovely seed packets and growing pots I bought, I was still likely to kill these plants too, so I should save my cash. Good advice, especially since I'm about to go to the desert so anything that might be alive now would probably not thrive there regardless of my influence.

At that point, I was all out of juice so I figured out where the stop was and caught a bus back to the hostel. If I had more days here I'd go see more things, but tomorrow I'm off to Santa Barbara and the Los Padres National Forest. It may be July before I have internet access again, so until then...

xo,
C