Today I had to leave behind my lovely hotel and move to the accommodation provided as part of the tour. It's not nearly as nice (woe is me...) Actually, it's not too bad, and will no doubt seem luxurious when I'm in a tent in the days to come.
I thought I'd been to Chinatown before. I remember it as a mostly authentic and almost magical place. Unfortunately, I realised when I got there that my memory was of Chinatown in LA. Chinatown in San Francisco is memorable for other reasons. It's mostly run by Italians, one of whom (Gino) took a bit of a shine to me. He was a very forward young man who told me 'they' were beautiful and asked if 'they' were real. I made the only appropriate response and cracked up laughing. At which point he told me I had a lovely laugh and it made him want to..... Now you all know that my laugh can be heard from three blocks away so it's just as well not every man has that reaction. I warded off one more attempt to give me a hug, shook his hand and thanked him for an entertaining 5 minutes and headed for the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art today.
I've been to a few of the best art galleries in the world so I'm a bit hard to please. I suppose the best comparison for the SFMOMA is the Tate Modern and it held its own. Like most modern art museums, it was a combination of the beautiful and the brutal. I'm often disappointed by the paintings in modern art museums and the first few exhibitions were of the same tenor. However, the Stein collection was on display with paintings by Picasso, Matisse and a few other artists, including a couple from my favourite, Renoir. Renoir loved women; you can tell by his paintings. No awkward or uncomfortable poses - just curvy (chubby?) happy looking women. Of the the girl in dappled light does look a little bruised with the effects of the light through tree leaves... but still, she looks happy.
I've never been a big Picasso fan, but this exhibition changed my mind. Getrude Stein bought many of his early works and then couldn't afford his later pieces. His early stuff is much more appealing to me than the wierd faces etc that he later painted.
There was a really interesting photo exhibition of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The artist had taken a series of pictures of painted words on buildings. "Dont try. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns and a claw hammer"; "family home $200K, classic jaguar $5k, insurance won't pay - worthless." and the killer final photo "destroy this memory".
Another installation was a rather brutal murder scene which had been filmed 73 times at different times of the day and replayed at those exact time of the day.
A taxi ride reminscient of Mario Andretti in a toyota prius got my heart rate racing before I hopped on the cable car to take me to the ferry. A sunset cruise out on the bay, past Alcatraz, Angel Island, a place I can't remember where the rich live - you would not believe the houseboat I saw, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I took way too many photos. A glass of wine and a bite to eat were included so it was a lovely way to spend my last evening in San Francisco.
San Franscisco is a lovely city and I will be sad to leave it. The architecture is amazing; the bay window suburbs, the old buildings, the beautifully designed new ones - even the glass montrosities surprise you with a square full of flowers and water features in their midst. I have only one question left: are you going to San Francisco....? If not, you should - complete with flower in your hair.
I thought I'd been to Chinatown before. I remember it as a mostly authentic and almost magical place. Unfortunately, I realised when I got there that my memory was of Chinatown in LA. Chinatown in San Francisco is memorable for other reasons. It's mostly run by Italians, one of whom (Gino) took a bit of a shine to me. He was a very forward young man who told me 'they' were beautiful and asked if 'they' were real. I made the only appropriate response and cracked up laughing. At which point he told me I had a lovely laugh and it made him want to..... Now you all know that my laugh can be heard from three blocks away so it's just as well not every man has that reaction. I warded off one more attempt to give me a hug, shook his hand and thanked him for an entertaining 5 minutes and headed for the San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art today.
I've been to a few of the best art galleries in the world so I'm a bit hard to please. I suppose the best comparison for the SFMOMA is the Tate Modern and it held its own. Like most modern art museums, it was a combination of the beautiful and the brutal. I'm often disappointed by the paintings in modern art museums and the first few exhibitions were of the same tenor. However, the Stein collection was on display with paintings by Picasso, Matisse and a few other artists, including a couple from my favourite, Renoir. Renoir loved women; you can tell by his paintings. No awkward or uncomfortable poses - just curvy (chubby?) happy looking women. Of the the girl in dappled light does look a little bruised with the effects of the light through tree leaves... but still, she looks happy.
I've never been a big Picasso fan, but this exhibition changed my mind. Getrude Stein bought many of his early works and then couldn't afford his later pieces. His early stuff is much more appealing to me than the wierd faces etc that he later painted.
There was a really interesting photo exhibition of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The artist had taken a series of pictures of painted words on buildings. "Dont try. I am sleeping inside with a big dog, an ugly woman, two shotguns and a claw hammer"; "family home $200K, classic jaguar $5k, insurance won't pay - worthless." and the killer final photo "destroy this memory".
Another installation was a rather brutal murder scene which had been filmed 73 times at different times of the day and replayed at those exact time of the day.
A taxi ride reminscient of Mario Andretti in a toyota prius got my heart rate racing before I hopped on the cable car to take me to the ferry. A sunset cruise out on the bay, past Alcatraz, Angel Island, a place I can't remember where the rich live - you would not believe the houseboat I saw, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I took way too many photos. A glass of wine and a bite to eat were included so it was a lovely way to spend my last evening in San Francisco.
San Franscisco is a lovely city and I will be sad to leave it. The architecture is amazing; the bay window suburbs, the old buildings, the beautifully designed new ones - even the glass montrosities surprise you with a square full of flowers and water features in their midst. I have only one question left: are you going to San Francisco....? If not, you should - complete with flower in your hair.
Ooh thanks Nina - lovely blog and great descriptions - feel like I've been there. p.s. Gino entertained me, too!!!! I x
ReplyDeleteSan Fran sounds amazing. I have never been but I am tempted to make the effort now. If we go to the States next year as we have been thinking about, I'm going to see if we can include this on our itinerary.
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