San Francisco - 3, Interesting stuff

The first day I went to downtown San Francisco they had this market with cool art and I took a video that I got to figure out how to post on here...But also saw that the cable cars were like the ones in Milan with the Lombardia flag! Weird...

They also have these beautiful trees everywhere that are so symmetric and fractal looking... lol I wish we had them here too but they probably can not survive in Chicago cold.

Also, this next picture is for my brother. I hope he reads the blog. I found it in the middle of the worst area of San Francisco. Its perfect.

This chess set ( at the SFOMA store) was so cool and cost like $200 but I bet it makes playing the game so much more exciting :-p oh also it came with a table / stand.

And here is my last interesting picture from outside the SFOMA. Don't they already have that?

San Francisco - 2, Architecture and Design

The weather is mostly beautiful, the people are mostly relaxed. San Francisco has the most complicated highway system I have driven in so far with seven different levels and crazy traffic.

Unfortunately, I only took pictures of the Bay bridge and the Richmond bridge (I saw a rainbow while there) but the camera died for the Golden Gate bridge :-(   However, I drove through it and it is definitely the most impressive of all three; wider, taller, and red...it's a real thrill!

I went to visit a couple of architectural landmarks I could not miss - the church from Pier Luigi Nervi: amazingly beautiful and grand. Pictures can not really describe it. Also, the San Francisco Modern Art Museum (SFOMA... lol) by Mario Botta that is so consistent in its design and so massive. Also went to the Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center in Marin County but it was raining so bad that day..ggrr!

 

This is the longest post I have ever written but I have to add some more things about design. Things that I can't avoid noticing! These bathrooms signs that have groovy people on them and also these chairs by the pier.

San Francisco - 1, Facts

1. The houses on the hills and their ceramic shingles remind me of Greece.
2. Sour dough bread is the number one choice. I like this place.
   
3. The fog is obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge. I have the best perspective from my hotel but can never actually see it. It is sad. 
4. As soon as I got here it rained more than it has never rained before.
5. Expensive, expensive, expensive. To go into the city you can chose to pay 6 dollars by BART, 5 dollar toll if you drive and then good luck parking, or 7 dollars by ferry each way. Walking?
6. Trader Joe's are all over the place - dare I say more than Starbucks.
7. And so are homeless people - the weather favors the outdoor stay I guess...
   
8. A lot of people that live in the suburbs have no idea of what goes on in the city.
9. The fire hydrants are white!!! What??

Twin Cities...

...as in Saint Paul is the one to work in and Minneapolis is the one to party in. I wish someone had told me this before I went. **Note for the future**

Things that surprised me about these two:

1. Street parking is more expensive here than in Chicago and really hard to find. But parking garages are relatively cheap.
2. In Minneapolis they actually have open bar until 11:30pm and it's not a scam.
3. Every building in the downtowns has a sky-way level which are these bridges that connect all the buildings so people walk through them and don't even have to go outside. Why didn't we do this in Chicago?
4. Speed limit is 65 mph - I am pretty sure that is illegal in Illinois
5. No tolls anywhere! Yay!

Nature is really pretty and the Mississippi is everywhere and also many many lakes. I wish I had spent more time going around, I barely went to the Mall of America but at least I saw it.
I went to the University of Minnesota where I encountered these two interesting buildings. One is the alumni center and the other for the college of design.

Next time I need to plan more time for tourism out of the work time.I would definitely go back but stay in Minneapolis instead of Saint Paul, so there is more interaction with people.