Sights from San Francisco

On a business trip to San Fran and of course I thought of all of you.

Masonic Building

(same building)

Public school building (below)

Statue I stopped in road to take picture of (same as Masonic building)

And, my sight seeing tour this time, the "Mission Dolores":

Established in October of 1776, it served as a place for native people to be converted to Christianity. Buried in the cemetery are about 6,000 people, though it's tiny. Europeans were given stone tablets, native people got wood, and many of those (actually, all but the one recently restored) are gone. It was recommended that I go to this place and I'm so glad I did. I usually try to see some sights when I travel, and religious venues are high on my list.

I liked how this painting is depicting Jesus (in the Trinity) as three persons.

Chandeliers in the gift shop.

Though this looks like St. Francis, patron of both this Mission and the City, it's actually Father Junipero Serra, who founded the Mission.

The headstone above shows two children who died very close to one another. Lots of young people were lost in that era to illness.

The headstone below is for a guy whose modest marker was overshadowed by a prominent one (a rather big production,) and I wanted to give him some "press."

The below hut (called a tula) would have been a traditional living structure of the Ohlone (pronounced Ah-loney) Indians, the indiginous people of this area. Some descendents have restored parts of the cemetery to include proper homage to the people that lived here first, and who are buried alongside the European settlers.

Look carefully at the below picture. I was attracted by the wooden marker and its contrast to the stone tablets, and asked the groundskeeper about it. He explained some of the history. I found out that he is the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of the people memorialized on the wooden marker! And there he was watering the flowers in front of their grave! I asked if I could take his picture and then sent it to him on my cell phone. His family is active in the Missions today. I didn't want to show his photo since he has no idea I'm listing any of this on a blog. But I can tell you it is sweet to look at the whole picture with him tending his great (x 6!) grandparents' grave marker. I was glad I was there to take the shot. I feel as though I witnessed a bit of history just by being there.

Some other random shots after the break:

I'm one of those annoying drivers that takes pictures while stopped (sometimes!) at lights.

Lunch at a tapas place in The Mission.

Driving around in North Beach.

Stopped at another light.

Lunch a different day. I made sure to get the tequila bottles in the background. Good fried ice cream is hard to find.

The Giants were playing this day. The bougainvillea is a site to be seen.

Japanese Tea House entrance at the De Young Museum.

Who knew?!

The man who bought the Segway Scooter company died while I was in SF this week.

(By Nancy J. White for Reuters: British millionaire businessman, Jimi Heselden, who bought the U.S.-based firm that manufactures the self-balancing Segway scooter, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff with one of the two-wheeled electric scooters near his body, police said on Monday.)