San Jose 2010: Thursday

14 Sunday Nov 2010

Posted by Crystal in Photography, Travel

Tags

2010, california, Egyptian Museum, Palace of Fine Arts, san jose, sarah winchester, Winchester Mystery House

Mystery House Edition
;-) Thursday I drove (exactly an hour) to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. I arrived WAY before it opened, so I drove around a little bit and got some breakfast.
Sadly, you couldn’t take pictures inside, so I’ve only got exterior and through-the-window shots to share.
The house is terribly interesting, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is in the area.
The house was built by Sarah Winchester for 38 years, supposedly as directed by ghosts. Just when you think she’s entirely crazy, you learn about some cutting-edge technology or innovation she had installed in the house.

Crazy!

Here’s a link to the official website.

There are more pictures and plenty of interior shots on flickr. Click here.

Having trouble picking shots I want to use, so here are a couple:

After I left there, I visited the Egyptian Museum in San Jose.

After an interesting drive back to San Fran, I made a stop at the Palace for a couple night shots.

San Francisco 2010: Wednesday {part deux}

13 Saturday Nov 2010

Posted by Crystal in Photography, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

california, Palace of Fine Arts, Photography, san francisco, Travel

After the wandering at Coit Tower, I ventured back on the muni and stopped to take pictures of what I am calling the “Emerald City House.” Which I attribute to the fact that I am rereading all the L. Frank Baum Oz books.

Oddly enough, this house was a block away from Cafe Francisco, where I sat and waited for the muni that morning. I even have pictures of this house, I just didn’t see the windows from that angle. I then went to the place I had been anticipating ever since we drove by it on the tour Monday:

The Palace of Fine Arts

Built for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915, it was so beloved that the city kept it. In the 60s it was refurbished, and either fortunately or unfortunately, it currently was having some work done so I couldn’t walk through it. But then, a bunch of tourists in the pictures probably could have snatched some of the magic away.

So here you go, Wednesday’s new favorites place:

Sigh. I totally want one.

I wandered a bit on Chestnut, which has a ton of shops, got dinner, and went back to the hostel for the evening.

San Francisco 2010: Wednesday

10 Wednesday Nov 2010

Posted by Crystal in Photography, Travel

≈ 4 Comments

This entry will be light on pictures, since I haven’t even finished looking through Wednesday’s shots yet. You can check flickr later for more, although there’s always a chance I”ll remember and put them here.

I started off Wednesday with an early muni ride and walk, including a stop at Cafe Francisco on Powell St. Then on to…

Alcatraz

So here’s a tip: get there early! I”m pretty sure I was there at least 40 minutes early, and I definitely wasn’t the first. The Alcatraz tour is very interesting. DEfinitely not creepy–there are way too many tourists for that. I still haven’t finished sorting through my pics.

I took the bus to Coit Tower after the return to the mainland. I was searching for this castle that was an old restaurant apparently located on Telegraph Hill with the tower. I didn’t find it, but as I was looking through my pics today I saw I had a shot of it in one of my tower pics. Oh the irony.

Here’s a distance shot of Coit.