San Fran -part deux!

We had such a blast today!

We got to Vallejo and just caught the ferry around 8:30. We spent the majority of the ride out on the railing watching the water and other boats and bridges. It was so windy and humid that my hair went from smooth to fluffy frizzy in an instant! Thank goodness for ponytails.

We got to pier 39 just before 10 and most of the small stores were still closed. We walked around and through the stores that were open. One gallery was of stunning nature photography done with a large format camera - gorgeous photos! Next we got some salt water taffy and watched a street performer's juggling act.

By noon the pier was starting to fill with people and as we browsed a few shops we were invited to participate in a market research survey & taste test for a new coffee product. In exchange for our time, they promised $20 bill per person. We figured why not... We had time. And it was an adventure.. They have us three different "coffee" drinks to give our opinion about. I say "coffee" because it wasn't. It was supposed to be a refreshing coffee-fruit drink. All I have to say is disgusting! I seriously wonder who came up with the idea. All three versions were horrid. Imagine taking a pot of week old coffee, mixing it with a smoothie, adding flour & fake sugar, and then leaving it in the fridge for a month. Would you drink it or try to get anyone else to? But we each got $20 and had fun together.

We'd seen pretty much all of pier 39 at this point and decided to try to find a musuem or something to go see. Eddy mentioned king tut was on exhibit. We found a park it was by on a map and decided to walk there.. We thought it'd take like 30 mins... But it turns out none of us are good at estimating distance on a map and it took almost 2 hrs!!!

Then we discovered we weren't even at the right park/museum for the king tut exhibit. It was on the clear other side of town!!!!
We were all exhausted and decided to get some good and pick what to do next. We ate at Chevys (I wanted to eat at a local resrurant, but Chevys was within view and so we settled). Lunch was yummy and replenishing.

Turned out the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was right where we thought the other one was going to be and I'd seen some ads for Richard Avedon's exhibit that was showing there and so we decided to go there instead. I'm so glad we did!!

We used our coffee taste test money to pay for the museum tickets. I am so bummed that I forgot my student id- I would have saved like $6. But essentially it was still free.

There were some very modern and strange pieces of art on the few floors and Jeff and Eddy were so confused and not thrilled to be there. "Is this really art?!?" was plastered across their expressions. I began to doubt that spending my $20 coffee money was a bust.

But as we moved through mote rooms and floors it was so neat! I saw work by lots of photographers and painters I learned about in my art history and photo classes these past years, but instead of seeing a mediocre slide or tiny 1" print in a book... I was seeing original art! Beautiful full size paintings and photographs!

I was thrilled when I turned a corner and there was a huge piece by Mark Rothko! I love his work, but I've only ever seen it in books or online. He was influencial in my color space emotion pieces last year. I think I spent at least 10-15 minutes just standing there. So incredible!!!

Then around a few more corners were three pieces from Josef Albers' homage to squares! He was another artist that I referenced in my colorspace photographs.

The majority of the next floor was devoted to Robert Frank and his series The Americans. Over and over it was so neat and shocking to recognize various photographs I've seen multiple times, but never in person and up close! There were so many images and it really gave me a better appreciatarion for his work. It was fun having Kirsten there with me. I'd point out some of my favorites and she'd do the same and we'd discuss them. :)

Then it was up another floor to Richard Avedon's exhibit of work throughout his entire life. I've always loved his work, but books and ppts do not do his work justice. Seeing the prints made me love his work even more. His focus and lighting and detail and tonal range are exquisite! And his rendering of pure human emotion and variety is inspiring. Many of his prints were around 8x10in to 11x14in... But in the last room they were at least 4 feet wide!!! These were my favorites. The focus and tonal Edition:3rd on these were perfect! The subject's eyes were striking and every detail of their skin and clothing stood out. Wish I'd had more time to spend in this room. If you ever have a chance to go see this exhibit, you should.

It was getting close to when we needed to leave and so we rushed through an exhibit focused on select work of Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keefe. There were also some images from Paul Strand, Edward Weston and others mixed in with their exhibit.

There were so many other recognizable artists throughout the musuem! Andre Kertez, Rene Magritte, Frieda calloigh(sp?), Henri Matisse, Georgeann Braque, & Picasso to name a few...

Needless to say I had a blast at the museum. I am so glad we went to the wrong spot!!!

We were not about to walk the 3 miles back to the pier and ferry, so we caught the city bus. It was relatively boring - except for the crazy driving, Chinatown, a woman nearby getting her hand smashed in the door of the taxi, and a cute little old woman witnessing to the man sitting beside her.

We relaxed on the pier for the las few minutes then caught the ferry back to Vallejo, and started our journey home. Eddy and Kirsten napped for a bit, then we stopped and got In 'N Out in placerville. The remainder of the trip we spent discussing the art and not-so-art from the musuem.

All in all it was an extremely long day, but I had so much fun just enjoying the company of my husband and friends and exploring the city. Definately going to have to take another trip soon!