Museum – Portmanteau Suitcase

Idle Hands Mean…A Trip to Europe!

The Great Hall, Natural History Museum, London

After meeting up with my former Williams biology TA and his wife, my wheels started turning. She had mentioned her “new” discovery of Google flights. So I got to thinking… Even though I was enjoying my “Real Housewife of Silicon Valley” rest and relaxation, the thought of a last minute trip became very exciting. Mainly because when else, other than after retirement, will I have this much time that is obligation-free from a scheduling standpoint? I can just pick up and go! And so, I did.

Yes! I went on Google Flights and found out that a trip to London that was relatively inexpensive. It was still quite a bit, but half the price of anywhere else in Europe. I wasn’t super-flexible with dates since SMS and I have a trip planned for the second half of July so really, I was pretty fixed between 7 July – 15 July. I do recommend Google flights map option where you can look broadly at destinations in a specific month for a one or two week timeframe. A person could really score some deals! After unsuccessfully trying to use a travel credit, I booked with points.

SMS wasn’t able to come and really, didn’t have a ton of interest in a long-haul flight. Before I left, we got the Tesla 3 serviced since the tires were super-worn on the inside (very sneaky!). There’s also a weird wheel squeak that they said they fixed, but they are Pinocchio nose-growing liars since it’s there and actually worse.

That morning, I took the train into San Francisco to meet with another Williams classmate who’s an ortho surgeon at UCSF. He had good information about benefits, so it was nice to meet with him over an Andytown coffee. Then, it was off to SFO to catch my flight to London. Although I thought it would be tight, I had time for a quick lunch in the AMEX lounge- yes!

After a long flight, I got through customs reasonably fast. I had no check-in luggage which was nice. I arrived around 7 am and had a flight to Baden Baden, Germany at 1700. That flight was on RyanAir out of Stansted, so I planned a mini-day in London.

I planned on a day in the Kensington Area, since I had seen a picture of the Natural History Museum’s Hintze Hall, a super grand entrance hall with incredible architecture. First stop though: Breakfast.

I went to Sheila’s Cafe and ordered the English Breakfast plate. I did, however, order coffee. After breakfast, I walked through Kensington Park towards the museum. It was gorgeous and had a pond with vases featuring swans right next to a little rest where a few were hanging out. I wanted to rent a bike, but had difficulty with the program and having an international zip code. So I walked. I did use an awesome app called “Stasher” to store my larger carry-on for the day.

The museum was quite cool. I saw the Dippy the Diplosaurus cast, a lot of fossils, some gems, and the great hall. Off of one of the galleries of the hall was a “Treasures” room where they had beautifully displayed some of the highlights of the collection. It was cool to see things in person that I had only seen in pictures- especially since I didn’t even know where the originals were!

Afterwards, I walked towards the Saatchi Gallery where a special Tiffany’s display is being hosted. It was a very nice part of town- Chelsea, I think. There were lots of good looking people in beautiful clothes living a model life. I didn’t look terrible since I was wearing a dress, but I was impressed with how so many people were so well-turned out. At the gallery, a lot of women were very fashionably dressed. The exhibit was good, but it was sort of like a really drawn out commercial. But hey, I saw the “Beyonce necklace” and some other amazing jewels that I wouldn’t say no to so overall, it was a nice event even if I did end up going through it pretty quickly.

Then, it was time to head to Stensted. The express train was delayed so the trip took longer than normal- 55 minutes instead of 30 minutes. Hot tip: you need to buy Stensted express tickets rather than just tapping through the turnstile with a normal farecard or RFID card or phone. So, I did that but then they were checking tickets on exit which was causing a LOT of consternation since people were late for their flights and the check was really time-consuming. I saw the huge line and figured there had to be another way out (there’s never just one!) and I was right! There was another shorter check by the lift halfway down the platform so I go through relatively quickly. One other hot tip that I have for people in general is that, if you are not ready to show your card/ticket/pass/whatever, please step to the side rather than block everyone else until your entitled, ill-prepared self is finally sorted out.

So, I took my first RyanAir flight. It is hilariously terrible in a “what do you expect, you get what you pay for” sort of way. Mostly in the form of really brusque customer service. But I got to Baden-Baden without trouble, went through customs, and used my 9 Euro card to take the bus into town! Yes, June-August, the German DB transport system sells month passes for all city and regional travel for just 9 Euros/month. Amazing! That, combined with Google maps public transport routes, made traveling really easy.

I checked into my hotel and at dinner at the attached beer garden. It was a beautiful night and very enjoyable, as well as easy after a long, logistically-intense day.

Highlights: November 2019

Another month mash-up! At the beginning of the month, SMS and I took a walk over to the Cantor Arts Center. We enjoyed the temporary exhibit West x Southwest: Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. We also looked at the objects in the “Melancholy Museum,” an organized presentation of many items collected by Leland Stanford the III, the only child of Leland Stanford, Jr. and who died at the age of 16 from typhoid. The pictures above are the death masks of the three Stanfords (macabre!) and on the left, an Ansel Adams picture. Mrs. Stanford’s death story is especially interesting since she was poisoned twice and the second time, died. She was murdered and it is an unsolved crime!!!

I went to UCSD for Grand Rounds during the week and decided to document this statue’s ignominy of getting constantly crapped on by birds.

SMS gave me this cool mug! Thank you!!!

Haha, the perils of taking your questions to the internet!

SMS and I spent the weekend in Newport. I got a breakfast-in-a-glass Bloody Mary and had SMS take a picture in front of Birdie to show to the paraquitos!

The next weekend, I took a few days off of work for a family vacation. First, I stayed with my grandfather in Stuart, FL for a few days which was really relaxing and fun. My grandfather just became a Bridge Master, so I took a picture of his trophy glass. I also took a picture of the many panic button lanyards at the gym…hazards of working out when older but hey, it’s good to be alive and kicking, just not on the floor unable to get up.

Then I drove down to Bay Harbour/North Miami for a family wedding, Dad’s side. On the way, I stopped for lunch and a quick walk at the Morikami Museum. The Japanese gardens were gorgeous. I enjoyed lunch on an outdoor deck and during that time, I decided I really liked Southern Florida in November!

I was the only one of my immediate family who could make it and since my cousins had been great in coming to our weddings, I wanted to show up for theirs. It was absolutely beautiful with a ceremony on the beach and the reception indoors at the Four Seasons.

Selfie with my aunt and uncle who still tell me stories about when I would sleep over at their apartment in NYC, circa 1985.

On the way back, I connected through Chicago which meant I could get a margarita roadie to go while making my way across the airport. Yeah, I really needed that! *Eyeroll* But how can I stay away from Rick Bayless?!?! I also met a woman who has a “real” company and a “fun” company. We talked about her “fun” company, which specializes in cashmere onesies. She was rocking one herself and both the flight attendant and I thought it was wonderful. It’s pricy but so tempting! Don’t worry, have still resisted temptation…so far!

I arrived home to a full apartment since our friends were visiting. The A family had a crazy-busy San Diego itinerary- they went to the Zoo, Safari Park, Legoland, AND SeaWorld! I worked during the week, but we would meet up afterwards for dinner. On Wednesday, I watched Ishaan while the parents had a date night. Even though Ishaan and I had fun, I am no match in the popularity contest once SMS arrives!

Yes, Ishaan made SMS a poster and we picked him up from the airport. On the way back, we stopped at the Spruce St suspension bridge, which made Ishaan a little nervous.

The next day, we all went to La Jolla for lunch at the Taco Stand (so good!), followed by a trip down to the Cove and the Children’s Beach, now overrun by sunbathing seals.

Afterwards, we went to Cabrillo National Monument and walked around the tide pools at sunset. It was beautiful!

We went to the top to overlook San Diego and saw a really cool focal rain storm. It was hard to capture on camera, but we did our best!

We met up with John at Craft & Commerce, which everyone enjoyed. Jyotsna ranked their cocktails slightly higher than Herb & Wood, but thought both places were amazing.

Finally, SMS and I found a new-to-us restaurant, A Taste of Denmark. Their smørrebrøds, with homemade multigrain bread, were on point! The herring was my favorite.

To end the month, SMS and I took a walk through the Hotel Del to look at the Christmas decorations. We also caught a beautiful sunset from the beach.

Sisters in Japan, Day 9: teamLab and Kanazawa

Day 9 started out on the drizzly side. After waking up and saying goodbye to Ricardo and Brady, I headed out to teamLab Borderless in Odaiba. SMS and I had seen an exhibit in Palo Alto and thought it was pretty cool. I had slight regrets in pre-purchasing my tickets since I now thought I’d rather get to Kanazawa earlier but the money was spent and off I went.

When I got there, there were hundreds of tomodachis already in line. There was an employee holding a multilingual “End of the line” sign far from the entrance, which was simultaneously helpful and depressing. Eventually, I got into the exhibit which was really crowded. This is in contrast to the fake! news! website which features solo visitors only! Of course, I wasn’t really expecting to be on my own. It’s popular and very cool. I do think that once you’ve seen one exhibit, that’s kind of enough since essentially, a large part of the exhibit consists of fancy light projector effects.

Part of my meh reaction to the exhibit is that I really had not allowed myself enough time since I had picked the time I wanted to leave for Kanazawa. I wanted to arrive mid-afternoon so I could see a sight or two before closing. I took a crazy tight schedule of two subways to Tokyo station and just made the shinkansen. Running was involved, which always makes me feel like a crazed tourist godzilla but it’s an acceptable trade-off at times.

Kanazawa was overcast and beautiful. I saw one of the few sakura trees still in bloom, since the area is cooler than the East Coast around Tokyo. I bought a bus pass and headed over to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. When searching #kanazawa, I had seen pictures on Instagram of Leandro Erlich’s “The Swimming Pool” and I had to see it!

A different way of hanging out in the pool!

It really looks like a normal small pool.

Am I swimming through the water or jumping around like an IG influencer?!?!

It’s a really neat installation of a limestone pool with a glass bottom over a room painted aquamarine. It’s a very playful way of tweaking assumptions of what we think we see in common objects and what they actually may be.

The whole museum was quite cool. There are only a few exhibits but that allowed me to focus on them rather than have many go by in a blur. There was a love exhibit that consisted of paintings that looked all the world like neon signs.

An added museum bonus goes to lockers that, while mandatory for larger bags, have a refundable Y100 charge. Travel tip for people with hand luggage in Japan- lockers are everywhere and are awesome to avoid lugging bags around. Even light bags can be heavy! Just have several Y100 coins in your change purse!

After the museum closed, I walked back to the bus stop and headed towards my capsule hotel. I had made an online reservation, which I feel is the way to go! Especially since capsule hotels for women are not as common.

The capsule was clean and, since this was only my second time staying in one, a really unique experience! I was given a goodie bag of towels and pajamas for my stay.

Towels and pajamas. There are also toiletries in the bathroom, including single-use toothbrushes. A person doesn’t have to bring a thing!

Now, it was time to plan for dinner. Kanazawa is known for being a foodie town, so I wanted to have something delicious. I found an amazing sushi place online, but the it was small and I felt it was unlikely I’d get a seat. Then I found Iwashigumi, a restaurant specializing in sardines. This sounded so niche and quintessentially Japanese (focusing on one thing and doing it really well), that I decided I was in even though my familiarity with sardines is limited to Caesar salad dressing and occasional forays into trying to up my Omega-3 intake by queasily eating small fillets.

I walked down the 157 towards the river. The restaurant had the type of wooden slated door, which always seems like such a commitment when I enter that I almost chickened out. But I went in, sat down, and ended up having the most incredible dining experience!

There were two main people I interacted with, an older man and older woman who worked there. They didn’t speak English and I hardly speak Japanese so there wasn’t a lot of verbal conversation, but we still communicated with each other throughout the night. It was an atmosphere of such warm hospitality that I felt at ease and at home. I loved it!

There was an English menu, which was very helpful. I decided to go all in and get the extended tasting menu. I was hungry and I felt that I was in for a singular experience. I wasn’t wrong!

The first three courses were a sardine salad with assorted sashimi, followed by a sardine croquette. Next was a larger sardine served whole. Given the size, there was a good amount of fish to eat. I did not eat the whole thing- the head stayed!

After that was a sardine chawanmushi, which was delicious! It’s one of my favorite dishes. Sardines in wonton-like wrappers were next, with a sardine “meatball” tofu soup to follow. Finally, the savory dishes ended with assorted sushi.

The last dish was a little ice cream sandwich. I do not think it had sardines in it but, given the theme, who knows!? It did taste like fairly straight-forward vanilla. During the dinner, I had sake served in a small pitcher shaped like a fugu. It was very cute.

Afterwards, the chef gave me a little goodie bag with a box of sardine prep mix to cook at home. I have instructions and I’m saving it to cook for SMS. I’m not sure if it’s curry, soup, etc at this point but one of these nights, we’ll find out! I also filled out my address and several weeks later, I received a postcard. It was such a wonderful experience and I would recommend the restaurant to anyone (other than vegetarians!). It was such a warm, kind-hearted vibe that I absolutely loved the place!

On my walk home, I walked past Mariya, a shop my Dad had told me about. The temari balls were beautiful and I resolved to go the next day when the shop was open.

Southern Road Trip, Day 1: Richmond

One thing I love about SMS is that his interest is piqued by things that would never catch my attention. This is almost always a good thing since I learn about something I otherwise wouldn’t have. Richmond made our list because of the Civil War Museum on the grounds of the former Tredegar Iron Works.

We arrived a little after noon, paid for our tickets and took a tour of the Tredegar grounds. This tour focused more on the Iron Works than on the Civil War, which was covered inside the museum, housed inside the former armory. The grounds were beautiful. It’s strange to me how crumbling industrial buildings and rusting machinery can be aesthetically pleasing but is really has its own allure.

The Iron Works was started by an early American entrepreneur. He thought it was inefficient to mine iron ore in America, ship it to England and then buy the goods from England. So in 1837, Francis Deane and a Welsh engineer Rhys Davies opened the factory. Interestingly, the expertise had to be recruited from Great Britain since the training and apprentice system created the industry masters.

Richmond had the trains, waterways and coal to lay the foundation for becoming an industrial center. The iron ore came from West Virginia along the James River and manmade Kanawha canal, which is now filled in. The iron works increased in size and prosperity in the 1840s and was bought out by Joseph Anderson who had joined the company several years earlier. Among other products, the factory made cannons and the first shot of the Civil War was fired from one of the cannons onto Ft. Sumter. The company was part of the reason the Confederacy moved its capitol from Montgomery, AL to Richmond, VA.

During the Civil War, the factory made over 1000 cannons and the process was described by our tour guide. It was very interesting. For example, the method used by Tredegar was to make a solid cannon and then drill out the core. That must have been very loud!

After the Civil War, the factory reopened within a few years after oaths of allegiance were made to the USA and the Confederacy alliances were whitewashed away. Apparently, Mr. Anderson was quite the pro-secessionist but in his post-war affidavit, another story was given and, apparently, accepted.

The factory slowly lost productivity over time as the industry shifted to steel and Tredegar stayed with iron. It closed production in 1952 and there were a few dates given for its total closure, but now it’s a museum and National Park Visitor Center.

After the grounds tour, SMS and I toured the museum. It tries to tell the story from the North, South and slavery perspective and I think it does a really good job. It talks about the founding ideals of the USA and how that morphed over time between the South and North as to what States’ rights actually meant. All of it though, rested on the issue of slavery and that the economic basis for the South depended on it and they didn’t want to get rid of it. This was explicitly mentioned in Georgia’s and South Carolina’s Seccession declarations and other states alluded it it as well. Although the North was not fighting for Emancipation initially, it became clear over time that this was the main cause and the Emancipation Proclamation was released in 1863. Even then, it wasn’t a perfect document as it excluded slaves in several Louisiana parishes that were under Federal control.

After the museum, we headed down to the James River for a swim. The current was noticeable but manageable. We swam around and even took a turn on the rope swing. We walked over to Belle Isle, the site of the former munitions lab and explosion caused by the careless Mary Ryan (seriously, every Park Ranger seemed to mention this story, each with a slightly more dramatic twist). After our walk, we decided to grab a snack before hitting the road.

Well, we might have a slightly heavy definition of snack but we were so happy at Proper Pie Co in the Church Hill area. It’s a New Zealand-style pie shop and we each had a savory pie (lamb and veggies for me, veg chili for SMS) followed by a few bites of a raspberry ricotta pie. So, ok, ok, it turned into an early dinner but it was so delicious! The crust recipe is on point and there are so many options, including veg/vegan. The gluten-free options are limited but available- a savory soup seemed to be the main choice. It was made with a New Zealand tuber so I would like to try it someday.

Then we were done and off for Norfolk. Restaurants in Richmond included the Secret Sandwich Society for dinner (excellent shrub cocktail!) and an excellent brunch at Tarrant’s Cafe!

Washington DC New Year’s Weekend!

Happy New Year!

SMS and I went to Washington for the New Year’s weekend. We arrived Friday evening and met Mom and Dad at the Old Ebbitt Grill. SMS and I split half a dozen oysters, yum! I had a delicious Nicoise salad for my main course and overall, it was a great dinner and fun to spend time with Mom and Dad.

The next day, Mom and Dad headed off to Wintergreen for a wild and crazy New Year’s Eve. SMS and I went into the city. First, we went to Eastern Market where we ran into a friend of mine from freshman year of high school. It’s a little hard to catch up on 20 years in the course of 15 minutes, but it was really cool to see her.

Art!

We went to 7th Hill pizza which was…ok. Not great but it did the job. Afterwards, we drove over to the Mall. We looked at the Hirshhorn sculpture garden on the way over to the Sackler.

Red

The Sackler had some great exhibitions. We saw the Art of the Qur’an, Turquoise Mountain and Red: Ming Dynasty/Mark Rothko, a visual dialogue on the immensity of the color red (sure). There was also a modern installation inspired by Whistler’s Peacock Room, which is currently undergoing renovation in the Freer. Although I didn’t love the modern take, it was pretty cool to see

Continue reading “Washington DC New Year’s Weekend!”

Washington DC Weekend

East Building, National Gallery of Art

This past weekend, I spent in Alexandria hanging out with my Dad. It was pretty mellow but the most beautiful Fall weekend- tons of sunshine and the most perfect temperature.

How I would feel in a museum without lunch first…

On Saturday, Dad wanted to check out the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. We took the metro into the city, which takes a little longer but it’s so nice not dealing with weekend traffic and parking. When we got off the metro, the first order of business was lunch because I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten a lot of breakfast and I had gone for a run so I would be running on fumes if we went to the museum first. We ate outside and had burgers and beer. It was awesome.

This is art. It has its own security guard so people don’t step on it. I guess
that’s what happens when you have art that looks like a puke-colored melted bag.

Afterwards, we headed over to the East Building. I could tell there were some updates but overall, it looked the same. The most noticeable thing was the sun slats over the upper skylights. The Calder mobile is still in the grand foyer and there is a lot of colorful art well-placed throughout the open main area. We went to see the Photography Reinvented: The Collection of Robert E. Meyerhof and Rheda Becker. It’s a temporary exhibit through March 2017 with 33 excellent modern photographs from influential artists. My sentimental favorite is Hiroshi Sugimoto since I have fond memories of an incredibly staged exhibit of his in the Hirshhorn Museum (2006).

From the Hirshhorn Display. It was amazing. Photo Credit

Afterwards, we headed home and tried to watch The Lobster but we didn’t have any luck in renting it online.

The next day, we went out to brunch in Old Town. I scored a sweet parking spot, so I was already feeling pretty cheerful! We went to Virtue Feed and Grain. Brunch was tasty but Dad definitely won with his order. Here’s a tip to me: don’t order Mexical breakfasts on the East Coast, it just isn’t the same. Also, do not order a Bloody Mary at Virtue- it’s watery gazpacho with vodka. The mimosas are much better (I had a sip of Dad’s!).

The rest of the day was pretty mellow. I did some online coursework and watched football. It was a really relaxing weekend and I was glad for the quality father-daughter time. Oh, and the quality time with the birds. I can’t forget the surrogate children.

Bath time!

Bird Love

Mozart Foundation Museum Tour

Oh my goodness! SMS and I had the best luck on Saturday. Due to serendipity and SMS’ love of racing cars, we were able to take a tour of a private car museum owned by a local developer (who clearly has done very poorly for himself)!

Let me back up. On Saturday, I got up early and went to the old apartment to straighten up before the movers came later in the day. I headed back to the new place to pick SMS up for our Saturday morning run club. We semi-regularly attend the Mountain View Runner’s Club Saturday morning session, which is a 3.5 mile loop on Steven’s Creek trail. It’s a really nice group of people and afterward, we hang out at the Starbucks for a little coffee-fueled socializing.

Not too different from some parking lots in Silicon Valley…

As SMS and I were getting ready to leave, he said he wanted to check out the Corvettes down the street. I hadn’t noticed but apparently, a lot of Corvettes had been driving by including two with racing modifications and vinyl appliques. We said goodbye to everyone and walked down the street. Inside an open gate, there was a mini-auto show in the parking lot that was filled with Corvettes! I estimate there were about 30-40, which was very cool. We wandered around and talked to a few people. We didn’t really know what was going on but then I started talking to a woman who had just pulled up in a more classic car with her husband. I complimented her on her shirt, which was a gray t-shirt with a silver and light blue rhinestone Corvette. She invited us to join them on their group tour of the Auto Museum. I initially declined (what a moron!) because the movers were supposed to come between 11-1, but I fortunately came to my senses. SMS and I each paid our $20 to the Corvette Club of Santa Clara President and with that, we were on the list!

Anteros also avenges unrequited love so maybe he’ll help me get this car?!?!

While we were waiting to get in, we talked to a guy who had extensively modified two Corvettes about 10 years ago as a side project. He had majored in auto design in college but spent his working years designing video games in Silicon Valley. [Aside: We never exchanged names and I suspect that he is really well-known in certain circles but hey, we were there to talk about the cars. Plus, SMS and I are just not super-in-the-know about that industry. But he did mention that he was good friends with the guy who programmed Pong and the guy who hired Steve Jobs at Atari.] Anyway, he had added a Super Charger to the engine to bring it up to 550 hP. He had also taken off most of the panels and replaced them with carbon fiber elements so the car was about 100 pounds lighter than a normal Corvette. He had the tooling done and panels made in a factory in San Diego. He had 14 orders for the car but the factory went out of business so only two were made. What was incredible to me was that the two cars were already committed so he had to deliver both of them; aka, he couldn’t even keep the car he made!! But, alls well that ends well. He bought the car back from one of the purchasers about 7 years later so he now has Production #0001 in his possession now. Incredible. What a feat of design and a display of integrity to keep your word on delivering a product you promise! The car is called Anteros, after the Greek god of requited love I’m guessing. It was absolutely beautiful.

Amazing supercharged engine!

At 1000, it was time for the tour! We went inside the understated, but beautiful building. The outside landscaping was very zen. Inside, the docent gave a brief introduction. They asked for no photography and everyone was very respectful of that request. I did take one picture by accident as I silenced my phone, but it was of the floor so I think it’s ok to display my masterpiece.

I am so funny and bad with my phone! Photo taken accidentally while silencing my phone.

The cars on display were incredible. There were many early cars, like three 1910-1913 Simplexes. There were several Pullmans, Ferraris and Porsches. Most of the cars were one of two/three known to be in existence. My favorite car was a 1934 Bugatti with a deep mustard yellow alligator interior. It was a breathtakingly beautiful car…the informational sign near it said that it drew such crowds, it was once hard for the then-owner to approach it and drive it away at the end of a car show!

Very few pictures can be found on the internet but here’s one from the kitchen cabinet designers. The gray Cadillac
in the middle/left center was in the museum and is a beautiful focal point with the interior design. Credit

Alas, all dreams must end and ours ended abruptly with a call from our neighbor that the movers there a few minutes before 11. Argh! When are movers ever early!?!? Anyway, we rushed off and left, but felt incredibly lucky to have experience such an amazing museum.

Birthday weekend, Part 4: Palo Alto, SJC

After an amazing birthday weekend, I got a little extra bonus time to spend with my parents. I had Monday morning off from work so after saying goodbye to SMS, I hung out in the morning until they woke up. Then we ate breakfast and had coffee.

We had a small window of time before we had to leave to the airport, so we went to the Stanford museum, The Cantor Center for the Visual Arts. We went to the Rodin Sculpture Garden and then we went inside for a few minutes. Better a glimpse of beauty and art than none at all, right?

I thought Mom and Dad would like the 19th & 20th Century European Galleries. The space is beautiful and really well laid-out. I saw an older Picasso that I really liked (1909?). The bottom left corner in particular had a beautiful palette so I snapped a picture for future inspiration.

Then, le boo, it was time for Mom and Dad to go to the airport. I drove them to SJC and was pretty sad. BUT, we had a great weekend and everyone is happy and doing well so really, I feel very lucky.

Scenes from the Museum: De Young, Pierre Bonnard and Highlights from the Collection

Tartine, a great start to our day!

On Sunday, we woke up, checked out and headed over to the Mission District for breakfast. I hadn’t been to Tartine yet since moving here and I was in the mood for some delicious carb-y carb carbs! SMS and I stood in line for awhile and then bought several things– a Croque Monsieur, a frangipane-filled croissant, a savory scone, a hazelnut tart and a morning bun. The purchases lasted until the next day (honest!). My favorite was the morning bun. It was amazing! I think it is an under-the-radar Cronut, since it had the flaky layers of a croissant with some excellent fried/baked with-so-much-butter-it-may-as-well-be-fried goodness. We also talked briefly to the girls next to us who were having a reunion after many years. One of the girls was from Japan and had spent time as an exchange student at the other girl’s house in Philadelphia several years ago.

A safe in Room and Board. Not for sale.

After desser- I mean, breakfast, we went to Room & Board, a furniture shop where I had seen a desk I thought SMS would like. After some debate and browsing, it was deemed a winner and SMS ordered it in charcoal. He’s going to have the nicest furniture in the house soon!

Does it look like someone in Heaven has an upset stomach?

After Room & Board, we headed to the de Young museum. I wanted to see the Young Woman with a Unicorn by Raphael, which is on loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome. I heard about it from my Aunt Maria’s friends so I was excited. It was a beautiful painting. Some of the permanent collection pieces on the way there were also pretty epic in their own way. I took pictures of two of my favorites.

I imagine there are several expressions one could have while holding a severed head, but
I feel like this expression of bored detachment would not be one of them.

Pierre Bonnard- I really liked this sequence of four.

After we acted like mature art aficionados, we headed downstairs to the Pierre Bonnard retrospective. It was an excellent exhibit and I feel lucky to have seen it. I actually preferred his Japonaise-inspired prints in addition to some of the colors and patterns seen in his interior paintings, including his nudes. If you have a chance to go, I definitely recommend it. I’m not the biggest fan of his late work of huge murals with more muddy green but that actually speaks to the strength of the show. The viewer gets to see examples from his entire career in an exhibit that flows very smoothly.

Snowy! Plover!

After the museum, we headed to Andytown Coffee Roasters in Outer Sunset, which is my favorite neighborhood. I ordered a snowy plover, a delicious concoction of soda water, espresso, brown sugar and a huge dollop of freshly-whipped cream. Intensity! It is so delicious. SMS got a decaf espresso. He also noted, while we were in line, that I “know all the places in San Francisco to stand in line.” I told him to channel it into a Japanese-type experience, where standing in line is part of the deal. I’m not sure he bought it.

Then we headed home. It was nice to have a full weekend but still get home while the sun was still out. We watched some more of Mozart in the Jungle, which we both really enjoy and recommend. It’s pretty unusual for us to find a show we both like but this one is a major win!

Quality Time Weekend!

The past weekend was awesome! On Saturday, SMS and I headed to San Jose after a delicious ramen lunch at Orenchi ramen. SMS had gotten recommendations from two separate people so Saturday was the day to check it out. It was delicious! We both got the house special, which is a tonkotsu-broth ramen with slightly thicker, curly noodles. My favorite part was the depth of flavor in the broth and the perfectly soft-boiled egg. I’ve had a few better bowls in Japan but this place really held up against our previous ramen experiences. SMS was also a fan.

Robot-san, v. 2

After feeling slightly swollen after so much salty broth goodness, we hopped into the car for downtown San Jose. We went to The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Diego where our admission + IMAX movie was free with active duty id. Yeah! The museum was cute but definitely geared towards kids and exposing them to mini-projects and experiments in the STEM fields. That didn’t stop us from trying out the robot station though! After SMS’ adventures in robot building at home, we wanted to check out how the museum curated the experience.

Going to the museum was also nice because SMS thought we were going to the art museum, which is usually more my speed. So I got to accumulate awesome wife karma for thinking of a fun destination. After the museum, we went to the San Pedro Market Square. We decided to walk since the day was gorgeous and I decided to get lost and over-extend our walk by quite a bit. Oops.

Part of San Pedro Market Square

Once we finally arrived, I loved the place! It’s two large buildings with multiple sections with many different restaurant/stationary food trucks/food court-type options. We got coffees and dessert and it was really a treat. There’s a huge picnic table area between the two buildings and the whole place and vibe were just delightful.

We love brunch!

Beautiful friends!

On Sunday, SMS had a conference to go to while I went into the city to have brunch with Brady and Rosa. We went to the Mission Beach Cafe at Rosa’s friend’s suggestion and it was wonderful. Brady got the French Toast for us all to share, I got the egg sandwich and Rosa got the winner dish of classic Egg Benedict. There are several Bennies on the menu and I will definitely go with one next time I go. The egg sandwich was good but messy, plus it was on a biscuit which made it slightly too heavy for my tastes. I still ate it though! The French Toast was also good, but it’s hard to beat my Mom’s so that’s that.

“A Sunday Afternoon in Dolores Park” by Daniel Doherty ’09

The Women’s Center

Afterwards, we walked around the Mission District. We went to Delores Mission Park and then went to look at a few murals. First, we walked to the Women’s Center on 18th St and then we walked through Clarion Alley. The last time I had been was in 2010-ish and it’s amazing how the murals have changed to reflect activism against rent increase and the “Evils of Tech.” It’s awesome to see how dynamic art can be and reflect current issues and controversies.

Clarion Alley

Then we dropped Rosa off and went to the de Young Museum. We really wanted to see the Turner exhibit and it was really awesome. I was worried it would be crowded and while it was, I was still able to feel like I saw the paintings in an intentional, measured way rather than feel jostled and rushed.

Brady in front of one of my faves

My favorites were the two Roman paintings of ancient Rome and modern Rome that are paired paintings but currently held by two different institutions so often not displayed together; the “Blue Rigi, Sunrise” which is a watercolor with razor-sharp lines, an amazing technical feat; the “Snow Storm- Steam-Boat Off a Harbor’s Mouth” a action-filled swirl of stormy sea; and “Peace- Burial at Sea” which has amazing reflections off the water’s surface.

After the museum, we headed home where Brady packed up and the three of us went out to dinner. We went back to San Pedro Market Square (yeah!) where we had Mexican food to mark Brady’s last dinner in California, at least for a little while. We dropped her off at the airport and while it was sad, it was such an awesome visit and she’s off to do such great things that I felt really lucky to have had this time with my favorite sister!

[Edited to add: The weekend was a three day fest thanks to Labor Day! SMS and I headed out to Castle Rock Park and did a lot of climbing. Well, SMS climbed a lot and I belayed quite a bit- the routes were hard! Afterwards, we went for a hike which was really beautiful. Then we went to a local deli for lunch. It was a great day!]