MAPAC

MENLO-ATHERTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

I've watched this building for the last two years rising up at the intersection of Ravenswood and Middlefield - right down the street. Now it looks like it is ready for primetime with only the landscaping to be finished. It's not exactly the Disney Concert Hall but it is an attractive building that we will have to live with for a long time to come.

MOT DU JOUR: goujaterie

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

The Millenium Building - tallest building in San Francisco


The Bold Robert Emmett







I was running for the train when the barriers came down and my train left without me. I had the number for SamTrans on my phone from when I called them on Saturday. I called to find out when the next bus was coming and as the lady told me it appeared in front of me on El Camino. The cost was cheaper than the train too - just $4.50 to San Francisco.
The bus took about an hour. It stopped in the airport to pick up passengers. It finally left me out at First Street on Mission, right in front of the TransBay Terminal.
I went into the terminal to check out options for getting to Golden Gate Park. There was a wall of transit information but the Muni poster was just the regular route map blown up to poster size and as difficult to read. I called the 311 number and was told that the 5 Fulton bus went directly to the park. I didn't hang about in the terminal. It was a scarey place - a vast empty terminal like Union Station in Los Angeles but without all the crowds. In fact there were very few people there. I didn't feel very comfortable.
My bus was right outside the door. It costs $2.00 to go anywhere on the bus now in San Francisco. For that price you get a transfer that is good for up to two hours and you can use the transfer in any direction.
The bus went through Civic Center and Little Saigon. It went down Market Street and up McAllister and across Divisidero and up Fulton passing by St. Ignatius church at USF. It was pretty crowded the whole way.
I probably went less than 3 miles on the bus but the temperature swung 30 degrees from Mission Street. There was fog rolling in and a wind whipping up as I walked through the park to the new Academy building. I was cold in my shorts - who knew there would be a 40 degree difference between San Francisco and Menlo Park. That's wild climate change.
I used Rich's membership card to get into the Academy. The building is an amazing space but I kept looking for the ghosts of places I remembered from the original building. Some things are still there - the swamp, with the famous albino alligator; the courtyard, still there but no longer a courtyard; the aquarium. There are some new things too. A three-storey dome with a walkway that leads through the various levels of a rainforest - live birds and butterflies in the canopy. A "living roof" that simulates the seven hills of San Francisco. A family education center.
It is an impressive building but I felt that it was way too overcrowded for any serious study of the contents. And it lacked an interactive aspect that the old Academy had. The exhibits are to look at not to interact with. That was very disappointing to me.
After the Academy I took the bus back downtown. I had called Evan to meet up with him so I got off the bus at Divisidero and walked to Haight. He had called Richard Lopez to come join us for dinner. We walked to a restaurant in the neighborhood - the Metro Restaurant - and had dinner together.

SAN MATEO COUNTY FAIR

Lots of pigs




How did these people get in here?

BACK HOME IN MENLO PARK

Last of the giant agapanthus with Beni Kawa in the background.

I have serious jetlag. The first night I arrived home I went to bed at 6pm and woke up the next morning at 4am. Last night I went to bed again at 6 but this morning I woke up at 3. I tossed and turned for two hours but I never went back to sleep. Tonight I am going to stay up until 10, no matter what.

DINNER AT JOHNBARRY'S

The Royal Canal reflected in the windows of JohnBarry's apartment building.



JohnBarry and Carole on their balcony.

On yer bike!

I spent a very pleasant evening with JohnBarry at his home on the banks of the Royal Canal. Carole, his fiancée joined us for dinner. JB made meatballs in a tomato sauce and Carole made a delicious rhubarb crumble (Recipe, please).
After dinner we walked in the neighborhood. JohnBarry is an architect. He wanted to show me an example of his work. We walked to a house on Primrose Street that JB redesigned to accomadate four small apartments and a meeting room. The house is owned by the St. Vincent de Paul and is used as transitional housing for homeless people trying to reintegrate into society. The house has many design features that take into account the historic and environmental context of the neighborhood. I especially liked the small roof garden.
We walked down Dorset Street, Bolton Street and Capel Street to a bar, Hughes', where there was traditional music. We enjoyed the music and chatted in Irish with some of the other people in the bar.

HARE KRISHNA

O'Connell Street, Friday afternoon.

DUBLIN WALKABOUT

I went looking for St. Mary's Abbey. A Cistercian abbey, St. Mary's was once the largest and wealthiest abbey in Ireland. Now only two rooms remain in the heart of the city. According to the OPW website it is located on a small street off Capel Street. I walked up and down Capel Street looking for Meetinghouse Lane. Eventually, I decided that perhaps this street is a lane off a street off of Capel Street. I walked back to Chancery Street and started to walk around the back streets. Hidden away back there was Meetinghouse Lane.
The entrance to the monument was behind a barred cage that was locked. The OPW website had not mentioned that it would be closed. I called the number listed on the display panel. The lady told me that the abbey is only open by appointment. Very disappointing.
I explored a little of that part of the city. On the other side of Capel Street I found a Mexican and Italian grocery store. The shop had the Mexican flag flying outside but very little in the way of Mexican products. Further up Capel Street I passed Slattery's, a place that figured prominantly in the debauchery of my youth. I wonder if the Sunday morning sessions are still going on?
I finished up my explorations by calling in to the Outhouse, a LGBT center at the top of Capel Street. I had a capuccino and chatted with Tiffany the transgender receptionist. A very pleasant afternoon.

La grande tablée de Saumur

Mercredi soir, nous sommes allés à la Grande Tablée avec Richard. Pour 10€, vous aviez le droit à un verre et des tickets pour récupérer votre repas. Le menu était fractionné en plusieurs parties (melon, flan aux légumes, cake aux champignons, charcuterie (saucisson à l'ail, lard et pâté), fromage de chèvre et sorbet à la framboise). Nous nous sommes aussi déplacés pour remplir notre verre avec différents crûs de saumur Champigny. C'était une soirée chaude et très agréable. Chacun a pu remporter son verre chez lui, gravé aux couleurs du Saumur Champigny!

CASHEL PANORAMA

CAISEAL NA RÍ

I had a hankering to see Cashel again. The last time I was there was the time we were coming back from the Great Family Vacation in Clonakilty. We stopped in Cashel to have lunch and to see the monument. That was close to a decade ago.
Mary came to the house to pick me up. We agreed that she would drive to Cashel and I would drive back. This would be the first time that I went to Cashel specifically to see the Rock rather than seeing it in the distance as I was driving to somewhere else.
It took us about two hours to get there. We took a wrong turn off the Portlaoise roundabout and were headed for Limerick when we realised we had taken a wrong turn. A quick u-turn outside of Mountrath and we were on the right road again. Outside of Cullenhill things got a lot better. A new motorway has just opened. We whizzed down that to Cashel.
By the time we arrived in Cashel we were hungry and our legs needed stretching. We parked the car and walked back up the town to a little bakery and tea shop where we had lunch.
After lunch we walked up to the Rock. It now costs 6 euro to enter the site. Previously it was free but I guess as the OPW does more extensive conservation and maintenance of the site the piper has to be paid. We were just in time to join a guided tour group that was gathering in the Hall of the Vicar's Choral. This is the only part of the monument that has been restored. From there we walked to the Cathedral and the Round Tower. We saw St. Patrick's Cross (a facsimile - we didn't bother hopping around it nine times on one foot to be married within the year). At Cormac's Chapel we learned that Henry II had sent one of his sons here to rein in the English who were starting to fraternize with the Irish. The guide didn't know which of his sons (Richard the Lionhearted or John) was the Enforcer. We were lucky to see the chapel this time. In a few weeks it will be closed to the public as the OPW tries to dry out the walls and reverse the mold damage. This process is expected to take at least four years.
We wandered around the site by ourselves then walked back into the town to explore. We found an impressive Catholic Church (St. John the Baptist) with unusual choir galleries flanking the nave. There was a group of Church Ladies conducting a public prayer meeting. We asked them where the cathedral was. They told us to follow the narrow lane across the street and we would come to the gates of the cathedral. We walked down the long narrow lane. At the bottom we found a Church of Ireland building with a classical façade. It was a striking building but nothing like what I would describe as a cathedral. The building design was modelled on St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Unfortunately it was closed but we did wander around the graveyard (without disturbing the sheep).
It was getting late in the afternoon so we headed home. Along the way we stopped in Kildare Village (not Kildare village) for dinner at L'Oficina.

INDIA IN IRELAND

We sat in the Chair of Wisdom waiting for enlightenment.
Our enlightenment was seeing a magnificent view of the Sugar Loaf.





After GleannDaLoch Mary wanted to bring us to a very special place called Victoria's Way. She had been talking about it all afternoon but she never told us why it was so special. When we got there we saw right away what she was talking about.
At the gate was a sign proclaiming: Indian Sculpture Park. The park is a 22 acre expanse of green lawns and mixed woods. A meditation trail winds through the park. Along the trail are laid out 25 huge sculptures of Hindu deities - some in black marble and some in bronze.