A Walk in the (Golden Gate) Park

With Betty’s aunts in town visiting from Taiwan, it’s a great time to put on the tourist hat and do things I normally don’t do. It’s always a good excuse to see things for a second or third time and enjoy it – often times many years after the first time. We spent the day walking a section of the Golden Gate Park, stopping by San Tung for lunch and wrapping up with a stroll on the Golden Gate Bridge. The first stop was the Conservatory of Flowers.

Even with the dry spring, there was a pretty impressive display of flowers on the large lawn fields leading up to the conservatory.

The building itself is quite beautiful in all white and well kept. We didn’t actually go inside this time, but last time I was there it had a nice variety of flora but was definitely warm and humid to keep the various plants in good health.

We strolled past the de Young Museum, which in itself is a spectacular piece of art.

Again, unfortunately we didn’t get to spend time in the Academy of Sciences, one of my all-time favorite attractions. But from in front of the de Young, you could see Sutro Tower peaking over the hill and the living rooftop of the academy.

We decided to take a stroll in the Japanese Tea Gardens. The iconic pagodas and stone lanterns are originals from the early 1900’s and are kept very well.

Walking behind the path, you get a spectacular view of the pagoda with the sun on its back and the trees framing the shot perfectly.

The buddha statue is equally impressive and in great shape.

Interesting fact is that the Hagiwara family lived on the 5 acre land until 1942 when he was forced to leave. It’s amazing that people would continue to take such care to preserve a unique piece of Japanese culture within our city.

Our next stop was the Rose Garden, which was really more of a patch of land with 8-10 patches or roses, but nonetheless there were a bunch in blossom. On our way there, we took a short detour to see Stow Lake where we saw a bunch of people on peddle boats and row boats.