San Francisco, Day Four: Sunday, November 13, 2016

Sunday morning, and the fog rolled in as we met the day and made our way to Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill. This beautiful Episcopal cathedral is famed for a number of features, among these its stained glass windows, its large pair of doors called "Ghiberti doors" which are, according to Wikipedia, "reproductions of the doors of the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti," and for two labyrinths. One of these labyrinths is laid out in the courtyard while the other is inside, and they are "based on the famous medieval labyrinth of Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres." The online encyclopedia also claims that "it is said that if a visitor walks the pattern of the labyrinth it will bring them to a meditative state." I can certainly attest to feeling more grounded and having a strong sense of clarity after walking both of the labyrinths. Our thoughts were also on Kieran, my cousin's 19-year-old son who died the week before our trip, and on his grieving family back home. We lit two candles in his memory while in the peaceful space of the cathedral.

 

For Kieran.

We walked downhill to Union Square in order to eat at Sears Fine Food, where lengthy lines of people wait to enjoy their famous breakfast. While we did get to stand in the Sears line-up, it was but a brief experience and we were fortunate to get a table quickly and tuck into some great food before continuing on with our explorations of San Francisco for the day.

Our MUNI passes served us well on this day, as we traveled via public transit out to Golden Gate Park and the surrounding areas. As seemed to be the pattern of the days, the fog had long since lifted, and the gardens and lawns of the park were drenched in sunshine, blue skies once again our canopy. We spent most of our time in the beautiful Japanese Tea Garden, where we did, of course, enjoy cups of tea - sencha for me, jasmine for Mom - at the Tea House nestled in the centre of the Garden.

Next, we were on a mission to find a very special set of stairs: the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps. As per the website for the project, "The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps project has been a neighbourhood effort to create a beautiful mosaic running up the risers of the 163 steps located at 16th and Moraga in San Francisco." (http://www.tiledsteps.org/) The result is, indeed, gorgeous, and well worth the trek up the numerous hilly streets that it took for us to find them. At the top of the steps I continued upwards a bit further to reach a lovely lookout which afforded some bird's eye views of the city.

The Haight-Ashbury district was our next destination, a short bus ride away from the area where we'd just been. The neighbourhood around Haight and Ashbury streets is known for its psychedelic history, and its role as the centre of the hippie movement of the 1960s. We had a lot of fun wandering the streets, poking into a shop or two (of course one was a bookstore!), and taking an afternoon break for tea at 'Coffee to the People', a cozy neighbourhood cafe.

Our day wound its way down as we wound our way back to our hotel, and we made it an early evening as we were off on another tour on Monday, the following day, and needed to be ready for an early start. Details of our fantastic trip to Muir Woods and wine country to come soon!

My wonders: Public transit can be a true blessing when in another city, as we experienced with the MUNI in San Francisco. I've benefited from many other great transit systems over the years, including the Metro in Paris, the London Underground, the Subway in New York City, the TTC in Toronto, and Public Transit in Sydney. Do you make use of public transit systems when on vacation, or in your own home town? How would you rank various cities' systems?