09.08.12 - Beautiful Blue Skies

 Time to get the bike fixed, luckily there is a cycle shop a few blocks away so I dropped it off and got on Bus 45 up to Twin Peaks. As it turns out I didn’t climb either of the Twin Peaks but Mount Davidson instead which is the highest peak in SF. When I got off the bus I thought I’d made a mistake as there was nothing around apart from a sad looking French bistro in the middle of a residential area. But I wandered around, and up, it was very quiet. All of the houses are no higher than two stories, detached with driveways for the cars and little front gardens. It took me a while to find an entrance into the park atop Mt Davidson. The views over the city were great, it was a very clear day. I met an older couple of gentlemen who had completed the full book of Stairway Walks in San Francisco. At the very top of the Mount is a huge cross dedicated to those killed in the Armenian genocide. I ended up walking all of the way back, almost to Golden Gate Park, getting a burnt neck in the process. I stopped for a huge slice of cheesy focaccia

 and a sticky pecan swirl at a employee owned bakery on 7th Avenue. Waiting for the bus I was joined by an Italian father, daughter and son. It was such bliss to hear a foreign language, even though I could only understand the odd word, just the wonderful melody of it was enough.

When I got home I watched some Olympics; I can’t watch the BBC here and NBC, the American channel, wait to air everything exciting until the evening so you have to wait for ages to see the highlights despite already knowing the results from the newspaper, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Having been very snooty about the Olympics and sure that I was lucky to be escaping I am now sad that I’m not there. The atmosphere looks amazing, I have missed the opportunity of a lifetime, but I wouldn’t have not come to SF just for that so....

Yesterday I found out that I have been selected for the Art of Photography Show. They received 16,905 entries from 77 countries and 200 pieces were chosen by Julian Cox, Founding Curator of Photography for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) and Chief Curator at the de Young Museum. so I’m really chuffed. The only annoying thing is that the show is in San Diego at the end of September. A bit ironic that I’ve been on the west coast for two months and as soon as I leave I’ve got a photo in a show here.


I went for a swim tonight and managed to catch the pool divided into lanes of 50m, rather than 25m across. I love swimming 50m, it is so much more fun than a short pool, I think I am addicted to ‘long course’ as they call it here.