Street Art

I woke up in San Francisco this morning. It was a beautifully sunny day, though a bit chilly. San Francisco is known for cold, damp and grey foggy weather right through summer, so one can't take for granted (or waste) a day like today!  

I took the bus over to Alamo Square, a park known for the 'Painted Ladies' - a row of colourful Victorian houses, featured on many a post card. Unfortunately it was really the wrong time of day for good shots of them as they were still in the shadows.

I decided to walk along Hayes Street towards the Civic Centre. This area is known as Hayes Valley - itself filled with painted Victorian houses. The area has quickly and recently been transformed from a slightly shabby area into a funky, up-market shopping area, lined with unique cafes and coffee shops and boutiques. It still has a Bohemian feel to it. I had a sandwich made to order in a small corner grocery store and ate it outside in a pretty park (Patricia's Green), full of interesting public art and subjects for people (and dog!) watching!  

After my picnic I wandered around a bit and found this stretch of art on a tiny side street (Linden Street), almost an alleyway. Across from it was a small coffee shop which I discovered later was the original site of a now booming San Francisco chain, Blue Bottle Coffee. As I was taking pictures I heard my name called and one of my fellow crew members from my trip was also there, just finishing his coffee. Considering that this was not in the neighbourhood of our hotel it was a bit of a surprise that we should both be there at the same time!  

I indulged in some coffee and some almond and lavender pound cake (delicious!) while enjoying this colourful piece of art on the wall next to me.

The thing I love about San Francisco is how many interesting little neighbourhoods there are. I've been coming here for years and am glad I'm still finding new places to explore. I'll be coming back to this one!