Day 4: Top of the Mark to the Golden Gate

Jim thought that his class did not include breakfast today, so he suggested that we eat at the hotel instead of trying to catch the unreliable cable cars to breakfast, as he had to be in class at 8. We inquired at the desk, hoping for a coffee shop, but their only restaurant is the Top of the Mark (as in Mark Hopkins hotel). By this time it was too nearly 7, so we decided to try it. The view, with the sun coming up, was spectacular from the 15th floor on the top of Nob Hill. So was the price of the buffet breakfast.
The variety was amazing, from sauteed mushrooms to smoked salmon, cheeses, fruit smoothies and about 40 other dishes. Jim looked down at his plate, and said “gee, it’s just like breakfast at home except for the smoked salmon, fresh berries, brie, sauteed mushrooms, and...”.
After Jim was off to his class, I trotted off the museum. I had planned to go to the Museum of Modern Art, but alas, it was closed on Wednesdays. So I substituted the Asian Art Museum instead, which was amazing in its own right. I had looked at the map, so I trotted down the hill towards Market Street. I didn’t realize that my chosen route took me through a rather run-down part of town, but kept my head down and didn’t have any problems. I was delighted to find that there was a huge Farmers’ Market at the United Nations Plaza - “The Farmers Market at the Heart of the City.”
I was a few minutes early for the museum to open, so I wandered through the plaza in front of City Hall. This was the Civic Center, so opposite the museum was City Hall, the opera house and the United Nations Plaza, where the original charter for the U.N. was signed.
The City Hall plaza had a demonstration garden for organic home Victory Gardens. There were also a number of people doing Tai Chi in the plaza.
I went over to the museum about five minutes before it was to open, and was standing with a couple of other ladies. Another woman came up to the doors and began to pound on them and scream that she was late for her private tour. She persisted, going from door to door, and finally started to curse. The French woman standing next to me said, “I thought only in France such people existed!” We chuckled, and wondered what the fuss was, as the agitated lady was 25 minutes late for her tour - what difference would five minutes make?
There was a special exhibit from the Afghanistan National Museum, so I joined the docent-led tour. The docents have to go through 3 ½ years of training, plus special training for new exhibits such as this one. All this to volunteer for free!
The exhibit was fascinating. The artifacts had been hidden by Afghans who wished to preserve their heritage during the years of the Soviet invasion and during the Taliban years. Because of its location on the silk road, these artifacts from up to 3,000 years ago showed the diverse nature of trade. There was Roman glass manufactured in Egypt, Buddha figurines, and an excavation of tombs of nomads from the north of Afghanistan. The people were buried with their golden jewelry, crowns, belts, cups and other items.
I then took the audio tour of the museum.
After the museum I hit the Farmers Market for lunch. I looked for the longest line, which was at the Tamale cart, and had delicious and cheap tamales. There was fruit of every description as well, and I sampled fresh strawberries.
I trekked back to the hotel over a longer but less shabby route, and flopped on the bed to let my tired feet recover.
Golden Gate Bridge
Jim really wanted to see the Golden Gate, so he asked the concierge for the bus connections. It wasn’t very hard, even for us. There was a sad, mentally ill man who got on the bus for a while; he was thin and short, and he was holding up a pair of pants big enough to fit Jim. As he got off, the pants drooped to reveal his bum. He also was in stocking feet. So sad.
We got the bridge, and of course it was foggy, even though it had been clear as a bell at the hotel. We wandered around the end of the bridge, and watched the cyclists going across on the bike lane. Many of them were obviously commuters, with backpacks or panniers, but a number looked like racers.
Finally it cleared, and we saw almost all of the bridge. The cables were huge.