USA: Bay Bridge - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (known locally as the Bay Bridge) is a pair of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay of California. Forming part of Interstate 80 and of the direct road route between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries approximately 270,000 vehicles per day on its two decks. It has one of the longest spans in the world. (source: wikipedia)

Our coach did drove through the bridge, erm...forgotten if it was on the upper or the lower deck.
But the time we stopped and took this photo of the Bay Bridge, it was almost dark, almost sunset. So you could imagine how cold and windy it was.
Look at my hair!

Ok. this should be the last blog post about San Francisco worth mentioning. We went to Chinatown as well, but it was nothing much there except that we ate a very deliciously big bowl of Vietnamese Beef Pho.

Ok, so bye-bye San Francisco!

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

USA: Painted Ladies aka Postcard Row - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

These are called Painted Ladies, which is a term used for Victorian and Edwardian houses and buildings painted in three or more colors that embellish or enhance their architectural details.

But this row of Victorian houses at 710–720 Steiner Street, across from Alamo Square park, are better known as 'Postcard Row' in San Francisco. This is because of the stunning city skyline at the background of these houses.

I myself found them to be very photogenic. Love the colourful houses against the city skyline and blue sky. All I hope was that we went there early in the morning where there were nobody for me to take a beautiful photo without all the strangers. Haha.

Sigh. Now I have to settle with the photo below, or the cropped photo above. ;P

The park itself was also nice. There were quite a number of people having picnic on the park. Some were just lying down with a book. Marvelous. I could really picture myself doing that if I live there.

A photo of the 2 of us.

And this last photo is the silhouette of the 2 of us! ;)

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_ladies

USA: Twin Peaks - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

The Twin Peaks are two hills with an elevation of about 922 feet (281 m) near the geographic center of San Francisco, California. They are one of the highest points in the city.

It was about 4pm when we reached the peak of one of the two hills. There was still ample daylight left and thus it was a beautiful afternoon to soak up the city view.
And I was in love with the blue, blue sky of SFO. I'm adamant that the sky in Penang is never as blue.

Let me show you the view of the city from where we stood.

Ok I know. Almost same view, because it was difficult to find a nice spot where other tourists did not hog the perfect camera spots. Haha.

As usual, wind was strong in SFO area. And that is why most of the photos with me inside are with messy hair!

A photo each of hubby & I.

And the usual couple shots.

Love these two photos because it was taken from a higher level and thus could see the city view more clearly. I instructed the camera person to snap it this way! :)

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks_%28San_Francisco,_California%29

USA: Cathedral of the Saint Mary of the Assumption - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

We visited one of the churches in San Francisco - Cathedral of the Saint Mary of the Assumption. It is the principal church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, and is one of San Francisco's Top 25 Buildings.

This church was very different from the other churches -

Firstly, the church was considered controversial not only because of its adherence to the changes in worship from the Vatican Council, but also because of the grandiose scale of the structure. Its supporters argued that it is a magnificent homage to God, but dissenters argued that the funds should have instead been usedto help needy parishioners and instead of erecting this extravagant edifice.

Secondly, the task of building the new cathedral was daunting; San Francisco is earthquake-prone, requiring seismically engineered buildings. The structure is an engineering tour de force. Standing prominently on its hillside site, the hyperbolic paraboloid form is visible from all over the city of San Francisco and truly manifests the modern version of the Gothic cathedrals in Medieval Europe.

The emphatic ascension consists of a square base topped by four hyperbolic paraboloids, thin concrete shells that slope inward and support each other while, from above, forming a giant cross. The structure meets in a cruciform-shaped void overhead. So when you actually look up the ceiling, you will see a giant cross.

This is the entrance leading up to the main door. Such intricate carvings.
And look at the strong wind, making my hair covering my face. Yes, this is normal in the SFO area.

Love the door so much couldn't help but took another picture with it.

Once inside the main hall, this is what you see. There was actually a service going on. So we were not allowed to go to the front of the hall until the service is over. But other than that, we were free to walk about, quietly of course.

When I looked up the ceiling looking for that giant cross, I was in awe. It was so beautiful. I could see the light from the colourful stained glasses which formed the giant cross rom the lofty ceiling. And the place was so quiet and tranquil, it made me feeling calm.

This faceted glass was designed by Professor Gregory Kepes of MIT. The blue glass in the north represents water; the gold and yellow of the south represents the sun and light; the red of the west window represents fire and the green of the east – the Earth.

On the sides of the halls were intricate carvings of Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and other angels I suppose. They were all very delicate and beautiful.

The giant chandelier than hung down in the middle of the hall was beautiful too.

There were also stained glass on the side doors and windows deco. Beautiful. I love stained glass.

At one side of the hall, there is this big pipe organ, which is the first one I've ever seen. I've never seen a pipe organ before, have you? Heard that this pipe organ here was built in 1971 by Fratelli Ruffatti, a famous organ bulder in Padua, Italy. It has 4842 pipes on 89 ranks and 69 stops.

After awhile, we walked out quietly. And we took some photos outside the cathedral. Love the blue skies in SFO.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Saint_Mary_of_the_Assumption
http://www.stmarycathedralsf.org/organ.html
http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/art/sfo_cityguide.pdf

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.

USA: Lombard Street - San Francisco, California - 8 May 2011

You know that San Francisco streets are really steep right? Because Lombard Street is well, just a street (and yet so many people wants to see it) and difficult to get parking space, we park further and then walked to there.

So we walked these steep streets. It was quite tiring actually.

Ok, so this is Lombard Street.
Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns.
Some says it is the crookedest street in the world.

Quite interesting right? And being such a crooked and steep street, they actually still allows vehicles to drive through. It must be a real challenge to drive there.

Actually, that was the reason why the road became so crooked. Initially they built a road but it was so steep straight down that they were afraid people would get killed driving a steep straight down road. So they put grooves and them make the road so crooked so that the drivers would step on a break while driving. Something like that. ;)

And guess what? There are still people living on that street. How's the feeling I wonder to live in such a place where once you open your front there, a crowd of tourists are bound to be there snapping away?

I'm loving the lush greens on the road. Makes the place so beautiful.

Postcard photos? ;)

Mandatory couple shots.

And then I turned around, and saw the road behind me so steep that I could see the whole neighbourhood. Loved it and couldn't help but to snap, snap and snap.

So while other people were busy photographing Lombard Street, I was snapping away at the opposite directions. Snap. Snap. Snap.

This really shows how steep San Francisco roads are. You could practically see the whole neighbourhood from where we were standing.

So Ok, I finished another post about beautiful San Francisco. 100 more posts to go! ;P

p/s - Click here for more of my USA trip.