Week 17: December 15

Last Sunday Nick really wanted to go to the Wave Organ, so we made an expedition out of it. We ended up doing a whole lot more walking than we planned, but had a great time, and the organ was awesome. The Bay was bright and wet, all slap-happy against the rough stones, and Marin Headlands were smudged with haze from the sunset. 

That's Alcatraz in the distance

Wow....

Stairs to nowhere!

(almost) albino pidgey

The Organ itself is on the end of a long man-made peninsula and apparently sounds best on full moon nights, since that’s when the tide is highest. We could hear the ocean glooping out its tidal rhythms through the concrete pipes. 

Ears to the listening ports

My week was mostly taken up with battling pinkeye (which is better now), trying to get my visa sorted out, studying for the Western Civ final exam, working on my Theory take-home final, and practicing for lessons/classes with my former teacher, who was here for a residency. So, not all that interesting, but I did hear a George Crumb piece at one of the chamber music recitals. The group performed Vox Balenae, with black half-masks and deep blue stage lighting. It’s a long piece, but I found it fascinating and super effective.

On Thursday was the dreaded Civ final, which was slightly more difficult than I expected. Oh well, it’s done now, and yesterday the Three Explorers were out once again, with the Presidio as our destination. On our way, we noticed a lot of Santa clones.....apparently it's the Annual Polk Street Santa Claus Pub Crawl......

San Franciscans seem to have a romance with snow, always talking about how beautiful it is and how they wish it would snow for Christmas. Outside City Hall they even had a sorry little patch of man-made snow. I bet you all wish you could send them ours.

This made all three of us laugh a lot.

Our walk through the Presidio was, again, rather longer than expected (this always seems to happen) but we saw so many interesting things that no one regretted it. 

On the grounds of the Palace of Fine Arts

The whole Palace is like this

The wild Presidio

Oooh, abandoned warehouses!! So much scope for adventure.....

Rather gloomy

M pulled this stunt BEFORE we saw the plaque below.

"Please Do Not Touch. Embrace the solutions, not the globe" Whoops.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

We got to watch another ocean sunset – the Bay looks stunning in every stage of light, although my photos aren’t really an accurate representation of its beauty. 

At just the right time of day, the windows of Berkeley turn to molten gold.

I promise you this looked SO much better in real life.....

 My next blog post will be on Thursday, not Sunday. Why? Because I'm COMING HOME on Friday morning, that's why!!! Email me if you want to get together - I'll be home until January 20th, and I am determined to see as many people as possible before I have to come back here. And before you ask - no, I will not be blogging about my life in Calgary, since that's even more uninteresting than my SF life.......

- Antisocial Violinist