Exploring Greenwich
I had seen a variety of pinhole, fisheye, and other experimental cameras at the Exploratorium gift shop on a previous walk, and couldn’t stop thinking about trying them out (especially for this project), so I decided to walk that way after my appointment with Doctor G and pick one up!
First through Chinatown…
The design of the firehouse is Chinatown incorporates traditional cloud motifs in the overhang and signs; the overhang cut-outs make pretty shadows on the sidewalk…
A man and his dog. Figurines in a Chinatown shop window on Powell Street…
Into North Beach…
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Music 101 and Savoy Tivoli in the Upper Grant shopping district…
And this view! I love this view. I’m a fan of any time San Francisco shows off her hills, but this one is sweet because you have to trek up Filbert Street to win it: North Beach, Russian Hill, and even the Golden Gate Bridge:
Headed to the water, but Coit Tower happened to be “along the way”…
Now I want to learn to skateboard so I can try bombing this hill…
On a fence just at the base of Pioneer Park (aka, the Coit Tower grounds)…
I hadn’t noticed last time—steps up to the tower have contributor names etched into them:
Lovely Pioneer Park pathway…
Had to cheat and break out of my square photo format for this one…
I didn’t take the elevator ride today like I did last time, but instead took in some of the views from around the Tower grounds. Maritime Park, Golden Gate Bridge, and Marin and Sausalito…
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Alcatraz and Angel Island…
Continuing on in the direction of the water, I found these steps leading down from Pioneer Park…
If you have read previous posts, you will know how much I like a mysterious staircase…
They lead all the way down to this view, which is the intersection on Montgomery and Greenwich. Another example of the San Francisco hills being so steep that certain streets simply drop off into and switch to steps—notice that we are taller than the tops of telephone poles! Also, Embarcadero piers, bay, and Bay Bridge…
A ha! Oftentimes before, while walking down streets near the waterfront, I had seen signs at the foot of steps reading “COIT TOWER” and always wondered about them. Mystery solved! There is a small hand-made sign on the wall I am leaning on, above, with an arrow pointing to the top of un-specified “STAIRS”… Very out-of-breath people wearing running shoes kept emerging from behind the sign, so I guessed I was also welcome to follow the arrow.
How lovely! Statue in the front yard of one of the homes that line the staircase:
These are the Greenwich Street Stairs, which a famous landmark but are new to me! I get so excited when my wandering leads me to places like this in the city…
Completely lined with flowers and trees and plants and overhanging greenery…
The Bay Bridge through bougainvillea…
If you are going up, pace yourself and be prepared to burn a few hundred calories. Going down is much easier, but still precariously steep in spots—wheee!
I stopped at a shop and picked up a lunch time snack, and sat on Pier 27, about where the stairs meet up with the Embarcadero, to eat…
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I think it’s funny that when I sit with my feet hanging over an edge like this, my GPS tracker would have you believe I jumped in the Bay…
I usually approach the Exploratorium from the other side, so I hadn’t noticed that they make use of their entire pier, wrapping all the way around both sides of the museum building, for experiments and installations. I saw a line of these guys and wondered what kind of wacky thing they were supposed to be—sculpture of some kind?
As you walk down the Pier, your eye gets caught by something fluttering overhead, and you find yourself surprised and delighted…
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Another cool thing on the Pier that you have to slow down and investigate a bit for it to reveal itself—it picks up the ambient sounds, and sends them down the wires that connect the dishes to the harp behind them, making a soft music…
More exhibits on the Exploratorium pier…
These are pretty cool—they are big wheels you can spin, and they have sediment and other materials native to the places they are labeled with. They are for teaching about water currents and how the tides work in different geological areas (with a beautiful view of the bridge and the bay as a backdrop!)…
I found a camera that I thought would be fun (it’s made of plastic and I have to put it together myself—perfect!), and started back home through the Financial District.
Transamerica Pyramid through the trees along one of the Embarcadero Center buildings…
Skyscrapers, seagull…
This staircase felt vaguely Egyptian…
Flags on Market Street…
Where should I go tomorrow?
- MILES WALKED: 8.6
- NEIGHBORHOODS: Civic Center, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, Embarcadero, Financial District, Market Street/Downtown, Mission District
- DESIGNATED LANDMARKS: Coit Tower (no. 165)
