San Francisco is one of my favourite cities in the US, but also one I have visited many times in the past. This is why my stopover here is a very quick one so that I have more time to spend in new cities like Portland and Vancouver before it’s time to head home in just 10 days (time flies 🙂 ).
My 2 days in San Francisco are however packed, and I am happy to get to spend some time with my uncle and his family and see what cool kids my cousins’ children are growing up to be.
My very effective time management skills also allow me to catch up with my friends Jenny and Tom, and to meet my new friend and fellow ”Roman in the world” Bruno. The night out with Tom is particularly fun, as we end up in a very cool speak-easy on a seedy street in the Tenderloin, hidden behind the window of the ”Wilson & Wilson private investigation agency”. The menu looks like a case file, and the excellent cocktails have names like ”The Maltese Falcon” or ”Strangers in the Night”. No pictures allowed here, but I put on my Humphrey Bogart hat and get right down to business by ordering ”The Big Sleep”.
The visit to San Francisco also gives me the occasion to rediscover two Art Museums that I had visited long time ago.
Going through the collection of American Art at the De Young museum I realize how useful this trip has been, as I now have better context to appreciate more fully the works on display. The highlight of the visit is however the exhibit about ”The Summer of Love”, giving a very interesting account of the hippie movement’s history in its ”capitol” San Francisco through fashion, art, music and political engagement. One of the most interesting things for me was to see the strong influence of the Art-Deco aesthetics on the artists designing the iconic posters promoting concerts and events during this period.
Another happy return was the one to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a place that had made such a great impression on me when I first visited it 10 years ago, thanks also to an amazing exhibition of the works of Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The Museum had been closed for renovations for a few years, so I had not had a chance to visit on any of my more recent trips to San Francisco. I was happy to see what a great job they had done with the remodeling, and to rediscover an amazing collection of modern and contemporary art, including several works by Warhol and Lichtenstein. In particular by this latter artist I found quite fascinating his “remix” of Monet’s views of Rouen’s Cathedral.
Fun fact, the SFMOMA is currently hosting an exhibition about ”Matisse and Diebenkorn”, which closes in 10 days. I don’t think I have ever seen queues as long as the ones to see this exhibition (and I say ”queues” plural because people were going from the queue for the ticket to the one for the elevator, to an even longer one to get into the actual exhibition… If this is what a normal Thursday looks like I would be curious to see what happens this weekend).
Last night I then boarded the Coast Starlight train which should get me to Portland in a few hours. Sadly, leaving San Francisco so quickly means that I am going to miss the ”Bay to Breaker” event this weekend, but I am sure Portland will more than make up for it.
