After the exhausting day that day two turned out to be, I wasn't sure I would be up for a lot of walking. My poor feet and legs were really paying the price for all the walking the day before but I am one determined vacationer. I don't believe in wasting a minute of it so I put on my happy face, popped a couple ibuprofen, applied bandaids, and told myself the burning pain along my shins and the huge water blisters on the INSIDE of both pinky toes would be better once I got on my feet and got going. (It ALMOST worked.)
Here we go...first stop was breakfast downstairs (free food always tastes better, huh?)
This is my "happy face" as we wait for the elevator. Do I look like I was in exhausting pain from the waist down? Hehehe. (I was.)
We decided our first stop would be the Legion of Honor museum. We hopped a bus but it was the wrong one. We had the funniest bus driver. She did not miss a thing her passengers said or did and after realizing where we were headed, she asked why we had not taken the bus in front of her, the Limited? It makes limited stops (hence the name) and would have taken us almost all the way to the museum. J. told her he wasn't sure if it was the right one. I asked him if we should get off and take the next one. I was facing him, talking under my breath and she HEARD me...she told me she would get us there by the time we could catch a different bus. LOL, she was sharp, I tell you, and oh so funny!
I just wanted to SIT. The least amount of walking, the better. (What was I thinking? Wait till you see WHERE we walked that day!)
Here is the hill over looking the city where the museum is located. It is beautiful there, very quiet and an oasis in a bustling, energetic city.
We wandered around outside for a bit before we entered. I loved these old trees.
Look at this view!
This was a disturbing display outside. Holocaust depictions always make my heart hurt....as they should.
This is the entry arch at the front of the museum. It reminds me of the Arch de Triomphe and the small glass pyramid in the plaza looks like the Louvre, of course. I think it made both J. and me nostalgic for Paris. *sigh*
Rodin's Thinker looks like the one we saw in his museum garden in Paris. We were confused...are there TWO? After looking it up, I realize there are at least twenty casts of it in assorted museums. However, we will always claim the one at Musee' Rodin to be "The One". ;0)
After entering the museum and stopping by coat check, we went into the china and porcelain display room. There, we met a delightful volunteer who invited us into the storage room where the museum stores pieces awaiting display. He was quite informative and is also the curator for another museum. He gave us an in-depth history of soft paste and hard paste porcelains with the Asian influence and English reproductions. He knew SO much! It was a nice learning experience and I loved seeing the exquisite pieces.
This one was a bit disconcerting. Who would really want a rat (or dormouse) on their dining table? (Not me!) This one was from the 1700s, done in hard paste porcelain.
The fruit and vegetable pieces were so pretty and looked like something I would buy for my table today....but these were from the 17th and 18th century!
We moved on to the other halls and saw Rodin's Kiss. Again, we saw this one in marble in his museum in Paris. I think it is prettier in marble as opposed to bronze.
Our favorites will always be Monet's. I also love Renoir and Van Gogh among others. This museum had nice displays but we were a bit disappointed at the Monet exhibit. We wanted a bit more. :0)
We made a hurried walk through the rest of the displays.
This Salvador Dali was interesting....
....as was this Picasso.
This is not an overly large museum so we were quite efficient. (and we've had LOTS of museum experience ;0) ) We had lots more to do that day.
Check back for the end to another full day of sight seeing in lovely San Francisco.
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