The Haight Ashbury neighborhood in SF is famous for being a maven of the hippies in the 60's and 70's. Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, head shops, psychedelic colors, beads and braids all combine along Haight street. It's colorful for sure - both the brightly decorated shops and the strange mix of people. Residents mingle with Dead heads, homeless people, white Ameri/European tourists...and lots of dogs being walked everywhere. The smells are a strange mix of incense, body odor, pot and sometimes of pizza, thai food or coffee wafting from restaurants. I wandered in and out of several blocks worth of shops surfing tie dyed clothes, jewelry, cool looking second hand shops, etc. I bought a string of sandal wood prayer beads from a snaggle-tooth tibetan whose shop smelled of incense and who was listening to Paco De Lucia (spanish flamenco guitarist). We had a brief discussion of the music, in which I recommended he might want to listen to Vicente Amigo. By then I think the incense and the pot smells were making my head whirl, so I decided to head to the golden gate park.
After a brief skirmish with Major Tom (my Tom Tom GPS), during which we circled the park several times looking for the correct entrance leading to the museum area and not the one that Major Tom insisted I turn into (I tried to tell him it was barricaded and the mounted policeman would not look kindly on running through it.), I managed to park and headed into the center of the Golden Gate Park where the museums were located. It was such a beautiful day that I couldn't bear to go inside to museums. So my first stop was the Japanese Tea Garden. What a treat! It's so serene and peaceful - despite the tourists. I stopped several times to sit on benches and close my eyes for a few seconds of meditation. One of the things I couldn't get a picture of was a dragon made out of a hedge of low cut bamboo plants twisting on a hillside, with stones for the head and the tail. I could have stayed there forever. Perhaps when I buy a house of my own again, I'll attempt to recreate such a peaceful oasis. I may have to return there again before I leave.
After a brief skirmish with Major Tom (my Tom Tom GPS), during which we circled the park several times looking for the correct entrance leading to the museum area and not the one that Major Tom insisted I turn into (I tried to tell him it was barricaded and the mounted policeman would not look kindly on running through it.), I managed to park and headed into the center of the Golden Gate Park where the museums were located. It was such a beautiful day that I couldn't bear to go inside to museums. So my first stop was the Japanese Tea Garden. What a treat! It's so serene and peaceful - despite the tourists. I stopped several times to sit on benches and close my eyes for a few seconds of meditation. One of the things I couldn't get a picture of was a dragon made out of a hedge of low cut bamboo plants twisting on a hillside, with stones for the head and the tail. I could have stayed there forever. Perhaps when I buy a house of my own again, I'll attempt to recreate such a peaceful oasis. I may have to return there again before I leave.
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