Day 6: Gardens and Majestic Palaces (a post by Trish)

It is strange to think it's only been 6 days of travel at this point (well, 7 at the time of me writing). Given that it's been 4 years since our last travel adventure together, we are really packing it in but I think also making an effort to make this a vacation we won't we need a vacation from. Day 6 kept us outdoors and in the (still windy) sunshine but at a more leisurely pace. 

After a lazy morning, and some time debating which we area were most interested in (given the options of: free roaming Golden Gate Park, the Japanese tea garden, the Botanical garden or the Conservatory of Flowers), we decided on the botanical gardens since it offered the option of seeing redwoods. So off we headed on the tram/transportation device.

First point of business was to stop at a bakery for some fuel, and then (to the surprise of no one) we stumbled upon a bookstore. Shockingly, no purchased were made and we headed onward to the gardens. The botanical gardens opened in 1940 and offer 55 acres and roughly 9,000 different plants from all over the world. While neither Jen nor I are plant experts, pointing out ones we were familiar with or just enjoyed the look of provided hours of entertainment. It is fascinating that there is a wide world of plants out there and so many we had never heard of and can still be awed by. A few favorites from the day include:

These beautiful purple flowers that were practically neon.

A magically marshy area.

A tree that seemed like it had some mischievous stories to tell. Or was holding someone prisoner. Hard to tell.

Whatever this terrifying thing was. It reminded me of carnivorous sunflower.

Jen insisted this leaf would be perfect for cape making. (if anyone knows what plant this is, please let us know!)

We learned these were called kangaroo paws, they were very soft and after this we started noticing this around the city.

Hard to capture how tiny these ones were.

The redwood grove was lovely, peaceful and smelled amazing. We also learned that these are all coastal redwoods, with the giant ones being further inland (for another adventure!)

We also saw a whole area of succulents, where I had to carefully monitor Jen to make sure no little nubs were put into her pockets.

After this venture, we headed north to check out the Palace of the Fine Arts. This bus ride took us past the golden gate bridge, which, true to form was visible just barely under a cloud of fog. The second photo is on the other side of it but really showcases the wall of fog.

The Palace of Fine Arts was built to exhibit art at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition and styled after ruins of ancient Rome. Shockingly, this gigantic structure was never meant to stick around past the exposition, so wasn't built to be especially structurally sound. After public support to make it a permanent structure, between 1964-1974 it was demolished and reconstructed, although the epic-ness and old worldly-feeling has certainly not been lost. 

After all that amazement and wonder, we headed back home for another walk through Chinatown for  more souvenir shopping and dinner at "Dim Sum". Their egg yolk lava buns were exceptional.

A quick rest at home and then we were off for our final adventure, Jen's first trip to Trader Joe's! A few snacks were purchased, limited by luggage space and the fact that we don't have the time or ability to prepare any frozen meals (nor can I eat 6 ice cream bars in 36 hours, although Jen gave me many votes of confidence). Another day of adventuring in the books!