SAN FRANCISCO

North of San Francisco is the celebrated wine-growing area: Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley. We visited a number of wineries - all impressive, although none more than Clos Pegase. The owner was a friend of Dubuffet and has even more of an interest in art collecting than wine making!

Clos Pegase had many artistic treasures: here a Henry Moore sculpture

and in the cave, not only plenty of wine but also a Dubuffet creation.

An artist in residence, Jim Stallings who works with live music when possible (paints with symphony orchestras playing beside him sometimes!)

Here is a better view of that Dubuffet.

Driving south we reached the Golden Gate Bridge. (Good photo Patty!)

... and here is one she took as we crossed the bridge.

We REALLY liked San Francisco. This photo shows Market Street running the full length of the city)

... here is the tallest building in the city: the Pan Pacific ... a pyramid-shaped office block!

The city is famous for its hills...

... and tramcars that clank their way up and down the hills.

The architecture is interesting. The modern buildings are all designed to resist earthquakes. The old buildings were mainly constructed after the devastating 1906 earthquake. Here are a set of "Victorian" houses - so-called 'painted ladies' because of their varied colouring.

Some of the Victorian architecture is quaintly over-the-top

We visited the Modern Art Museum which had an excellent collection of Matisses, Henry Moore drawings and paintings ... and a wonderful Diego Rivera! But we were not allowed to photograph them.

Our favourite place was the beautiful Japanese Gardens located near the coast's botanical garden.

Everything was designed with such excellent taste!

Of course we had to visit the famous Fisherman's Wharf. On Pier 39 the noise of the basking sea lions can be pretty deafening ... and the wind is pretty strong too!

But for a greater variety of animal life, we went to the Zoo.

A gorilla eyed us...

a lion lazed itself in the sun...

we watched penguins being fed ...

... but best of all were the two orphaned grizzly bears: sisters who had been rescued from Montana when cubs and looked after in a large enclosure by San Francisco zoo.