Visiting San Francisco - Presidio - Fort Scott Battery Boutelle

San Francisco! 

It's such an amazing city with so many different points of view.  So much diversity and I'm glad that I am able to go their and learn about other people and cultures. 

See my latest posts about Union Square and Chinatown HERE and HERE. 

San Francisco also has such beautiful nature areas and the Presidio is one of these.  I know the name evokes a military feeling and their is definitely a rich military history in this area.  Understandably so as the very important Bay and shipping port had to be protected in times of war.  

But the Presidio is full of beautiful sights and hikes and biking and beaches as well!  It's a wonderful and amazing area.  

Let's take a look at one small part of this awesome area.  

We are starting at the Immigrant Point Overlook and will finish beside the Golden Gate Bridge.  All of these are along the gorgeous California Coastal Trail.  

This is a basic map so you can see just how HUGE the Presidio is.  And like I said, it is chock full of trails, art, history, and nature.  

You will notice Immigrant Point near the bottom left of the map, highlighted in purple.  It's a beautiful overlook - accessible by car, bike, or hike.  A peaceful place to appreciate the opening of the Golden Gate into San Francisco Bay and all the people who found freedom through that Gate. 

My next stop was a bit further down the hill when I parked at Fort Scott and walked along the California Coastal Trail to a couple of the batteries.  

I love looking at military history (well, all history, really) and also photographing ruins, so this was an awesome way to spend an hour or so.  

So this picture doesn't seem to fit with the others, right?  Haha, but it actually does.  There was a building in the battery with a broken window (damn assholes) so, me being me, I had to stick my lens in the window and see what was inside.  I used a flash, so the photo doesn't look exciting or mysterious at all!  lol  

Unlike the outside of the building.  I was sure I would see something dark and exciting!  Or at least some spiders!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy the view from across the Bay.  I visited the Marin Headlands and it is also full of history and beauty.  

Enjoy!

xoxo

Nikon D600

Art of a San Francisco Street - Chinatown

Previous San Francisco City Street Post:  Walking from Union Square to Chinatown

Taking photos and window shopping.  What a peaceful time that would only have been made better if I'd had several thousand dollars to spend!  

Here are the sights that caught my eye and lens.  

Same painting, alternate colors. 

xoxo

Nikon D600

San Francisco! Heart of a Beautiful City Walk

Welcome to my Kosmos!

My world revolves around my daughter, my job, my kitty, photography/nature/road trips.  My peaceful place is almost anywhere with my camera.  

This trip was to one of my favorite cities and came about because my lovely daughter had a week-long conference that she had to work for her firm. Since parking is so expensive in the City (where she actually works, but doesn't park on the daily), I dropped her off at her hotel near Union Square and then took a walk before driving her car home.  :)

As I exited her hotel, there was a VERY noisy protest going on across the street at a different hotel.  I cannot express how noisy they were!  Adie's hotel was actually about a block and a half away but I could hear the cacophony immediately when I came outside. 

One thing I love is the Hearts in San Francisco project which started in 2004.  Each year artists create beautiful heart sculptures which are auctioned off with the proceeds going to charities.

This is one of the most famous hearts.  Tony Bennett painted this heart titled "America's Greatest City by the Bay" which lives permanently in Union Square at the corner of Powell and Posts streets. 

The bokeh in the background of the heart inspired me to do a different edit on a similar but wider shot.  

And of course, there are still beautiful flowers growing in the city and we all know how I love some good closeup flower shots!  This day did not disapoint!

Another heart at Union Square.  

I continued my walk towards Chinatown.  

I love looking at everything!  Including architecture and how buildings come together to give the City it's identity. 

This is the Dragon Gate, Gate to Chinatown at Bush and Grant streets. 

As you continue walking down Grant street, there are art shops lining the street and it is a beautiful and fascinating display.  This "Hear No Evil, See no Evil, Speak No Evil" bench stands outside of one of the stores.  

I actually loved taking photos of all the art and really tried to capture bokeh as my focus.  I got special permission from one of the shop owners to shoot in their gallery and I will have a separate post next with those photos. 

This is St. Mary's Square which is a lovely park just off of Grant Street. 

Old Saint Mary's Cathedral and Holy Family Chinese Mission

  

Across the street from St. Mary's

One final note about the St. Mary's area and park.  There is a Comfort Women memorial in the Square that I didn't walk past that day.  I am going to go back and do a post about it, the controversy when it was erected, and the rich history of the area. 

This young man was busking on one of the streets and he wasn't bad!  I asked permission to take the shot and contibuted $10 to his world tour.  :)

I was waiting semi-patiently to take a photo of this stunning dragon graffiti, but the photo shoot didn't look to be ending any time soon.  So I went ahead and took my shots.  

I did a bit of window shopping too!  But obviously these were a little out of my price range!

Once I got back to Union Square, the noisy protesters had some competition with this group from a local church singing come to Jesus songs over a PA system.  They were pretty good too!  But didn't have any where for me to donate money, so I was content with clapping along with some other people who had paused to listen. 

xoxo

Nikon D600