San Fran Day 8 - MOMA and Death Valley Tour
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2005
1
18
45
Trip End
Ongoing
San Fransicso,
California,
United States
Saturday, March 19, 2005
The building that the museum was in was fantastic inside - the entrance was all different types of marble in shapes that make everything look like it got really small at the end, with funk but simple rainbow paintings - I think the word to describe it is geometric? We walked round all 5 floors (including going across the bridge on the 5th floor that was see through - arrgghh!) stopping for lunch at the ever so expensive cafe for lunch (but I got to eat Rocket, which I think they call Argulia here, and I have missed it so much). Again there were some pretty boring paintings, but there were three things/artists I particularly liked:
* Robert Betchtle - who paints life size copies of photographs so it is really hard to tell that they are painted until you get right up close, and you also feel like you can walk into them like Mary Poppins does!
* Simon Evans - who makes art that looks like scientific research papers and diagrams, but has the most random words and phrases on them. You could be there forever reading all the mumbo jumbo that has come out of his head and laugh a lot.
* A wall hanging that was made from Scotch tape that you didn't notice until you were up close - it was just subtle, and some people didn't even notice it at all.
You may be able to see more on http://www.sfmoma.org/
Sarah, Louise and I went to Pinnochio's in Little Italy as I wanted to eat there before I left. I enjoyed my day with them as it felt like I had known them for years, so wanted to celebrate with a big bowl of pasta - plus they were going on a camping/bus tour as well so we thought we had better get some good food in our bellies! We met our respective Green Tortoise buses and tour guides and said goodbye.
The Green Tortoise buses are converted buses that you travel around in and can sleep in too - like sardines in a tin. There were 34 of us on the bus (after we picked some more people up in Bakersfield) ranging from the age of 13 up to 80, all from different parts of the world. We all introduced ourselves and had to sort out the 'buddy system', whereby you have to pick 3 people you didn't know, and every time the bus leaves you check for them as some people have been left behind before! My 'buddies' were Anya (Swedish film star lookey likey), Min (originally from Africa, then London) and Yali (studying law and creative writing, from California). Everyone was pretty tired so we went to bed, knowing we would be doing a lot the next day. I slept in one of the beds that hung from the ceiling which was an experience, every time the bus turned I turned, and there was only about 10 inches of room above my head! I didn't sleep well that night but it's part of the fun.
Have a look on http://www.greentortoise.com/death.valley.national.park.html for more info on the buses etc.
