Day 7 Golden Gate Park

Day 7 at the Golden Gate Park. As we parked our car and got out we saw the sweetest of creatures. I've been noticing these tiny burrows everywhere, about 8 cm in diameter. I thought maybe they were old holes for poles that had been uprooted and didn't question why I saw them all over the place (along the coast and in the city). Turns out they are burrows for some kind of hamster looking rodent, so cute!  Skittish, this one came in and out to munch on leaves and grass. If you've followed my painting at all you'll know I'm a real sucker for cute plants and animals..

The Golden Gate Park is giant and houses an art museum, a science museum, a botanical garden and a few other things I didn't get to.  The art museum was closed on Mondays but here I am at the California Academy of Sciences. It has an aquarium, a planetarium, a rain forest and a very eclectic cafeteria.

Teeny tiny frogs that were the size of my finger tip!

Look at that DETAIL

Very colourful fish and coral. It's like a painting, I could stare at these all day.

Very weird (in a good sort of way) tiny squid looking thing.

Lunch in the cafeteria. A rice bowl with "meat" that tasted curry like, kim chi, mushrooms, parsley, green onions and beets. Very fusion, reflective of the city's ever growing diversity and mix of cultures. Delicious! I love it when things mix and compliment each other like that.

Parrots from the rain forest.

Beetles in a cluster.

Redwood grove at San Francisco's botanical gardens.

A grass tree, I love oogling at strange fauna. This is just the trunk, at the top grass grows. Which seems like an upside down idea because grass usually grows on the floor.

Nat took a lot of the best pictures including the one below.

Fragrant flowers, this garden was gigantic. Stay tuned, I'll post a more comprehensive photo album in my Facebook later. 

After the garden we took a rest and went back out to grab a dinner travelling on foot. The streets are super hilly, and my calves are sore. OK I have to talk about the exteriors of houses here in San Francisco. I love them. They are all painted in tones of pastel. Peach, periwinkle, pistachio, powdered blueberry, lavender, hazelnut, mocha, mint.. You can walk down the street and think of different ice cream flavours to go with each house. This is what I call a strawberry shake or a floral print dragon kind of pink. Every house looks like a well decorated cake.

Finally our day ended with a Chinese noodle joint. These are pork and chive dumplings. How do they compare to Toronto's?? Comparable!!