It's July?!?!?
Where the heck did June go? *blinks*
We had a fantastic, perfectly awesome weekend in the City. Great food, great art, great...well it was our 15th anniversary and we were kids free for the first time in two years, so you fill in the blank. *grins*
Got there Saturday evening and had dinner at ChaChaCha, a great tapas place around the corner from the hotel. The sangria was most excellent.
We saw the Lords of the Samurai show on Sunday. It was amazing - all the artifacts except for 3 (to be discussed momentarily) came from a single family lineage, 10 generations of Daiymo (Samurai masters/feudal overlords) ending with the paintings and ceramic work of the current decendent, the former Prime Minister of Japan. He's retired now, and practicing fine arts like his ancestors, particularly the creation of traditional tea ceremony sets. How cool is that??
The three non-family pieces really geeked me out. Miyumoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings was there - not the original scrolls, which were lost, but the copy his student made. They also had a painting Musashi did of his horse, and a set of his wooden practice swords. I got the chills looking at them. *face palm* Yes, I am silly.
We spent an hour in the exhibit, then grabbed lunch and a glass of wine in the museum cafe before heading uptairs to spend another 2 hours perusing their incredible, two-floors worth of art and antiquities (well, mostly antiquities) from all over Asia. My favorite collections were the Hindu and Buddist statuary from Pakistan (mostly stone and very large) and the collection of pottery from Korea. They have this really unique glaze/firing process that yeilds a gorgeous shade of pale blue/green. Loved it.
Before heading to the museum, we'd taken a 3 plus mile ramble through Golden Gate Park. I showed Greg the Botanical Gardens, where I used to sit and do my homework in the sun. The weather was perfect, but we were both wishing for proper walking shoes instead of our sandals. Next time. =)
Sunday night, we had a long, relaxing Italian dinner at Pomodoro on Union Street. I had the asparagi appetizer (roasted asparagus, arugula and roma tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and basalmic and topped with shavings of reggiano cheese) and the half order of spinich ravioli in gorgonzola sauce. It went perfectly with the Prosecco - a bubbly Italian white that starts out tasting like a crisp Granny Smith Apple then fills your mouth with vanilla and butter right before you swallow. Dessert was sinful - we split the chocolate souffle with vanilla gelato. Yum.
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Stay tuned. Tomorrow: King Tut!!!!!!!