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What’s New in The City By The BaySan FranciscoBy Valerie SummersThe jewel in the crown on the Golden State remains the city by the bay, San Francisco. For a Southern Californian, the Bay area is just a hop, skip and a jump away and each time I visit, I discover something new and wonderful.
The three-story building features 31 galleries, in an easy to follow layout beginning on the third level in Gallery One featuring items of South Asia from the year 600, moving on to Eastern India 600-1600, through Central, Western and Southern India and into South Asia after 1600. Gallery six exhibits objects from the Sikh Kingdoms, followed by the Persian World and West Asia, Southeast Asia, the Himalayas and Tibetan Buddhist World and finally, beginning in Gallery thirteen, Chinese Jade Treasury, art objects and Chinese Buddhist Art.
The enormous diversity of the museum’s collection ranges from tiny jades to monumental sculptures of stone, bronze, wood and other materials, paintings, screens and hanging scrolls, porcelains and ceramic, lacquers, textiles, furniture, arms and armor, puppets and basketry. I found the audio devices most helpful and educational, adding to my appreciation of what my eyes feasted on. There were three additional exhibition galleries on the first level in addition to a resource center, education rooms, Café Asia and a fine gift shop displaying exquisite Asian art and jewelry. I could not resist purchasing a bauble. Across town, within walking distance of my hotel, I passed through the Embarcadero Shopping Center on my way to the new Marketplace situated in the recently renovated Ferry Building. Appropriately situated at the foot of Market Street on San Francisco Bay, this market offers a unique shopping experience. Simply the fact that is housed in this historic 1898 building makes it special. And it has a very up-market feel…more like food boutique shopping. Acme Bread Company, Ciao Bella Gelato, Cowgirl Creamery’s Artisan Cheese Shop, Ferry Plaza Seafood, Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, Golden Gate Meat Company, Hog Island Oyster Company, the Imperial Tea Court, flowers, produce of all kinds and a variety of places to stop for a meal were open for business. The mood was congenial and the energy high as I made my way through the crowd of happy shoppers who will be able to shop to their heart’s content, seven days a week, rain or shine under the skylight roof of the Ferry Building. Famed owner of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters, stated “A centrally located market in San Francisco, one dedicated to organic farmers and producers would help to erase the stigma of elitism that is attached to good food in our culture. Wholesome, delicious food should be a right, not a privilege.” Good food has long been a part of what makes San Francisco a great city. Over the past three decades, Bay Area chefs and farmers have created a culinary movement that directly links the local farms to the quality of life in the city. A Farmers Market, with white tented stalls now blossoms outside the Ferry Building Tuesdays (10am-2pm), Thursdays (3pm-7pm) and Saturdays (8am-2pm) and Sunday Garden Market (9am-3pm) features plants, starts and seeds from Bay Area nurseries. Saturdays is more like a happening with vendors displaying fresh and colorful produce and a variety of ready to eat offerings like yummy crab cakes, sushi rolls, scrambled eggs and bacon and sandwiches. I watched shoppers arrived on foot, by ferry, BART, bus and car, toting their shopping bags and carts. Even though I was not grocery shopping, I found a visit to the new Farmers Market and Marketplace a delicious experience.
Photos: Valerie Summers For information:The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable
Agriculture (CUESA) Park Hyatt of San Francisco |
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TM
My most recent
sojourn took me on a tour of the impressive new Asian Art Museum, a must-see
cultural destination. The museum, housed in Golden Gate Park for the past
35 years, outgrew its old home and reopened this spring in a new $160
million facility. Designed by world-renowned architect Gae Aulenti, the new
museum is situated in the city’s historic Civic Center Plaza. This cultural
mecca is one of the largest museums in the world devoted exclusively to
Asian art boasting a collection of more than 14,000 objects spanning 6,000
years of history. 
The second level,
beginning in Gallery 17, exhibits Chinese paintings, Chinese Imperial Arts,
Chao Shao-an and Chinese Paintings since 1900. Korean objects are on
display in galleries 21-23. Thematic Exhibition is featured in Gallery 24
and Japanese arts, paintings, screens, porcelain, prints and tea related
arts are beautifully displayed in galleries 27-30. I enjoyed my respite at
the serene Betty Bogart Contemplative Alcove where a stand filled with
water to the very top appeared as though it should overflow, but didn’t.
Also on this middle level, Sansung Hall features a variety of activities and
Asian oriented happenings and entertainment throughout the year.
All that
walking around through the museum and Farmers Market made me want to put my
feet up and relax, so I headed back to my room at the Park Hyatt San
Francisco. There was nothing standard about what was classified as my
standard room. It was more like a mini-suite with a balcony overlooking the
Oakland Bay Bridge. The Asian decor was peaceful and the amenities, state
of the art, including high speed internet access, in-room safe with cellular
phone and laptop recharge capabilities and CD players. Luxury items were not
forgotten as I chose my favorite type of pillow, then rested on fine
Italian linens and the goose down duvet. Later, after soaking in the
oversized tub in the granite lined bathroom, I dressed and took the elevator
down to the Park Grill for a delicious dinner. The next morning before
going out on another excursion, I stopped in at the well equipped fitness
center to get in shape for a day of more sightseeing and shopping in the
glorious city by the bay.