San Francisco

After attending the APGA conference in Pasadena, my next stop was the San Francisco Bay area. I planned to conduct a thesis case study on Monday at Quarryhill Botanical Garden in Glen Ellen, CA. However, I first spent a few days in San Francisco in the interim. This area is, of course, well known for its large Asian-American communities and boasts the largest Chinatown in the world (outside of Asia).

I had the great enjoyment of walking around nearly the entire city during my time there and, not surprisingly, I was able to practice my Mandarin in Chinatown. Also, while strolling through the Golden Gate Park (after visiting the San Francisco Botanical Garden at the Strybing Arboretum and the Conservatory of Flowers) I ventured upon a Chinese pavilion nestled on the edge of an island (Strawberry Hill) in the middle of Stow lake towards the center of the park. This pavilion was the result of a sister-city relationship between San Francisco and Taipei and proved to be quite a peaceful setting in the midst of the big city.