Cienfuegos

View of Cienfuegos from our ship

We opted not to tour our next stop, Cienfuegos, and instead walked into town from the ship. The heat was oppressive, so didn't stay long, but did get a flavor of one of Cuba's less populated cities. Besides the older central plaza, we walked down what looked to be a relatively modern outdoor mall, where locals could purchase everything from furniture and clothing to food. Quite a line of people waiting to buy what we assumed was government-issued rice, a Cuban staple.

Topside, arriving in Cienfuegos at dawn

Blocks-long row of vendors selling handmade souvenirs

Even small Cienfuegos has its own cathedral, 

now a museum

Horse-drawn wagons transport tourists, so no need to paint older cars

Tim enjoying shady central plaza

Non-functioning stop-light, reinforcing the 

"frozen-in-time" aura

Old car, lamp and bandstand in town's center

Colorful but decaying homes

Leaving Cienfuegos, we spied the Elefantes (Elephants)

baseball stadium, where Dodgers hitter Yasiel Puig once played

ALA in SF

The backside of the Golden Gate Bridge, en route to

the Legion of Honor Museum (click on image to enlarge)

 

What a wonderful weekend. Not only was it the annual American Library Association (ALA) conference, but on Friday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that gay couples have the same right to marry as everyone else. And the perfect place to hear such glorious news? Why, San Francisco, of course, which was also hosting its annual Gay Pride celebration this weekend. Rainbow flags were flying everywhere and librarians gave gay rights lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who was already scheduled to give the ALA opening session keynote address, not one but two standing ovations. I doubt there was a dry eye in the place. Everyone was jubilant. We all had reasons to be proud this weekend.

As for ALA conference: lots of good professional networking and some interesting, but fun presentations. I saw the Today Show’s Al Roker, who keynoted breakfast on Saturday—a highly entertaining speaker. Tim and I sneak-previewed the new Martin Scorsese documentary, called The 50 Year Argument, about the New York Review of Books (excellent!). Plus I heard a fascinating talk about early 1900s librarians in Redondo Beach.

On Saturday afternoon, we played hooky and schlepped out to the Legion of Honor Museum to see the fabulous “High Style” fashion exhibit, on loan from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Me, in my favorite Mary Blair skirt, in

front of a 1961 Arnold Scaasi evening

ensemble—as if! (A girl can dream,

can't she?) 

And Tim took in a Giants game on Sunday. 

Giants stadium: the view from Tim's seat

Everyone else was either attending the conference or cheering wildly at the Gay Pride Parade, which lasted the entire day. By the way, if you need to get across Market Street during the parade, go under at the BART stations. Otherwise, put on a crazy costume and join in the fun, because there’s no way to avoid the festivities!

From One Extreme to the Other

The San Francisco Bridge from AT&T Park

After driving home from Las Vegas (see below), we spent one day recuperating at home before hopping a plane to San Francisco for a couple of days. We stayed at my new favorite SF hotel, the Serrano—old world charm, located just five blocks from the Powell St. BART and Muni station. We took mass transit everywhere—always a nice change for us car-addicted Angelenos.

The Serrano lobby

Our first stop was AT&T Park to see a Giants game. Growing up in L.A., I never liked the Giants, the Dodgers' national league rivals. Still, even I have to admit that their stadium, built in 2000, is spectacular and may indeed have the most beautiful ballpark setting in the country, as the Giants claim. But it was cold, especially after the oppressive heat of Las Vegas. Quite a difference in temperatures as well as cultures, if one can say that Vegas has any culture.

Bundled up to watch baseball—note my red wool scarf

peeking out from under my sweatshirt!

The view of AT&T centerfield from our seats

The next morning, we decided to see the recently renovated Coit Tower, which sits atop Telegraph Hill in North Beach. Completed in 1933, the landmark tower houses an array of Depression-era murals commissioned as part of the Public Works of Art Project in the 1930s. To get there, we caught an old Italian trolley car on Market St. and took it to Greenwich St., off of Embarcadero, before then climbing some 400 steps (!) to Coit Tower. The views were worth it, as we panted up more than 400 feet to the summit. But, damn, what a hike for our poor old legs! Next time we'll take a bus.

Our ride to Embarcadero

Beware, all who enter here!

Our destination—so close, yet so far

The first of many flights—that's me 
grimacing in the lower righthand corner

Up and up we go—at least it was mostly shady 

The magnificent view along the way

Coit Tower, at last

A statue of Columbus overlooking the Bay

The back of the tower

The murals depicting life in Depression-era California

Mural detail

My favorite panels: The Library—shelving books

Marxist headlines in the library: "Hoover Aid Fights Airmail 
Fraud," "Destruction of [Diego] Rivera's Fresco at 
Rockfeller Center," "Thousands Slaughtered in Austria"

We did take the free bus, a few hours later, to the Presidio, where we visited the Disney Family Museum, which I saw and loved the last time I was in SF. Coincidentally, the Presidio was also the site of Off the Grid, a weekly family picnic event that features food trucks (one of our favorite things!), 5-9PM every Thursday night. I knew Bacon Bacon from a previous trip to SF and so made a beeline straight for their scrumptious BLT sandwich. We then jumped on the bus and the Muni subway back to the hotel and quickly fell asleep. We were back home the next day—July 4th—well before fireworks and BBQ.

Early Off the Grid crowd

Massive BLT—YUM!!

July 4th: Waiting for the 7AM shuttle to SFO

Dodger Stadium Redux

We may have changed our allegiance to the Angels several years ago, but we still love L.A.'s Dodger Stadium, which got a much-deserved facelift this past year. We went to our first game of the season on Saturday. The seats were in "nose-bleed"—still, the view was pretty damn terrific.

Taking the field: 1st inning

New twin scoreboards

Dodgers dugout

The new look of the stadium is definitely retro, celebrating the team's often illustrious history in L.A. Everywhere you look there's a reminder of Dodgers' accomplishments—made me proud to be a baseball fan in Los Angeles!

New bobblehead dolls greet the fans outside the stadium

#32 Sandy Koufax, my all-time favorite ballplayer

Even the hot dogs are famous in L.A.!

Dodger history is celebrated at every turn. Murals 

now welcome fans to the newly renovated

bathrooms (yay!)

Unfortunately, parking is as heinous as ever!