Weekend Sights and Glide – Feed the Homeless!

Let me start with the weekend highlights before I get into today.

Since my last blog I have clocked up more than 43.5K+ steps, climbed 52 floors, and around 32 kms of walking. In that mileage I have experienced the following:

Saturday, 29 Sept

• Saturday morning was spent wandering around the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. It was such a beautiful calm morning. One thing that struck me was the history of the place. It offered the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Pacific Coast maritime history. The Park includes a fleet of historic ships, a Visitor Center, Maritime Museum, Maritime Research Center, and a Aquatic Park Historic District. As I entered the Municipal Pier, I noted how badly in shape the Pier was. There was a sign up “Save the Pier!” where it explained that the Pier was built in 1934 to create a protected cove where people could swim. The pier has endured decades of winter storms and pounding waves which has significantly weakened the 1400 foot walkway. The pier remains open today, but unless preserved and saved, it will one day close!

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• Saturday afternoon – Muir Woods Tour – a beautiful serene place, with the colours outstanding in nature, the tall trees providing some peace to recharge the batteries. Abhay (IBM Australia) and I spent some time chatting about life, what the future looked like and admiring the views and surroundings as walked amongst these majestic giant trees. The main attraction of Muir Woods are the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees. They are known for their height, and are related to the giant sequoia of the Sierra Nevada. While redwoods can grow to nearly 380 feet (115 m), the tallest tree in the Muir Woods is 258 feet (79 m). Until the 1800s, many northern California coastal valleys were covered with coast redwood trees similar to those now found in Muir Woods National Monument. To protect the redwoods the Kents donated land to the Federal Government and, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national monument. Interesting fact, Muir Woods featured in the movies The Rise of The Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. After the Muir Woods, we ended up in Sausalito where we left the bus, and caught a ferry across the Bay to Fisherman’s Wharf. It turned out to be a mild evening watching the sun going down, and watching the lights dance in the water from the City. Fisherman’s Wharf was alive with music, lights, dance, street performers.

Sunday, 30 Sept

• Sunday, I went off to explore Lands End! A magical place, especially when the weather was stunning. Catching public transport required 2 buses to my first stop which was Legion of Honor. I had not done any research, so was surprised to find some interesting sights. Sometimes the best way to be, no expectations, therefore one can be engulfed in the whole experience and not be disappointed. Firstly, let me tell you a little story about a Crow while I was waiting for my 2nd bus. This Crow was very bright and black, shining in the sun. It made sure to catch my attention and flew in front of me, landing at the Pedestrian Crossing next to me. i stood bemused as this Crow waited for the traffic, waited for the lights, and proceeded to “walk” across the road, sticking to the pedestrian crossing all the way! A few minutes later, I hear what I thought was a telephone ringing very loudly. I happened to look up at the Crow whom happened to be sitting on the roof of a apartment building in front of me, and there he was, making a sound of a ringing telephone! I guess you had to be there, but it certainly amused me as I was sitting waiting for my bus.

• So, Legion of Honor. It is, in fact, a museum. If you click on the link, you can read all about what the museum has to offer. I did not go inside, but observed this pavilion is a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris, one of the 18th-century landmarks on the left bank of the Seine. The California Palace of the Legion of Honor was completed in 1924, and on Armistice Day of that year the doors opened to the public. In keeping with the wishes of the donors, to “honor the dead while serving the living,” it was accepted by the city of San Francisco as a museum of fine arts dedicated to the memory of the 3,600 California men who had lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I. Also on the grounds was a glass pyramid, some statues such as The Thinker, etc.

• Next, a very moving memorial – the Holocaust Memorial which really made you think! The Holocaust Memorial or “The Survivor” is a haunting, realistic life-size sculpture depicting 11 victims of Nazi death camps, with one standing looking out past a barbed wire fence. Created and installed in 1984, the placement of this memorial was controversial from the beginning. Some felt that the commemoration of an atrocity in such a graphic way was not appropriate in such a beautiful landscape. But sculptor George Segal insisted, saying that the viewer might consider death while facing toward the monument and life while facing toward the Golden Gate.Jews were among the city’s earliest settlers. Beginning during the Gold Rush of 1849, Jews came here looking fora fresh start and a level playing field. By the 1870s, San Francisco had the largest Jewish population in the country outside of New York.

• Labyrinth at Land’s End – a beautiful spiritual place, which unfortunately not many quite understand. The place would have been perfect if people just turned up and was quiet, taking in the moment of this magic place. San Francisco artist Eduardo Aguilera created the Labyrinth, which has been destroyed on two occasions by persons unknown, but Aguilera rebuilt it each time. A spot worthwhile seeing, particularly on a beautiful day like I was lucky enough to have.

• One Mile Rock Beach – just down from the Labyrinth, is also another magic spot. Here you will find towers of rocks balancing … a beautiful spot to find your balance in.

• The coastal walk was certainly breath taking, again with no presence of the wind, the coastal walk was simply stunning. Watched seals frollicking in the water below, to watching the birds dance in the sunlight.

• Late Sunday afternoon, I was soon back at the Hotel, meeting my UWBA Sub Team colleagues as we did a few hours of work, knowing that we had a full week ahead being our last week.

Monday, 1 October (wow where did that time go)

• So, leaves me with today! First half of the day was spent powering through our report to present this week to UWBA. Our cubicle quiet as we were all deep in thought as we divided the tasks to conquer the work needed to be done, and got on with it.
• This afternoon, the UWBA Sub Team (Benedicte, Susannah and Ricardo), along with Ansa (Atlas Corps Fellow), went along on a field trip to Glide to fulfil a volunteering task of “Feed the Homeless”. The Glide Organisation philosophy is simple: love, acceptance, and compassion, which they apply through programs in Wellness, Growth, Spirit, and Leadership. Click here to read their interesting and colourful history over time. Talking to one of the volunteers, he was able to talk about how the Co-Executive Director and Rev. Karen Oliveto’s elevation to the bishopric was quite historic. He spoke of the pictures on the walls, and whom each person was.
• It was certainly a humbling experience as we were in a neighbourhood where it was prevalent that there were many homeless people. Also supporting today’s dinner meal, was a group of children from a Boys and Girls Club, whom do many activities after school, which includes volunteering activities of this nature. I was tasked to serve up spaghetti bolognese with some of the young girls, while others got busy doing other tasks. Meeting our task master James, he was certainly a very passionate energised man with a sense of purpose in getting his crew to serve up as quickly as possible, in a clean environment, and ensuring that there was respect no matter whom you were.
• As it turned out, I had to be shown how to serve up a good place of spaghetti bolognese, as I was doing it all wrong! I soon caught on, scoop and spread, scoop and spread Sharon … soon 265 bowls of this had been dished up. As I occasionally looked up at some of the people walking in, my heart opened, and wondered about the stories of these people. Unfortunately, there was no time to talk, just scoop and serve! Come 5pm, the doors closed, group selfies done, a hug and thank you from James, with James asking if I would come back at 7am (ahhh, would love to, but no time James, but will definitely let others know, that if you are in San Francisco, then you should sign up to help out when you are here!)

• When we walked out the doors, the world was a different place to earlier in the day. It certainly gave you a sense of the Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area, being just one pocket of people living on the streets. I was absorbed in my surroundings, in the people, in the sense of community that there appeared to be.
• A quick visit to a Westfield with my colleagues, where we did another 30 minutes of work, and then everyone departed their separate ways. I was in the food court, where a picture had caught my eye, and I thought that it was just something that had to be tried … the most amazing Lobsticle from Lobster Me ‘s secret menu … it was pricey, but oh so worth it. If you ever get the opportunity, ask for a grill stick. To die for!!

• Heading home, as I was walking, the evening produced many more sights and sounds of a different nature being in a different part of the City that I had not been in. From a band playing on the sidewalk with old ladies dancing to their music, enjoying themselves; to a singular man on a saxophone, playing some tunes as the surrounding buildings provided the acoustics; to an old man in a wheel chair at the entrance of Union Square, dancing it up, he had the moves as very loud hip music played from a sound box on his wheel chair, to a small group in Union Square carrying flags and yelling something out in protest against something that I did not quite understand.

Tonight I reflect on the day, give thanks to the bed that I am about to climb into, for the clothes on my back, for my home back in Australia. I feel very blessed!