Dolores Park and Mission Murals

Address:
Mission Murals - Balmy Alley , San Francisco
Dolores Park - bounded by Church, Dolores, 18th and 20th Street, San Francisco

It's first day of 2009. Most shops were closed and streets were quiet. San Francisco is never lack of entertainment if you like sightseeing. We wondered around Dolores Park area and visited the colorful mural-filled Balmy Alley in Mission District where Artists turned the garage doors and fences of the alley into beautiful art.

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Street view about 2 blocks up from Dolores Park

View of San Francisco city from Dolores Park.

Front porch of this house looks like a fortress.

This house has a big bird cage in the front yard which is full of luscious greens.

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Pictures below were take from Balmy Alley and surrounding:

Christmas in San Francisco City Hall

Address:1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco

The beautiful San Francisco City Hall is one of the biggest city halls in the States. Its dome is gilded with gold leaf and it's the fifth largest dome in the world. It has very grand staircase and ornate interior. The movies "Milk" and "Bicentennial Man" were filmed here. The City Hall Christmas tree is decorated with thousands of origami cranes for this Christmas. The tree is named the "Tree of Hope". Each crane contains a wish for the world and were made by people from all around the world. City Hall is open for public Monday to Friday 8am - 8pm. Free admission.

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California Academy of Sciences

Address: 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

California Academy of Science is full of surprises...there are white alligators, Vietnamese moss frogs, dragon fish, ecological living roof top just to name a few. Free admission 3rd Wednesday of every month. That's a savings of $25.00 per admission. But you have to be there early. We were there at 10:00AM and it's so crowded already. Check out its site for more information: http://www.calacademy.org.

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The building is a sustainable architecture which utilizes natural light.

Mini frogs. How many do you see?

Living roof top -- using native plants as roofing material.

Giant cockroaches.

Vietnamese moss frogs - can you find them?

Seahorse decor.

White alligator. Look like it just finished lunch.

90-foot diameter rain forest dome.