It’s been a while since I’ve been back to the Conservatory of Flowers at Golden Gate Park. Not much has changed but it was still a nice visit.

The Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that contains a collection of rare plants. Design influence of Victorian architecture and built in 1878, it is the oldest wood and glass conservatory in North America.

On this particular summer day, the weather in S.F. was very chilly. The fog was hanging and the ocean breeze was strong. So imagine coming from the cold outside air into the humid and hot greenhouse.

Upon entering the potted plants room you are welcomed by this decorative statue. Reminds me of French gardens.

I have to mention it felt really small and cramp in the Conservatory. Especially on days when there are many visitors too. And this fruiting banana tree was very popular with everyone wanting a photo of it or with it.

Rare flowering plants such as this desert rose are potted in a simple terracotta pot. Other orchids and flowers were also planted in decorative urns and containers.

These would make great houseplants.

As noted by the Conservatory, “These containers include a historic urn from San Francisco’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, an assortment of beautiful copper containers with parrot-shaped handles from Karnataka, India, tall and slender Javanese palm pots, hand-incised ceramic pots from Burkina Faso and many, many more.”

Flowering potted tropical plant.

Fancy flowers!

If you enter from the side you’ll be greeted by colorful garden of Dahlias.

My favorite part of the Conservatory is always the aquatic plants, which I will post the photos later.

If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

- Scott McKenzie

Colorful roses at one of the floral shops at the Embarcadero.  We got lucky and found street parking just 2 blocks away.  The parking meter system accepts major credit cards. For $3.25 we got 2 hours of parking.

These are the backyard patio of the mansions along Lyon Street stairs.  The geraniums with white petals and pink splashes go well with the little deep purple flowers.

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We finally had the chance to visit California Academy of Science in San Francisco.

I’ve been wanting to visit this place since it’s re-opening in 2008. We got there later in the day and had only 1 hour to explore the place. Next time I would give it at least a couple of hours to see everything.

One of the first thing you’ll see upon entrance to the academy are these beautiful corals.

I like this living wall art. It’s got plenty of tropical plants. But it’s missing blooming orchids.

“Living plants include numerous trees - such as the Brazilian beautyleaf and West Indies mahogany, dozens of shrubs - including Theobrama cacao, the plant from which chocolate is made, and hundreds of flowering plants - from begonias and philodendrons to orchids and bromeliads.” - California Academy of Science.

Unfortunately I did not see the hundreds of flowering plants. Except for the cocoa tree and this fruiting palm tree (and two orchids). Maybe the gardener was on vacation.

Despite all that, we still had a great time. So we decided to become academy members. That means unlimited entrance all year! Next time around we’ll try to arrive sooner and see penguins getting fed and also check out the roof top garden.

There were many young families and children visiting the place. This place is great for anyone from 8 to 80 years old! It’s also especially nice since all the staff were friendly.

February is member appreciation month so we got 20% discount on the membership fee and museum gift shop. As an Academy member, you help support our scientific research, educational outreach, and the many exhibits in our aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum.

This time lapse video was taken by Simon Christen over the period of one year in the San Francisco bay area. It really brings out the beauty of the place. It’s very mesmerizing to watch. I never realized how beautiful it is to see the moon rise or the cloud of fog rolling in across the landscape.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Music by Nick Cave - Mary’s Song from the Soundtrack of “Assassination of Jesse James”.

Here is how Simon explains what settings to use for the night shots:

“I am always shooting in full manual mode and then adjust the exposure as the light changes. I take care of the “jumps” later in post. The exposure really varies depending on the shot. For example a bright city needs shorter shutter speeds then fog illuminated by moon light. The shutter speeds ends up being around 4-5 sec with the aperture wide open and high ISO settings. This way I get to take a picture every 5-6 seconds.”

Find more of Simon’s work at simonchristen.com

This week’s technology highlight comes from Google and their self-driving vehicles. The fleet consist of six Toyota Priuses and one Audi TT, driving from LA to SF along scenic highway 101.

The cars were driving themselves using decision-making artificial intelligence software. And were accompanied by a technician to monitor the navigation system and take control if anything goes wrong.

While in San Francisco, the car even made it out to Lombard Street. The one block section that is famous for it’s steep hill along the tight and twisty turns.

Anyone who’s ever visited SF, needs to drive thru this street. Nice photo from San Francisco DiaryStar.

The test drive from SF to LA was successful, except for one minor accident where it was hit from behind. The cars were able to navigated themselves successfully in city traffic, even stopping for pedestrians too.

Google believes these driveless cars will make for safer roadways and also reduce energy cost. As a fleet of shared smart vehicles will only be driven when needed and not owned or parked by each person. A bit like Zipcars. Plus no need for designated drivers now that your car can drive you home.

Google believes the future of autonomous vehicles can be here within the next decade. But the legal issue surrounding that would be another story.

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On September 25th, I was really looking forward to visiting the California Academy of Science in San Francisco.

I knew it was “Free Museum Day”, but I didn’t expect this much crowd.  The line was going along the side of the building. It was a warm day for San Francisco and it seem everyone felt they wanted to enjoy it.

We skipped the museum and decided to head to the coast instead.  M and I spotted some dolphins diving from a distance. We wanted to get a closer look and started to hike closer to the coastline. But unfortunately the dolphins had already left.

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Do you ever wonder what happens to some of the discontinued fabric samples from designer showroom? Sadly most of it ends up in the landfill. But a good amount of it gets recycled and rePurposed through an effort organized by FabMo.

FabMo currently moved 25 to 30 tons of beautiful material each year. As noted by Hannah, one of the founder of FabMo, “That’s more than two tons of stuff each month that doesn’t go to the landfill. It also is raw material for an incredible variety of useful applications.”

Fabrics include sample sized woolens, cottons, silks, linens, synthetics and many other blends. FabMo also have upholstery weight and all in between. They also have leather, tiles, wallpapers amongst the fabrics.

What’s really neat is seeing how some of the fabrics get transformed into pretty crafts. From stuff animals, doll clothes, skirts, quilts and more.

Here is where some pretty fabrics that was almost trashed get turned into cute little Teddy bears.  I don’t think I’ve seen any bear quite like this anywhere! 

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“Mercedes has a really big heart and lots of love to give.” Card designed by Rachael Hale of New Zealand.

And if puppies don’t warm your heart, here is the lovely city of San Francisco.

Famous for it’s cable cars, Golden Gate Bridge, steep hills and more. It’s a great place to see anytime of the year.

California Academy of Science had a huge re-opening on September 27th, 2008. So there was a big crowd that day. I’m actaully thinking of going when there is less of a crowd. Gives me a better chance to really absorb the place and I really don’t like going to museums when it’s too crowded. But of course, people watching is also the fun part too.

So if anyone is interested in visiting soon, here are the details:

55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118

Photo credit: California Academy of Science (Opening Day) via flickr. Notice the green roof, it’s suppose to have plants that are native to the area and helps with the green design of the building. Very cool!

General Admission
Adult	$24.95
Senior (ages 65 and over)	$19.99
Youth (ages12-17)	$19.95
Child (ages 7-11)	$14.95
Ages 6 and under	FREE

Visit Free of Charge

There are numerous opportunities to visit the Academy free of charge, including:

• Wachovia Wednesdays: Third Wednesday of every month.
• Neighborhood Free Days: Open weekends for SF residents in each zip code.

Living plants include numerous trees - such as the Brazilian beautyleaf and West Indies mahogany, dozens of shrubs - including Theobrama cacao, the plant from which chocolate is made, and hundreds of flowering plants - from begonias and philodendrons to orchids and bromeliads.”