California, 16th November, Arnold Newman Exhibition and the Castro

On our itinerary for the afternoon was a trip to the Jewish Museum where there was an exhibition of Andrew Newman photographs. But first coffee called and we stopped at a Starbucks to take the weight from our feet.

We passed another cable car being turned and another religious placard before reaching an area where there were a couple of 'installations'. One of these was a large bench which you could play a weird kind of electronic music by holding hands with someone and moving your fingers on the arm rest. A good excuse I suppose to hold hands with complete strangers!

The Jewish Museum was a very modernist building and the exhibition a treat. We managed to get on to a tour with only 2 other people and this gave us some useful information on how Newman worked. It was so good I had to buy the book! Beneath you can see the exterior and interior of the museum and the buildings round it.

We caught the MUNI train, more of a bus with rubber tyres, over to the Castro, gay, district which was very quiet and had a Thai meal in an unremarkable restaurant.

Thoroughly full, we strolled part of the way back to the Mission District  before catching the train again. The route took us around the edge of a park which got us closest to how San Francisco might have been in the 60's. In the dark we could make out groups of people sitting on the grass and the scent of marijuana drifted through the night.