San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

By now the sun was out in full force.

It wasn't burning hot at least, but made for a pleasant day out in the park...

Golden Gate Park that is...specifically the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers...


Everyone was out that day it seemed and we were fortunate to find some parking not too far away from the Conservatory of Flowers. As we were on our way, we noticed these bubble ball things. You pay to wear them standing up and play soccer in these bubbles. More info at Bay Area Bubble Soccer ($20 per hour for 1 bubble). They pop up different locations and you can assemble your own team to play this interesting game.

Beyond the field was a statue of James Garfield, the 20th president of the U.S. who was tragically shot by two bullets in 1881. The statue was commemorated in 1884 and is the oldest statue in the park.

The lovely Victorian era greenhouse.  It is the oldest wood and glass conservatory in North America as well as a historical landmark. This visit would be one of the few paid outings we would do for this vacation but it was well worth it.


There was also a special marking the 101st year of the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition.  It was especially interesting to me since many of the buildings (only a few original structures remain) were put up the same year for our very own Balboa Park's 1915 Panama-California Exposition. We are fortunate that many of our own original structures remain unlike San Francisco's.


Inside there are various themed rooms grouped by climate.  One particular room with tropical plants was super hot, as in 85+ hot.  I won't try to attempt to name the plants and flowers that we saw but just know that everything was just so beautiful and spectacular here.



















Okay, I'll interject here.  This should look familiar as we saw these pitcher plantss several days prior at California Carnivores in Sebastopol


TC liked seeing these airplants (Tillandsia).

These tiny reddish purple and white orchids are the beloved "Sharry Baby" (a type of oncidium) which really do smell like chocolate. If you ever go to the San Diego Botanical Building in Balboa Park, they have this same orchid there as well.

More pretty orchids:







I kept thinking, "Wow, why can't our garden look this nice?"...





More info about the 1915 Pan-Pacific International Exposition:

There was a train that ran through a miniature version of the park during that time period.


I wish this structure still existed, the Tower of Jewels.

The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building that survived (it was also reconstructed) the 1915 Expo.

If you attended the San Diego Fair last year, their theme, "A Fair to Remember!" and their themed exhibit prominently featured both the 1915 Expositions for San Diego and San Francisco.






Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for youth ages 12-17 (and senior citizens).


Below, a "bold" new swirly gold sculpture, titled "Le Rose  des Vents" (Wind Rose or Compass Rose) by Jean-Michel Othoniel was unveiled last year. Incidentally the artist is the first one to have a permanent installation in the gardens of Versailled. The sculpture is supposed to be displayed until June of this year, so at the time of this writing, it is probably gone now and in another city.

One last look...

Aww man, we saw this on our way out....

We made our way back out to the Sunset, this time, the Outer. Below, the other location of Marnee Thai (we ate at the Inner Sunset location two days before).

It was not time for lunch! But not Thai food this time.

San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers
100 John F. Kennedy Dr.
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 831-2090

www.conservatorofflowers.org / goldengatepark.com/conservatory-of-flowers
+ reviews from tripadvisor and you know where

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